Foodways in transition: food plants, diet and local perceptions of change in a Costa Rican Ngäbe community

Background Indigenous populations are undergoing rapid ethnobiological, nutritional and socioeconomic transitions while being increasingly integrated into modernizing societies. To better understand the dynamics of these transitions, this article aims to characterize the cultural domain of food plants and analyze its relation with current day diets, and the local perceptions of changes given amongst the Ngäbe people of Southern Conte-Burica, Costa Rica, as production of food plants by its residents is hypothesized to be drastically in recession with an decreased local production in the area and new conservation and development paradigms being implemented. Methods Extensive freelisting, interviews and workshops were used to collect the data from 72 participants on their knowledge of food plants, their current dietary practices and their perceptions of change in local foodways, while cultural domain analysis, descriptive statistical analyses and development of fundamental explanatory themes were employed to analyze the data. Results Results show a food plants domain composed of 140 species, of which 85 % grow in the area, with a medium level of cultural consensus, and some age-based variation. Although many plants still grow in the area, in many key species a decrease on local production–even abandonment–was found, with much reduced cultivation areas. Yet, the domain appears to be largely theoretical, with little evidence of use; and the diet today is predominantly dependent on foods bought from the store (more than 50 % of basic ingredients), many of which were not salient or not even recognized as ‘food plants’ in freelists exercises. While changes in the importance of food plants were largely deemed a result of changes in cultural preferences for store bought processed food stuffs and changing values associated with farming and being food self-sufficient, Ngäbe were also aware of how changing household livelihood activities, and the subsequent loss of knowledge and use of food plants, were in fact being driven by changes in social and political policies, despite increases in forest cover and biodiversity. Conclusions Ngäbe foodways are changing in different and somewhat disconnected ways: knowledge of food plants is varied, reflecting most relevant changes in dietary practices such as lower cultivation areas and greater dependence on food from stores by all families. We attribute dietary shifts to socioeconomic and political changes in recent decades, in particular to a reduction of local production of food, new economic structures and agents related to the State and globalization

School-based mental health promotion in children and adolescents with StresSOS using online or face-to-face interventions: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial within the ProHEAD Consortium

Abstract Background Schools are an ideal setting in which to promote health. However, empirical data on the effectiveness of school-based mental health promotion programs are rare, and research on universal Internet-based prevention in schools is almost non-existent. Following the life skills approach, stress management training is an important component of health promotion. Mental health literacy is also associated with mental health status, and it facilitates formal help-seeking by children and adolescents (C&A). The main objectives of this study are (1) the development and evaluation of an Internet-based version of a universal school-based health promotion program called StresSOS and (2) demonstrating non-inferiority of the online setting compared to the face-to-face setting. StresSOS aims to improve stress management and mental health literacy in C&A. Methods/design A school-based sample of 15,000 C&A (grades 6–13 and older than 12 years) will be recruited in five regions of Germany within the ProHEAD Consortium. Those with a screening result at baseline indicating no mental health problems will be invited to participate in a randomized controlled trial comparing StresSOS online to an active online control condition (Study A). In addition, 420 adolescents recruited as a separate school-based sample will participate in the StresSOS face-to-face intervention. Participants in both intervention groups (online or face-to-face) will receive the same eight treatment modules to allow for the comparison of both methods of delivery (Study B). The primary outcome is the number of C&A with symptoms of mental health problems at a 12 months follow-up. Secondary outcomes are related to stress/coping (i.e., knowledge, symptoms of stress, coping resources), mental health literacy (knowledge and attitudes toward mental disorders and help-seeking), program usage patterns, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of the intervention. Discussion This study represents the first adequately powered non-inferiority trial in the area of school-based mental health promotion. If online StresSOS proves efficacious and non-inferior to face-to-face delivery, this offers great potential for health promotion in youths, both in and outside the school environment. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00014693 . Registered on 14 May 2018

The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 100 genetic variants contributing to BMI, a measure of body size, or waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), a measure of body shape. Body size and shape change as people grow older and these changes differ substantially between men and women. To systematically screen for age-and/or sex-specific effects of genetic variants on BMI and WHRadjBMI, we performed meta-analyses of 114 studies (up to 320,485 individuals of European descent) with genome-wide chip and/or Metabochip data by the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium. Each study tested the association of up to similar to 2.8M SNPs with BMI and WHRadjBMI in four strata (men &lt;= 50y, men &gt; 50y, women &lt;= 50y, women &gt; 50y) and summary statistics were combined in stratum-specific meta-analyses. We then screened for variants that showed age-specific effects (G x AGE), sex-specific effects (G x SEX) or age-specific effects that differed between men and women (G x AGE x SEX). For BMI, we identified 15 loci (11 previously established for main effects, four novel) that showed significant (FDR&lt; 5%) age-specific effects, of which 11 had larger effects in younger (&lt; 50y) than in older adults (&gt;= 50y). No sex-dependent effects were identified for BMI. For WHRadjBMI, we identified 44 loci (27 previously established for main effects, 17 novel) with sex-specific effects, of which 28 showed larger effects in women than in men, five showed larger effects in men than in women, and 11 showed opposite effects between sexes. No age-dependent effects were identified for WHRadjBMI. This is the first genome-wide interaction meta-analysis to report convincing evidence of age-dependent genetic effects on BMI. In addition, we confirm the sex-specificity of genetic effects on WHRadjBMI. These results may providefurther insights into the biology that underlies weight change with age or the sexually dimorphism of body shape.</p