Browsing by Subject "Diet, Healthy"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Cardiovascular disease, risk factors, and health behaviors among cancer survivors and spouses: A MEPS Study.
    (Cancer medicine, 2020-09) Song, Lixin; Guan, Ting; Guo, Peiran; Song, Fengyu; Van Houtven, Courtney; Tan, Xianming; Keyserling, Thomas C

    Purpose

    The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalences of CVD, CVD risk factors. and health behaviors among cancer survivor-spouse dyads, assess how these prevalences differ by role (survivor vs spouse) and gender, and report congruences in health behaviors between survivors and their spouses.

    Methods

    We identified 1026 survivor-spouse dyads from the 2010-2015 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We used weighted multivariable logistic and linear regressions to analyze the data related to CVD, CVD risk factors, and health behaviors.

    Results

    Survivors and spouses reported high prevalences of CVD and CVD risk factors but low engagement in healthy behaviors, including non-smoking, physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight (proxy for healthy diet). Gender and role differences were significantly related to the prevalence of CVD, CVD risk factors, and health behaviors among survivors and spouses. From 39% to 88% of survivors and spouses were congruent in their current smoking status, physical activity engagement/disengagement, and BMI.

    Conclusion

    Cancer survivors and spouses have high rates of CVD and CVD risk factors and poor engagement in healthful lifestyle behaviors. A high proportion of survivors and spouses were congruent in their current smoking status, physical activity engagement/disengagement, and BMI. Effective lifestyle interventions are needed for this high-risk population. Couple-focused interventions may be well-suited for these dyads and warrant further study.

    Implications for cancer survivors

    Both cancer survivors and their spouses need to be non-moking, more physically active, and maintain normal BMI in order to reduce their high risk of CVD and CVD risk factors.
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    Development and Application of a Total Diet Quality Index for Toddlers.
    (Nutrients, 2021-06-05) Kay, Melissa C; Duffy, Emily W; Harnack, Lisa J; Anater, Andrea S; Hampton, Joel C; Eldridge, Alison L; Story, Mary
    For the first time, the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include recommendations for infants and toddlers under 2 years old. We aimed to create a diet quality index based on a scoring system for ages 12 to 23.9 months, the Toddler Diet Quality Index (DQI), and evaluate its construct validity using 24 h dietary recall data collected from a national sample of children from the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) 2016. The mean (standard error) Toddler DQI was 49 (0.6) out of 100 possible points, indicating room for improvement. Toddlers under-consumed seafood, greens and beans, and plant proteins and over-consumed refined grains and added sugars. Toddler DQI scores were higher among children who were ever breastfed, lived in households with higher incomes, and who were Hispanic. The Toddler DQI performed as expected and offers a measurement tool to assess the dietary quality of young children in accordance with federal nutrition guidelines. This is important for providing guidance that can be used to inform public health nutrition policies, programs, and practices to improve diets of young children.
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    Development and Preliminary Feasibility of iByte4Health: A Mobile Health (mHealth) Pediatric Obesity Prevention Intervention to Engage Parents with Low-Income of Children 2-9 Years.
    (Nutrients, 2021-11-25) Tripicchio, Gina L; Kay, Melissa; Herring, Sharon; Cos, Travis; Bresnahan, Carolyn; Gartner, Danielle; Sosinsky, Laura Stout; Bass, Sarah B
    This research describes the development and preliminary feasibility of iByte4Health, a mobile health (mHealth) obesity prevention intervention designed for parents with a low-income of children 2-9 years of age. Study 1 (n = 36) presents findings from formative work used to develop the program. Study 2 (n = 23) presents a 2-week proof-of-concept feasibility testing of iByte4Health, including participant acceptability, utilization, and engagement. Based on Study 1, iByte4Health was designed as a text-messaging program, targeting barriers and challenges identified by parents of young children for six key obesity prevention behaviors: (1) snacking; (2) physical activity; (3) sleep; (4) sugary drinks; (5) fruit and vegetable intake; and (6) healthy cooking at home. In Study 2, participants demonstrated high program retention (95.7% at follow-up) and acceptability (90.9% reported liking or loving the program). Users were engaged with the program; 87.0% responded to at least one self-monitoring text message; 90.9% found the videos and linked content to be helpful or extremely helpful; 86.4% found text messages helpful or extremely helpful. iByte4Health is a community-informed, evidenced-based program that holds promise for obesity prevention efforts, especially for those families at the increased risk of obesity and related disparities. Future work is warranted to test the efficacy of the program.