Meal Options Research Articles

The nutrition knowledge of older adults living in sheltered housing accommodation

Nutrition knowledge enables informed dietary choices. This paper reports on the nutrition knowledge of older adults residing in sheltered housing accommodation in socially deprived areas of north-east England. As part of a cluster randomized dietary intervention trial, a validated questionnaire measured the knowledge of current dietary recommendations, nutrient sources, ability to select healthy meal options and knowledge of associations between diet and diseases of older adults aged 60 years and over residing in sheltered accommodation. Completed questionnaires were obtained from 177 (59%) subjects (147 female, 30 male), of whom 76% were overweight/obese and 2% underweight. The mean (SD) age was 76.4 (8.0) years. Of a possible score of 47, the mean score was 23.2, indicating that approximately 50% of questions were answered incorrectly. Knowledge of associations between diet and diseases was particularly poor; 90% of subjects being unaware of the benefits of high fruit and vegetable consumption. Respondents in the highest 10% of the nutrition knowledge score had a significantly higher intake of fruit and vegetables compared with those in the lowest 10%. A high proportion of older adults had little basic nutrition knowledge; this presents a barrier to healthier eating that should be addressed.

What parents prefer and children like – Investigating choice of vegetable-based food for children

Abstract The inherent challenge of investigating food choice of new products for children is that more than one person is involved in the long-term decision-making. Parents decide in the purchase situation while children pass their verdict when they consume the meal. In this paper we suggest linking family decision-making and food choice, and reveal results from two empirical studies of vegetable-based food for children. One study discloses parents’ preferences regarding different food concepts while the other looks into children’s liking before and after tasting the products. Results show that parents know fairly well what children like. Sharing the meal experience with their children and having meal variation options are important benefits for parents. Parents are more concerned about health while children prefer products that look familiar. However, after tasting an unfamiliar product children are less reserved.

Burger King and Subway

The purpose of this investigation was to estimate the glycemic load (GL) of nutritionally promoted fast-food menu items and to compare menu items nutritionally. Published glycemic index (GI) values and nutritional information from the Web sites of Subway and Burger King were used to calculate the GL of nutritionally promoted items. Menu items were compared based on calories, macronutrients, saturated fat, GI, and GL as basic items and as often served. Subway offered 7 low-fat (total/saturated fat: 3-5/1-2 g), low-calorie (230-330) sandwich options that had an average GL of 29. If the customer accepts the soda and baked potato chips, the total calories exceed 600 and the total/saturated fat becomes 13/4 g, with a doubling of the GL. The Burger King low-fat options contained 4.5 g total fat and 1.5 g saturated fat, with GLs of 53 to 54, and low-calorie options (265-310 calories) had low GLs (0-18.3). Adding fries and a soda brings the GL up from a 53 for just the sandwich to 123 for the meal. The bunless low-carb Whopper has the same fat content (total/saturated fat: 42/13g) as the original Whopper, but the GI and GL are zero. The nutritional information for meal options available at Burger King and Subway can help the patient with diabetes make choices. Accepting the fries or chips and soda can dramatically increase the calories, carbohydrate, fat, and GL of the nutritionally promoted fast-food meal.

Adolescent and Parent Views of Family Meals

Objective To examine and compare the family mealtime environment from the perspectives of both adolescents and parents. Design Adolescents completed a school-based survey and parents participated in a telephone interview as part of Project EAT (Eating Among Teens). Subjects/setting Participants were 902 adolescent females (n=424) and males (n=478) and one of their guardians/parents. Statistical analyses performed Frequencies, χ 2 analyses, and Spearman correlations were used to assess relationships. Results Parents were more likely than adolescents to report eating five or more family meals per week, the importance of eating together, and scheduling difficulties ( P<0.001). Younger adolescents were more likely than older adolescents to report eating five or more family meals per week, higher importance of eating together, and more rule expectations at mealtime ( P<0.001), whereas older adolescents were more likely to report scheduling difficulties ( P<0.001). Girls reported more family meals per week and more scheduling conflicts than boys did; boys reported more rules at mealtime than girls did ( P<0.001). Conclusions Family meals are perceived positively by both adolescents and parents. Family meals may be a useful mechanism for enhancing family togetherness, and for role modeling behaviors that parents would like their children to emulate. Dietetics professionals can capitalize on positive attitudes toward family meals to help promote their frequency. Helping families learn to cook healthful, quick meals may reduce dependency on less healthful meal options, reduce the frequency of eating outside of the home, and promote greater nutritional intake.

