Constructing Nutrition Information Trend Indicators from the Media and Scientific Journals for Demand Analysis

U.S. Consumers have become increasingly concerned with health problems. Nutrition is one of the factors which directly affects health, thus credible nutritional information has become more valuable to individuals. Understanding the impact of nutritional information on consumers’ food choices will contribute to the development and implementation of effective communication strategies related to diet and health. This will not only help policy makers design regulatory and legal polices that promote health, but will also help the food industry to develop products that better match consumers’ interests. The purpose of this study is to present the number of articles or transcripts in the media, which will be used to produce information trend indicators, and to suggest the distributed time lags among the information sources. Since consumers’ knowledge is not observable, one of the ways to measure the impact of information on food demand is to develop some indicators of consumers’ exposure to the information. In this study, the articles or transcripts in the media and scientific journals about omega-3 fatty acids are investigated. Omega-3 fatty acids have received growing attention due to their several health benefits such that they help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The use of omega-3 heart claims on food labeling was approved by the FDA in 2004.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Media Impact of Nutrition Information on Food Choice

This study estimated the impact of nutrition information provided by popular media on consumers’ purchases in U.S. grocery stores, taking omega-3 fortified eggs as an example. The media index was constructed from multiple information sources by utilizing computer-coded content analysis. Their probability of purchasing omega-3 eggs between 1998 and 2007 based on household-level scanner data was analyzed by logistic regression models to incorporate elements of information effects. The results showed the significant positive impact of nutritional information from the popular media on consumers’ food choices, thus publishing in popular media can be an effective communication approach to promote consumers’ health.Consumer Economics, Content Analysis, Functional Food, Information economics, Logit, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D83,

Motivation and incentive preferences of community health officers in Ghana: an economic behavioral experiment approach.

BACKGROUND: Health worker shortage in rural areas is one of the biggest problems of the health sector in Ghana and many developing countries. This may be due to fewer incentives and support systems available to attract and retain health workers at the rural level. This study explored the willingness of community health officers (CHOs) to accept and hold rural and community job postings in Ghana. METHODS: A discrete choice experiment was used to estimate the motivation and incentive preferences of CHOs in Ghana. All CHOs working in three Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites in Ghana, 200 in total, were interviewed between December 2012 and January 2013. Respondents were asked to choose from choice sets of job preferences. Four mixed logit models were used for the estimation. The first model considered (a) only the main effect. The other models included interaction terms for (b) gender, (c) number of children under 5 in the household, and (d) years worked at the same community. Moreover, a choice probability simulation was performed. RESULTS: Mixed logit analyses of the data project a shorter time frame before study leave as the most important motivation for most CHOs (β 2.03; 95 % CI 1.69 to 2.36). This is also confirmed by the largest simulated choice probability (29.1 %). The interaction effect of the number of children was significant for education allowance for children (β 0.58; 95 % CI 0.24 to 0.93), salary increase (β 0.35; 95 % CI 0.03 to 0.67), and housing provision (β 0.16; 95 % CI -0.02 to 0.60). Male CHOs had a high affinity for early opportunity to go on study leave (β 0.78; 95 % CI -0.06 to 1.62). CHOs who had worked at the same place for a long time greatly valued salary increase (β 0.28; 95 % CI 0.09 to 0.47). CONCLUSIONS: To reduce health worker shortage in rural settings, policymakers could provide "needs-specific" motivational packages. They should include career development opportunities such as shorter period of work before study leave and financial policy in the form of salary increase to recruit and retain them

Constructing Nutrition Information Trend Indicators from the Media and Scientific Journals for Demand Analysis

U.S. Consumers have become increasingly concerned with health problems. Nutrition is one of the factors which directly affects health, thus credible nutritional information has become more valuable to individuals. Understanding the impact of nutritional information on consumers’ food choices will contribute to the development and implementation of effective communication strategies related to diet and health. This will not only help policy makers design regulatory and legal polices that promote health, but will also help the food industry to develop products that better match consumers’ interests. The purpose of this study is to present the number of articles or transcripts in the media, which will be used to produce information trend indicators, and to suggest the distributed time lags among the information sources. Since consumers’ knowledge is not observable, one of the ways to measure the impact of information on food demand is to develop some indicators of consumers’ exposure to the information. In this study, the articles or transcripts in the media and scientific journals about omega-3 fatty acids are investigated. Omega-3 fatty acids have received growing attention due to their several health benefits such that they help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The use of omega-3 heart claims on food labeling was approved by the FDA in 2004

