Thrifty Food Plan, 2006

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), a fundamental part of the U.S. food guidance system and the basis for maximum food stamp allotments, has been revised by USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), with assistance from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Economic Research Service (ERS), and Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The TFP provides a representative healthful and minimal cost meal plan that shows how a nutritious diet may be achieved with limited resources. The Plan assumes that all purchased food is consumed at home. The TFP was last revised in 1999. The newly revised (2006) TFP differs from, and improves upon, the previous TFP in a number of ways. The 2006 TFP: • Is based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as well as the 2005 MyPyramid Food Guidance System. • Uses the prices low-income people paid for many foods. • Uses the latest data on food consumption, nutrient content, and food prices: the 2001- 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 2001-2002 Food Price Database. • Offers a more realistic reflection of the time available for food preparation, especially with increased expectations for work in assistance programs. Hence, it allows more prepared foods and requires somewhat fewer preparations from scratch. Although different from the previous TFP, the revised TFP is similar in one important respect: It is set at the same inflation-adjusted cost as the previous TFP. CNPP determined it was possible, for the 2001-2002 period, to obtain a healthful diet meeting current nutritional standards at a cost equal to the previous TFP’s cost.Thrifty Food Plan, USDA Food Plans, Diet Quality, Food Stamps, Cost of Food, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Development of the CNPP Prices Database

Data are available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood.htmfood prices, USDA Food Plans, NHANES, CNPP Prices Database, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Nutrition screening for Chinese elderly

Nutrition and health-related risk factors could be identified through the implementation of the nutrition preventive strategies, such as nutrition screening, for the Chinese elderly population who are at high risk of malnutrition. Efficacious culturally sensitive nutrition assessment tools and nutrition screening tools hold the most essential value to assess the nutritional health status among the Chinese elderly. A standardized nutrition screening tool, the DETERMINE Checklist, has been used to determine the nutritional health risk status among the elderly but not the Chinese elderly. Focus group research developed cultural appropriate dietary assessment tools, the food inventory list and Chinese food photos, to evaluate the adequacy of food consumption. A case study used the Nutrition and Health Related Questionnaire to evaluate the efficacy of the standardized DETERMINE Checklist. The Nutrition and Health Related Questionnaire included a dietary assessment method, the 24-hour dietary recall, and the modified DETERMINE Checklist was developed from the integrated questions of the standardized DETERMINE Checklist and Level I Screen. The efficacy of the standardized checklist, the sensitivity and specificity, among fifty-eight Chinese elderly age 70 or older, was evaluated through the comparison of the adequacy of food consumption and the identification of the nutritional health risk status. Results showed that the majority (95%) of the Chinese elderly participants had inadequate food consumption as measured by the U.S. Food Guide Pyramid. The standardized DETERMINE Checklist was not sensitive (40%-60%) or specific (63.6%-46.1%) in evaluating the nutritional health risk status among this population. The conclusion from this study was the modified DETERMINE Checklist designed for this study included questions with a single perspective in assessing the inadequacy of food consumption and the physical inability, to identify the level of severity on the nutritional health risk status better than the standardized DETERMINE Checklist. The research prototype model provided a base assessment process of the nutritional health risk status for the minority Chinese elderly. Complex interactions between acculturation, language competency, accessibility of cultural food, and socioeconomic factors related to the nutritional health risk status are needed for further qualitative research investigations

Intake and Biomarkers of Folate and Risk of Cancer Morbidity in Older Adults, NHANES 1999-2002 with Medicare Linkage.

BACKGROUND:After the 1998 mandatory folic acid fortification of enriched cereal-grain products in the U.S., safety concerns were raised that excess consumption of folic acid and high blood folate biomarkers detected in adults may increase the risk of certain types of cancer. METHODS:Baseline data from about 1400 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002, aged ≥ 57 years were linked to Medicare and mortality files through December 31, 2007. Using cox proportional hazards regression models, we assessed associations between dietary folate equivalents, folate biomarkers, the presence of unmetabolized folic acid and, overall cancer incidence. RESULTS:With 8,114 person-years of follow-up (median follow-up, 6.3 years), about 125 cancer cases were identified. After adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratios of the highest quartile versus the second quartile of RBC folate and dietary folate equivalents were 0.54 (95% CI: 0.31-0.93) and 0.54 (95% CI: 0.30-0.95), respectively. Additionally, serum and RBC folate as continuous variables were inversely and significantly associated with cancer incidence (p<0.01). No significant associations were observed between the presence of unmetabolized folic acid, intake of naturally-occurring food folate or folic acid separately, and cancer incidence. CONCLUSIONS:High total folate intake and biomarkers in older adults appear to be protective against cancer in post-folic acid fortification years. This study does not show a negative impact of current level of folic acid fortification on cancer risk. As this is one of the few studies to examine the association between unmetabolized folic acid and cancer outcome, a study including a larger nationwide representative sample of the U.S. population is needed