Subsidised Café Meals Program: more than just "a cheap meal"

This paper describes the Caf� Meals Program that is operating in the City of Yarra. The Program has resulted from a collaboration of North Yarra Community Health (NYCH) and City of Yarra, and aims to improve access to nutritious, affordable and socially acceptable meals for homeless people. The Program forms a part of City of Yarra?s Meals Program; it is managed by NYCH. The Caf� Meals Program is currently feeding 50-60 homeless people in Yarra. It targets those who are homeless (or at risk of becoming homeless), who find it difficult to prepare their own meals, and who have no other prepared meal options that are appropriate for them in the community. It provides a choice of four local caf�s and restaurants for its participants. Each person is provided with a membership card that can be used once per day to purchase a meal (to the value of $8.80) for the price of $2.00. The program empowers clients by giving them control over when, where and what they will eat. It also enables the homeless person to participate in the life of the community by dining in venues where the general community eats and socialises. This improved sense of social connectedness and inclusion can have significant effects on the self-esteem of the program participants, and, subsequently, on their ability to make choices that improve their health and wellbeing. This paper presents this innovative program in detail and provides some insight into its outcomes, the components of the program that make it work, as well as the challenges that the program has had to address.

The National Meals on Wheels Foundation/Vegetarian Resource Group Vegetarian Initiative

A previous report described a unique collaboration between The National Meals on Wheels Foundation (NMOWF), the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NA-NASP), and the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) in the formation of the Vegetarian Initiative, a program to introduce meatless meal options into senior feeding programs (1997). This article presents results from a two year demonstration of the program in 25 meal sites throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Recommendations are given for practitioners and others who seek to bring about similar changes in other feeding programs.

Time Available Does Not Limit High School Lunch Participation Rate

Concerns have been raised that students are not provided with enough time to receive and consume their lunches. A field research method was employed in two high schools in Plattsbttfga-, NY (PL) and Ellensburg, WA (EL) to determine waiting time in service line (WSL), waiting time in cashier line (WCL), and travel time to the eating area (TTEA), the sum of these resulted in total student waiting time (TSWT). Opportunity time to eat (OTE), was also measured which consisted of consumption time (CT) and non-consumption time (NCT). 2560 student observations were made over 20 days of data collection. The lunch period in EL consisted of two, 35minute lunch periods. PL provided three, 44minute lunch periods. Participation rate in the school lunch program was higher in PL than EL (37.5% versus 16%) largely because of a larger number of free and reduced meals (PL: 121.5 ± 4.8 daily meals; EL: 59.2 ± 4.2 daily meals, (all data are mean + SD), p < 0.0001) WSL was significantly longer in PL (PL: 3.90 ± 2.87min; EL: 1.62 ± 1.57min, p < 0.05) resulting in a longer TSWT before students could start eating their meal. (PL: 4.47 ± 2.90min; EL: 3.05 ± 2.80min, p < 0.05). OTE was longer in PL (PL: 11.45 ± 4.42min; EL: 10.15 ± 4..08min, p < 0.05) largely because of a longer NCT (PL: 4.05 + 3..65; EL: 2.53 ± 2.65min, p < 0.05). The greater NCT is largely due to a longer lunch period time in Pittsburgh. Over 90 percent of the students bad-completed TSWT by 9minutes and had completed OTE by 12minutes for a total required lunch time of 21minutes indicating that the lunch periods provided in each school were sufficient to meet the TSWT, CT, and NCT needs of the students. The effect of economic status and the proximity of other meal options on participation rate may be useful for further study.