Determinants of Child Malnutrition in Tanzania: a Quantile Regression Approach

Reducing child malnutrition is one of the most important development goals. This study adopts a quantile regression approach to estimate the socioeconomic determinants of a child’s nutritional status and to explore for whom policy intervention matter the most. Using the data of children under five in Tanzania, the effects of several variables on child’s height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and hemoglobin level are examined. HAZ is influenced by age, sex, preceding birth interval, mother’s height and body-mass-index (BMI), and wealth, among others. The results from quantile regressions suggest that the intervention to improve mother’s education, especially higher than primary school, is effective to reduce the child’s malnutrition at the lower end of distribution. The interventions to upgrade drinking water or toilet facilities may not be sufficient in raising malnourished child’s nutritional status. Hemoglobin level is influenced by age, sex, mother’s hemoglobin level, parental education, and household size, among others. Conditional distributions make little difference with regard to hemoglobin level. Since common interventions of deworming or sleeping under the net are not significant, other interventions such as nutritional ones might be more effective for reducing anemia. 3 Large effects of mother’s nutritional status on child’s nutritional status imply that malnutrition is handed down from one generation to another, which could keep children trapped in the cycle of poverty. It would be effective to carefully integrate applicable interventions according to the objective and target population in order for wellbeing of individuals and for the development of the country

The effect of angle and moment of the hip and knee joint on iliotibial band hardness.

Although several studies have described kinematic deviations such as excessive hip adduction in patients with iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome, the factors contributing to increased ITB hardness remains undetermined, owing to lack of direct in vivo measurement. The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors contributing to an increase in ITB hardness by comparing the ITB hardness between the conditions in which the angle, moment, and muscle activity of the hip and knee joint are changed. Sixteen healthy individuals performed the one-leg standing under five conditions in which the pelvic and trunk inclination were changed in the frontal plane. The shear elastic modulus in the ITB was measured as an indicator of the ITB hardness using shear wave elastography. The three-dimensional joint angle and external joint moment in the hip and knee joints, and muscle activities of the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, tensor fasciae latae, and vastus lateralis, which anatomically connect to the ITB, were also measured. ITB hardness was significantly increased in the posture with pelvic and trunk inclination toward the contralateral side of the standing leg compared with that in all other conditions (increase of approximately 32% compared with that during normal one-leg standing). This posture increased both the hip adduction angle and external adduction moment at the hip and knee joint, although muscle activities were not increased. Our findings suggest that coexistence of an increased adduction moment at the hip and knee joints with an excessive hip adduction angle lead to an increase in ITB hardness

Media Impact of Nutrition Information on Food Choice

This study estimated the impact of nutrition information provided by popular media on consumers’ purchases in U.S. grocery stores, taking omega-3 fortified eggs as an example. The media index was constructed from multiple information sources by utilizing computer-coded content analysis. Their probability of purchasing omega-3 eggs between 1998 and 2007 based on household-level scanner data was analyzed by logistic regression models to incorporate elements of information effects. The results showed the significant positive impact of nutritional information from the popular media on consumers’ food choices, thus publishing in popular media can be an effective communication approach to promote consumers’ health

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals:Lessons for Post-2015 New Development Strategies

Most of the reports on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) released by the multilateral development organizations and other agencies focus either on a single goal or on a few goals and examine global/regional trends or cross-country differences. There are few comprehensive cross-country analyses on the progress of the MDGs. This paper is an effort to reduce this gap. Using the database from the World Bank, an assessment is attempted on the progress towards key indicators between 1990 and 2010. This study also examines how different initial conditions have affected the speed of the progress and how overall improvement does not necessarily mean the narrowing of the inequality within and/or across the countries involved. In particular, low-income countries and fragile states are lagging behind in MDGs performance. We conclude by suggesting that two new purposes be incorporated in the post-2015 development strategy: Inclusive development and resilient society