Diet quality of persons living with HIV/AIDS on highly active antiretroviral therapy

Background This study sought to assess the diet quality of individuals living with HIV/AIDS who were receiving antiretroviral therapy in Sao Paulo Brazil,. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 56 HIV-infected adults. Demographic and anthropometric data were collected, and diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), modified for Brazilians, which included ten components: adequacy of intake of six different food groups, total fat, cholesterol, dietary fibre and dietary variety. Results Among the individuals assessed, 64.3% of the participants had a diet needing improvement, while 8.7% had a poor diet. The overall HEI score was 68.3 points (SD = 14.9). Mean scores were low for fruits, vegetables, dairy products and dietary fibre; and high for meats and eggs, total fat and cholesterol. The overall HEI score was higher among individuals who were not overweight (P = 0.003), who were also more likely to achieve dietary goals for dairy products (P = 0.039) and grains (P = 0.005). Conclusion Most of these adults living with HIV/AIDS had diets that required improvement, and being overweight was associated with poorer diet quality. Nutritional interventions aimed at maintaining healthy body weight and diet should be taken into account in caring for HIV-infected people.

Use of a predictive model for food insecurity estimates in Brazil

In 2004 the National Household Survey (Pesquisa Nacional par Amostras de Domicilios - PNAD) estimated the prevalence of food and nutrition insecurity in Brazil. However, PNAD data cannot be disaggregated at the municipal level. The objective of this study was to build a statistical model to predict severe food insecurity for Brazilian municipalities based on the PNAD dataset. Exclusion criteria were: incomplete food security data (19.30%); informants younger than 18 years old (0.07%); collective households (0.05%); households headed by indigenous persons (0.19%). The modeling was carried out in three stages, beginning with the selection of variables related to food insecurity using univariate logistic regression. The variables chosen to construct the municipal estimates were selected from those included in PNAD as well as the 2000 Census. Multivariate logistic regression was then initiated, removing the non-significant variables with odds ratios adjusted by multiple logistic regression. The Wald Test was applied to check the significance of the coefficients in the logistic equation. The final model included the variables: per capita income; years of schooling; race and gender of the household head; urban or rural residence; access to public water supply; presence of children; total number of household inhabitants and state of residence. The adequacy of the model was tested using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (p=0.561) and ROC curve (area=0.823). Tests indicated that the model has strong predictive power and can be used to determine household food insecurity in Brazilian municipalities, suggesting that similar predictive models may be useful tools in other Latin American countries.

ESTIMATING SENSORY SHELF LIFE OF CHOCOLATE AND CARROT CUPCAKES USING ACCEPTANCE TESTS

This study determined the sensory shelf life of a commercial brand of chocolate and carrot cupcakes, aiming at increasing the current 120 days of shelf life to 180. Appearance, texture, flavor and overall quality of cakes stored at six different storage times were evaluated by 102 consumers. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance and linear regression. For both flavors, the texture presented a greater loss in acceptance during the storage period, showing an acceptance mean close to indifference on the hedonic scale at 120 days. Nevertheless, appearance, flavor and overall quality stayed acceptable up to 150 days. The end of shelf life was estimated at about 161 days for chocolate cakes and 150 days for carrot cakes. This study showed that the current 120 days of shelf life can be extended to 150 days for carrot cake and to 160 days for chocolate cake. However, the 180 days of shelf life desired by the company were not achieved. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This research shows the adequacy of using sensory acceptance tests to determine the shelf life of two food products (chocolate and carrot cupcakes). This practical application is useful because the precise determination of the shelf life of a food product is of vital importance for its commercial success. The maximum storage time should always be evaluated in the development or reformulation of new products, changes in packing or storage conditions. Once the physical-chemical and microbiological stability of a product is guaranteed, sensorial changes that could affect consumer acceptance will determine the end of the shelf life of a food product. Thus, the use of sensitive and reliable methods to estimate the sensory shelf life of a product is very important. Findings show the importance of determining the shelf life of each product separately and to avoid using the shelf time estimated for a specific product on other, similar products.

Nutrition in Transition: Dietary Patterns of Rural Amazonian Women During a Period of Economic Change

Objectives: The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between economic change (wage labor, retirement, and the Bolsa Familia program) and dietary patterns in the rural Amazon and to determine the extent to which these changes followed the pattern of the nutrition transition. Methods: The study was longitudinal. The weighed-inventory method and economic interviews were used to collect data on dietary intake and household economics in a sample of 30 and 52 women in 2002 and 2009, respectively. Twenty of the women participated in both years and make-up the longitudinal sub-sample. Comparative statistics were used to identify changes in dietary patterns over time and multiple linear regressions were used to explore the relationship between economics, subsistence strategies, and diet. Results: There was a significant decline in kcal (P < 0.01) and carbohydrate (P < 0.01) but no change in protein intake over time in both the larger and smaller, longitudinal subsample. The percent of energy, carbohydrate, protein, and fat purchased increased in the larger and longitudinal samples (P <= 0.02) and there was an increase in refined carbohydrate and processed, fatty-meat consumption over time. The abandonment of manioc gardens was associated with increased dependence on purchased food (P = 0.03) while receipt of the Bolsa Familia was associated with increased protein intake and adequacy (P = 0.02). Conclusions: The dietary changes observed are only in partial agreement with predictions of the nutrition transition literature. The relationship between the economic and diet changes was shaped by the local context which should be considered when implementing CCT programs, like the Bolsa Familia. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 23:458-469, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

A bivariate regression model for matched paired survival data: local influence and residual analysis

The use of bivariate distributions plays a fundamental role in survival and reliability studies. In this paper, we consider a location scale model for bivariate survival times based on the proposal of a copula to model the dependence of bivariate survival data. For the proposed model, we consider inferential procedures based on maximum likelihood. Gains in efficiency from bivariate models are also examined in the censored data setting. For different parameter settings, sample sizes and censoring percentages, various simulation studies are performed and compared to the performance of the bivariate regression model for matched paired survival data. Sensitivity analysis methods such as local and total influence are presented and derived under three perturbation schemes. The martingale marginal and the deviance marginal residual measures are used to check the adequacy of the model. Furthermore, we propose a new measure which we call modified deviance component residual. The methodology in the paper is illustrated on a lifetime data set for kidney patients.