Many young children with autism exhibit feeding-related difficulties, such as accepting a limited diet, demonstrating texture aversions, or using only specific mealtime utensils. Young children with autism need assistance to acquire skills to improve mealtime behavior, including increased acceptance of a variety of foods (types and textures) at…

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the extent to which vending offerings in 106 schools in the St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area, met criteria for types of beverages, fat, and calories based on selected criteria offered by the Institute of Medicine. Methods: Schools where youth participants were attending for the…

Objectives: To explore the relationship between causal beliefs on autism (CBA) and treatment choices. Design and methods: A cross-sectional design was employed. Parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were asked to complete the Lay-Beliefs about Autism Questionnaire (LBA-Q) and answer questions about treatments used. Only items…

The Mayo Clinic Disparities Program and the University of North Florida Brooks College of Health partnered with representatives of the Hispanic community of Northeast Florida to develop an educational program aimed at raising awareness of the importance of diet in breast cancer prevention and availability of free breast cancer screening. An…

This study evaluated a model linking internalization and dieting behaviors in a sample ("n" = 499) of Latina/o and White college students. Analyses revealed that the scales were invariant across ethnic and gender groups and generally supported the invariance of the proposed model across these groups. Analyses also revealed no ethnic mean…

Baseline findings from the Healthy Home Child Care Project include data from Family Child Care Providers (FCCPs) in Oregon (n=53) who completed assessments of nutrition and physical activity policies and practices and BMI data for children in the care of FCCPs (n=205). Results show that a significant percentage of FCCPs failed to meet child care…

Background: People with intellectual disability (ID) are more likely to have health problems than people without disability. Little previous research has investigated health from the perspective of the people with ID themselves. We aimed to focus on what people with ID understand being healthy to mean and what their experiences are of healthy…

Objective: Examine after-school activity patterns, eating behaviors, and social environment of overweight and normal weight middle school students. Design: Eating and physical activity behaviors of 141 students, ages 10-14, were monitored. Students completed a diary documenting type of activity, location, adult supervision, accompanying…

Cultural Celebration was a quantity foods class project with embedded problem-based learning that involved a departmental event planned and catered by students and their instructor each fall semester for 5 consecutive years. It provided a creative way to meet outcome measures assigned to a junior/senior level course required in the dietetics and…

More and more research is showing that excessive sugars, dyes, preservatives, and possibly even milk and wheat products can affect activity level, attention, interactions, confidence, and sense of well being, all factors that impact a child's ability to learn. A child cannot be asked to make healthy food choices while the rest of the family makes…

Eating behaviours begin to develop during early childhood, but relatively little is known about preschoolers' nutrition knowledge. The current study examined age and gender differences in this knowledge using two tasks: food group classification and the creation of unhealthy, healthy and preferred meals. Sixty-nine three- to six-year-old children…

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP) are designed to provide expanded opportunities for physical activity beyond regularly scheduled physical education time-including before, during, and after school, as well as at home and in the community. While CSPAPs are gaining support, currently there are no models for designing,…

Background: Obesity is a major concern among American Indians and Hispanics. The Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE) is an evidence-based intervention to prevent obesity in children enrolled in 16 Head Start (HS) Centers in rural communities. The design and implementation of CHILE are described. Methods: CHILE uses a…

Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, but they are the most underserved population in terms of access to online health information. The specific aims of this descriptive, correlational study were to examine factors associated with online health information seeking behaviors of Hispanics and to examine the…

Objectives: To assess associations of physical activity, diet, and sedentary behaviors with overweight and obesity. Methods: Analyses of the NHANES 2003-06 were conducted among 2368 US adolescents, ages 12-19. Self-reported diet and sedentary behavior measures were used; physical activity was assessed using accelerometers. Results:…