Nutrition and Bone Health: Nutrition Education for Youth

LEARNING OUTCOME: Fifth graders wil1 be able to select appropriate foods to maximize bone mass. Nutrition and Bone Health is the topic of a nutrition education curriculum for fifth graders based on a collaborative project funded by NASA through the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. The multi-disciplinary undertaking has many facets. It began with a group of Arkansas educators touring NASA's Johnson Space Center; the group was composed of university nutrition faculty, state department of education staff, secondary biology and home economics teachers, and an elementary teacher. Increased awareness of the impact of space travel on today's society was a major outgrowth of the tour, with the importance of nutrition and nutrition research emphasized. The premise that travel in space, or the experience of microgravity, results in bone loss in astronauts and the continual search for appropriate foods to decrease this bone loss provided a springboard for the nutrition and bone health education project. Fifth graders were selected for the curriculum project because they are progressing toward middle school where more freedom of choice is allowed in school lunch and soft drinks as well as fast foods are realistic meal options. The purpose of the project is to teach appropriate dietary choices which maximize bone mass. As a part of the curriculum, slides of NASA and astronauts are viewed along with slides of rats involved in a nutrition research project utilizing the hind limb suspension method, as well as illustrations of bone loss associated with aging. The students have a tasting party, using appropriate foods, and are given a take-home activity packet on nutrition and bone health. The multi-disciplinary project has had many phases. The nutrition curriculum has been enhanced at the elementary, secondary, and university levels in Arkansas. The major benefits of the project include working with a variety of health care specialists as well as educators in teaching nutrition.

Sugar Smarts: an Educational Guide to Meal Planning with Gestational Diabetes

LEARNING OUTCOME: This guide will improve the management of low-literacy patients with gestational diabetes.An important challenge for healthcare professionals is to develop nutrition patient education materials that improve comprehension and encourage dietary compliance. This problem is compounded when designing materials for low-literacy patients. Despite the availability of these materials, few actively involve the patient We have developed a novel interactive educational guide for low-literacy gestational diabetics to reinforce learning and increase compliance. Gestational diabetes can be effectively treated with dietary therapy, therefore interactive materials are potentially more efficacious than current educational methods. This guide presents the essentials of nutrition during pregnancy and meal planning using graphics with educational and interactive sections. The education section provides an easy to read explanation of gestational diabetes and its implications, plus a discussion of how diet can change blood glucose concentration. The interactive section includes a daily eating plan that can be used to individualize meal and snack options using the different food groups. Each food group is discussed with pictures and descriptions of types of foods to be eaten and avoided. Pictorial sample menus are provided to demonstrate meal planning. After reviewing the interactive section, the patient will have all the essentials to plan meals appropriately. Future uses of this guide may extend past its current scope.

Marketing nutrition in restaurants: A survey of current practices and attitudes

This study sought to determine attitudes toward nutrition, nutrition marketing practices, the relationship between attitudes toward nutrition and nutrition marketing practices, and nutrition training practices in restaurants. A written questionnaire was mailed to 200 research and development (R & D) directors in restaurant companies included in Restaurants & Institutions' list of top 400 foodservice organizations ranked by sales. Seventy (35%) responded. Most R & D directors did not think they were responsible for improving the health of their consumers. A positive relationship existed between attitudes toward nutrition and nutrition marketing practices (P = .013). Forty-four reported that they marketed nutrition and planned to add nutritious menu items in the future. Forty-six reported that nutritious meal options represented 0 to 10% of total sales. Nutrition information was provided to consumers by 27 restaurant companies but such information often had to be requested. The American Heart Association was a popular source of nutrition and menu-planning information. Twelve companies employed a registered dietitian, and 14 used registered dietitians as consultants. Nutrition-related training for restaurant employees was limited. These findings indicate that dietitians have opportunities to market their skills in developing nutritious menu items and providing staff training. Also, dietitians should encourage consumers (especially those with special dietary needs) to let restaurant managers know their menu and nutrition information needs.