SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16
Poster Session: Wellness and Public Health BackPacks: A Program Improving Children’s Readiness to Learn and Family Food Security
Beverage Clusters Have Limited Associations with Dental Caries During Adolescence
Author(s): L. Wright, J. Epps; University of South Florida
Author(s): T. Marshall1, J. VanBuren2, J. Cavanaugh2, J. Warren1, A. Curtis2, S. Levy1; 1University of Iowa College of Dentistry, 2University of Iowa
Learning Outcome: Participants will be able to describe the impact of a weekend food assistance program on children and their families. Background: The Backpack program provides nutritious food to children to eat on the weekends when many may not have access to an adequate amount of food. There is a lack of research evaluating the program’s effectiveness. This study evaluated the impact of the program on children’s food security, readiness to learn, and behavioral and mental health. Methods: A pre-post survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted with children, parents and teachers. Analysis: Between-subjects omnibus analyses was used to examine differences between pre- and post-survey scores. Interview themes were derived through iterative readings and discussion of the expanded notes. Results: Surveys were completed by 120 students and 52 parents. Students were significantly less likely to endorse hunger-induced difficulty learning (p<.02) with the program. There were no significant differences found in students’ reported food security, ability to pay attention, anxiety, depression, anger or absenteeism. Parents showed a non-significant trend toward reporting less food insecurity (p<.08). Parents did not report any significant differences in their child’s anxiety, depression, anger or absenteeism. 15 interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis of the in-depth interview notes identified three main themes: improved ability to pay attention, improved food security and increased child-asking for fresh produce. Conclusion: The BackPack program improves food availability for families and decreases stress over food insecurity. Readiness to learn and ability to concentrate improved. This inexpensive program is helping fill the gap between government food programs and needs of children and families.
Learning Outcome: The reader will be able to describe how individual beverage intakes contribute to different beverage clusters in adolescent subjects, and identify associations between beverage clusters and dental caries. Dental caries is diet-mediated. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the most relevant dietary risk factor in young children. Adolescent caries have received less attention; our objective was to identify relationships among patterns of beverage intakes and caries in adolescents. Adolescents (n¼413; 194 male, 219 female) completed questionnaires and received dental exams at ages 9, 13 and 17 years. Questionnaires queried the frequency and quantity of beverage intakes. Cluster analyses based on intakes identified 5 distinct clusters having predominant intakes of water (n¼124), milk (n¼50), SSB (n¼92), 100% juice (n¼63) and a neutral cluster (n¼84) with similar water, milk and SSB intakes. Caries was defined as age 13-17 incident cavitated or filled tooth surfaces (DFS). Negative binomial regression analyses were performed to predict incident DFS based on beverage cluster membership and demographic characteristics. MeanSD intakes of primary beverages within similarly named clusters were 28.313.8oz water, 27.98.5oz milk, 23.78.0oz SSB, 6.22.3oz juice. DFS increments for beverage clusters were 2.13.7 water, 2.33.9 milk, 2.94.5 SSB, 1.73.6 juice, and 2.73.6 neutral. Beverage clusters did not predict caries increment (p¼0.38) in unadjusted analyses; the SSB cluster had higher caries increment than the juice cluster (p¼0.079). In adjusted analyses, gender (p¼0.19) and beverage clusters (p¼0.59) were not significant; more frequent brushing (p¼0.002) and a higher maternal education (p¼0.032) were associated with less caries. Results suggest that oral hygiene behaviors and socioeconomic status are stronger predictors of caries increment than SSBs during adolescence. Funding Disclosure: NIDCR: 1R03DE023784-01
Funding Disclosure: None
Best and Emerging Practices for Establishing Food Access in Higher Education Author: R. Miller; University of California, Davis Student Health & Counseling Services Learning Outcome: Participants will be able to: identify incidence of food insecurity among students enrolled at a large public university; identify partners and describe their prospective roles in developing and implementing a food access program on campus; describe three components of collateral nutrition education embedded in a food access program. Background: The Fruit & Veggie Up! (FVUp) program was established to fill the need for UC Davis students to access affordable produce. It is a collaborative program including the Student Health & Counseling Services RD, Dining Services RD, local grocery store and the Food Recovery Network. The 2015 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment data for UC Davis students shows 5.7% of undergraduate students and 10% of graduate students consume the USDA recommended minimum of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Position Statement on Food Insecurity and Hunger states that systemic and sustained action is needed to achieve food and nutrition security. That includes programming for increased utilization of food and nutrition assistance programs and the inclusion of food and nutrition education in all programs providing food and nutrition assistance. Proposed Goal & Objectives: The program objective is to provide free produce to all UC Davis students with the inclusion of food and nutrition education. Education topics include nutrition density, food safety, and cooking skills. The goal will be to continually review barriers to accessing produce based on updated ACHA-NCHA data collection to be able to provide strategies and education to overcome barriers. Evaluation is based on data collected including quantity of produce distributed, number of people who identify attending Fruit and Veggie Up program helps them meet nutrition needs, and the number of people planning to return to program in the future. Funding Disclosure: RD position paid for by University of California, Davis, produce comes donated from local grocery stores
Building Healthy Lifestyles in All Directions Initiative in Cabarrus County, North Carolina Author(s): M. Moorachian1, E. Racine1, W.B. Saunders1, M.K. Ledford1; 1 Department of Public Health Sciences, 1University of North Carolina Charlotte Learning Outcome: The overall purpose was to improve the diet quality and physical activity level of childcare center children, and reduce the rates of childhood obesity among children participating in childcare center programs. Purpose: To reduce the risk of developing obesity in the pre school years, Building Healthy Lifestyles in All Directions program was initiated with the implementation of three evidence-based interventions: Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare Centers (NAP SACC), Color Me Healthy, and Healthy Futures Starting in the Kitchen. Objectives: The overall purpose was to improve the diet quality and physical activity level of childcare center children, and reduce the rates of childhood obesity among children participating in childcare center programs. Methods: Eleven licensed, subsidy-accepting childcare centers serving 0 to 5 year olds participated. Adoption of NAP SACC initiatives was measured, nutrition knowledge of dietary recommendations for preschool age children pre and post intervention was assessed among childcare center staff, and body mass index among children ages 4 and 5 (n¼234) was calculated pre and post intervention. Results: Ninety-three NAP SACC goals were achieved, improving the nutritional and physical activity policies at the centers. Pre and post BMI measurements (n¼234) analyzed and showed a decrease from 21% to 19% in overweight/obesity rates. Mean scores were analyzed for the pre- and post nutrition education test (n¼16). The mean difference was 7.9+5.8, p<. 0001, reflecting a statistically significant improvement. Conclusions: These promising results have continued into year two of the intervention, illustrating that a multi-component intervention in childcare centers may be one way to address this health crisis in children. Funding Disclosure: Cabarrus Partnership for Children; Smart Start of North Carolina
A-12
JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS
September 2016 Suppl 1—Abstracts Volume 116 Number 9