Sources of Dietary Fiber and the Association of Fiber Intake with Childhood Obesity Risk (in 2–18 Year Olds) and Diabetes Risk of Adolescents 12–18 Year Olds: NHANES 2003–2006

Increased fiber intake has been linked with lower risk of overweight and obesity in adults, but data are sparse for children. To address this issue, NHANES 2003–2006 data was used to evaluate (1) the food sources of fiber in children, (2) the dietary fiber density levels and risk of being classified as overweight/obese, and (3) the association between fiber intake level and impaired glucose metabolism in children. Analyses were restricted to the subsample of children with biological plausible diet reports (N=4,667) and stratified by 2–11 year olds (n=2072) and 12–18 year olds (n=2595). Results showed that the food sources are predominantly foods that are low in dietary fiber, but are consumed at high levels. In 2–18 year old plausible reporters, the risk for overweight/obesity decreased by 17% from children in the medium tertile of fiber density intake compared to the lowest tertile (OR=0.83, P value = 0.043) and by 21% between the highest compared to the lowest tertile (OR=0.79, P value = 0.031). There was a protective effect of being in the medium tertile of dietary fiber density (OR=0.68, P value <0.001) on impaired glucose metabolism. These results indicate a beneficial effect of higher fiber density in children’s diets

Hazard ratios of overall cancer incidence and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) by continuous levels of red blood cell (RBC) folate, serum folate, and dietary folate equivalents (DFE) ¹, NHANES 1999–2002.

<p>Hazard ratios of overall cancer incidence and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) by continuous levels of red blood cell (RBC) folate, serum folate, and dietary folate equivalents (DFE) <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0148697#t003fn001" target="_blank">¹</a>, NHANES 1999–2002.</p

Thrifty Food Plan, 2006

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), a fundamental part of the U.S. food guidance system and the basis for maximum food stamp allotments, has been revised by USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), with assistance from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Economic Research Service (ERS), and Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The TFP provides a representative healthful and minimal cost meal plan that shows how a nutritious diet may be achieved with limited resources. The Plan assumes that all purchased food is consumed at home. The TFP was last revised in 1999. The newly revised (2006) TFP differs from, and improves upon, the previous TFP in a number of ways. The 2006 TFP: • Is based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as well as the 2005 MyPyramid Food Guidance System. • Uses the prices low-income people paid for many foods. • Uses the latest data on food consumption, nutrient content, and food prices: the 2001- 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 2001-2002 Food Price Database. • Offers a more realistic reflection of the time available for food preparation, especially with increased expectations for work in assistance programs. Hence, it allows more prepared foods and requires somewhat fewer preparations from scratch. Although different from the previous TFP, the revised TFP is similar in one important respect : It is set at the same inflation-adjusted cost as the previous TFP. CNPP determined it was possible, for the 2001-2002 period, to obtain a healthful diet meeting current nutritional standards at a cost equal to the previous TFP’s cost

Healthy Eating Index-2015 Scores Vary by Types of Food Outlets in the United States

Diet quality in the United States is improving over time but remains poor. Food outlets influence diet quality and represent the environments in which individuals make choices about food purchases and intake. The objective of this study was to use the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) to evaluate the quality of foods consumed from the four major outlets where food is obtained—stores, full-service restaurants, quick-services restaurants, and schools—and to assess changes over time. This cross-sectional study used 24 h dietary recall data from eight cycles (2003–2004 to 2017–2018) of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Linear trend estimation was used to test for changes in HEI scores over time, and balanced repeated replicate weighted linear regression was used to test for differences in total and component scores between types of food outlets. Overall, Americans are not consuming a mix of foods from any major category of food outlet that aligns with dietary guidelines. The total score for schools (65/100 points) and stores (62/100 points) was significantly higher than full-service (51/100 points) and quick-service (39/100 points) restaurants (p &lt; 0.0001). HEI scores significantly improved over time for schools (p &lt; 0.001), including an increase in whole grains from less than 1 point in 2003–2004 to 7 out of 10 points in 2017–2018. In 2017–2018, schools received the maximum score for total fruits, whole fruits, and dairy. Continued research on strategies for improving the quality of foods consumed from restaurants and stores is warranted