Whats cooking? A mixed methods analysis of cooking perceptions, practices and the implications for food policy

Substantial changes in the food system over the past century have dramatically altered the way Americans eat. As food preparation habits have shifted toward an emphasis on speed and convenience, Americans have come to rely more on foods away from home and convenience foods. However, cooking remains an important part of American life and evidence suggests that frequent cooking is associated with a healthier diet. Similar to the nutrition transition taking place due to the influence of the modern, western food system and the diet it promotes, a “culinary transition” is changing the way people approach food preparation and the skills they need to prepare food and consume a healthy diet. Americans cook less frequently and spend less time cooking than in the past; evidence suggests that traditional or “scratch” cooking, cooking knowledge, skills and confidence have declined. The culinary transition has also shifted perceptions of what cooking is, though little is known about the extent to which the meaning of cooking has evolved or how it may differ among Americans. This dissertation, presented in three manuscripts, explores how Americans perceive and practice cooking, how Americans learn to cook, and public support for school and government programs to teach people cooking skills. This dissertation uses qualitative data collected from focus groups conducted in Baltimore, and quantitative primary data collected via a nationally representative, web-based survey. Manuscript 1 uses focus group data to explore cooking knowledge, practice and perceptions among residents of Baltimore City. Manuscript 2 reports results from the national survey on how Americans perceive the meaning of cooking and how these perceptions are related to cooking confidence, attitudes and behavior. Finally, Manuscript 3 uses both focus group and survey data to explore how Americans learn to cook and public support for cooking education policies and programs. Perceptions of what it means to cook vary considerably and span a continuum from all scratch cooking to anything made at home. Perceptions of cooking incorporate considerations of the degree to which scratch ingredients, convenience foods and heat are used. Cooking behavior among adults in the United States varies somewhat depending on how they perceive cooking, and cooking confidence and enjoyment is lowest among Americans who perceive cooking as including the use of convenience foods. Most American adults learned to cook from their parents (primarily mothers) and very few report learning to cook through formal instruction in school or cooking classes; however, approximately two-thirds of Americans support requiring cooking education in public schools. Cooking is a complex concept and is not uniformly understood. Policies and programs seeking to encourage healthy cooking at home should consider the broad spectrum of activities Americans recognize as cooking as well as the barriers and facilitators to preparing food at home on a daily basis. The way in which people interpret the meaning of cooking has implications for how the public health field measures cooking behavior, and for how we understand the relationships between cooking, at home food consumption, diet quality, and health outcomes. A greater understanding of how people learn to cook, the barriers they face in how they cook in their every day lives as well as strategies frequent cooks employ that enable them to prepare food at home is necessary for the development of effective interventions that seek to reduce barriers to and encourage healthy cooking at home

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of adults’ participation in home cooking interventions on their cooking skills, food habits, diet and health

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tap water perceptions and water filter use vary with sociodemographic characteristics and influence water consumption in university students

Abstract Objective The goal of this study is to evaluate university students’ perceptions of tap water safety and water filter use, and determine how these perceptions and behaviors affect water and sugar sweetened beverage intake. Design Cross-sectional; online survey conducted in Fall 2021. Setting A large, public Midwestern university in the United States Participants 793 undergraduate students Results Students who experienced food insecurity, were on a Pell grant, were first generation college students or were racial/ethnic minorities were less likely to trust tap water safety. Tap water filtration behavior also varied by age and race/ethnicity. Students who did not agree with the statement “my local tap water is safe to drink” had lower odds of consuming ≥3 cups of total water per day (OR=0.45, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.62), lower odds of consuming tap water ≥3 times/day (OR=0.46, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.64), higher odds of drinking bottled water ≥1 time per day (OR=1.80, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.66), and higher odds of drinking SSBs ≥1 time per day (OR=1.47, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.14) than those who agreed. Students who always or sometimes filtered their tap water had lower odds of consuming ≥3 cups of total water per day (OR=0.59, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.90) than students who never filtered their tap water. Conclusions Tap water perceptions and behaviors affect tap and bottled water and SSB intake among university students. Tap water perceptions and behaviors in this demographic provide important context for university programming promoting healthy beverage initiatives

Differences in the Neighborhood Retail Food Environment and Obesity Among US Children and Adolescents by SNAP Participation

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144306/1/oby22184_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144306/2/oby22184.pd

Updated Guidance Regarding The Risk ofAllergic Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines and Recommended Evaluation and Management: A GRADE Assessment, and International Consensus Approach

This guidance updates 2021 GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) recommendations regarding immediate allergic reactions following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and addresses revaccinating individuals with first-dose allergic reactions and allergy testing to determine revaccination outcomes. Recent meta-analyses assessed the incidence of severe allergic reactions to initial COVID-19 vaccination, risk of mRNA-COVID-19 revaccination after an initial reaction, and diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine excipient testing in predicting reactions. GRADE methods informed rating the certainty of evidence and strength of recommendations. A modified Delphi panel consisting of experts in allergy, anaphylaxis, vaccinology, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, and primary care from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed the recommendations. We recommend vaccination for persons without COVID-19 vaccine excipient allergy and revaccination after a prior immediate allergic reaction. We suggest against \u3e 15-minute postvaccination observation. We recommend against mRNA vaccine or excipient skin testing to predict outcomes. We suggest revaccination of persons with an immediate allergic reaction to the mRNA vaccine or excipients be performed by a person with vaccine allergy expertise in a properly equipped setting. We suggest against premedication, split-dosing, or special precautions because of a comorbid allergic history