Volume 21 Issue 1

▪ Keyword : anemia, vitamin A, zinc, multiple-micronutrient, supplementation

▪ Content : This study is to clarify the impact of vitamin A or vitamin A combined with other micronutrients supplementation on anemia and growth in preschoolers. In the present study, a total of 290 preschoolers, aged 36-72 months old were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: vitamin A (A group), vitamin A plus zinc (AZ group), and vitamin.

▪ Keyword : body mass index (BMI), pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain (GWG), pregnancy outcomes, low birth weight

▪ Content : BACKGROUND: Pre-pregnancy weight and gestational weight gain (GWG) are important factors in both maternal and infant outcomes. Little information is available in relation to different levels of pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and body weight gain on obstetric outcomes in Taiwan. This study investigated the associations between pregnancy complications with pre-pregnant BMI and GWG, in Taiwanese women.

▪ Keyword : the metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, risk factors, prospective study, receiver operating characteristic curve

▪ Content : Although the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the current dichotomous definition of MetS cannot be used to evaluate context-specific identification or for efforts to reduce the risk of CVD in the population. In this study, we assigned MetS a continuous risk score for predicting the development of CVD.

▪ Keyword : Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), 24-hours dietary recall, validity, reproducibility, adolescents

▪ Content : Background: Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) must be tailored to the target populations because dietary habits vary within the populations due to differences in cultural and lifestyles practices. Limited information is available to assess the validity of FFQ used among Malaysian adolescents. Objective: To construct the validity and reproducibility of a newly developed FFQ in assessing habitual nutrients intake over the past year of 170 Malay adolescent boys and girls in Kelantan, Malaysia.

▪ Keyword : aging, brain development, cognition, cognitive decline, nutrition

▪ Content : A Symposium on Nutrition and Cognition: Towards Research and Application for Different Life Stages was held on October 2010 in Malaysia. The influence of diet and nutrition on the cognitive development of the child and on cognitive decline in later life was reviewed. Central to the study of such topics is the assessment of cognitive functioning.

▪ Keyword : school nutrition, school lunch, school meals, nutrition education, nutrition teacher

▪ Content : School nutrition programs are essential for children’s long-term nutrition and health promotion. The last decade has been the most dramatic years in the history of school nutrition programs in Korea. The percentage of schools serving school lunches reached almost 100% in 2003. In 2006, School Meals Act was significantly revised after serial outbreaks of food-borne illness among students having eaten school lunches.

▪ Keyword : dietitian, school-age children, school lunch program, nutritional education, Taiwan

▪ Content : Nutrition-related problems among school-age children nowadays become potentially serious. In order to prevent obesity and other nutritionally related diseases in the young generation, a school lunch program has been proposed and conducted in Taiwan. It is to ensure that students’ nutritional intake meets the daily requirement and to help students develop correct eating habits and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

▪ Keyword : School meal program, school kitchen, elementary school, dietary intake, Vietnamese children

▪ Content : The socio-economic status in Vietnam has developed during the past decades. People become busier for work, and thus they do not have enough time to prepare meal for their children. The school meal program, organized by Department of Education, was first implemented at a kindergarten in 1977, which has been extended to elementary school since 1980.

▪ Keyword : health, diet, children, youth, health promotion

▪ Content : Healthy diet is a key tenet in the prevention of many chronic diseases. Nurturing healthy dietary habits is especially important in childhood as this is a critical period of growth and development. Furthermore, dietary habits are shaped from an early age with many of them forming even below the age of 5 years.

▪ Keyword : Mid Day Meal Scheme, malnutrition, education, India, literacy

▪ Content : The School Lunch Program in India (SLP) is the largest food and nutrition assistance program feeding millions of children every day. This paper provides a review of the background information on the SLP in India earlier known as national program for nutrition support to primary education (NP-NSPE) and later as mid day meal scheme, including historical trends and objectives and components/characteristics of the scheme.

▪ Keyword : alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), diabetes, PGF2α-Isoprostanes (F2α-IsoP), 8-Hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8- OHdG), oxidative stress

▪ Content : Despite well-controlled blood glucose levels, diabetic complications still inevitably take place via several mechanisms including excessive generation of free radicals in patients who suffer from diabetes mellitus (DM). A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of oral supplementation of DL-alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on glycemic and oxidative status in DM patients was conducted.

▪ Keyword : school lunch program, The School Lunch Act, Shokuiku, Diet and Nutrition Teacher, Japan

▪ Content : In Japan, the present school lunch program has been implemented under the “School Lunch Act” enacted in 1954. The main purpose of the school lunch program is to promote healthy development of the minds and bodies of school children. Later, “The School Lunch Act” was revised in 2008 and its aim was changed to “promoting Shokuiku”. As of May 2009, approximately 10 million school children participate in the school lunch program.

▪ Keyword : Shokuiku, food and nutrition education, dietitian, registered dietitian, Japan

▪ Content : This paper provides the overview of “Shokuiku” in Japan, and discusses the future perspective on application of its concepts to nutrition education in other Asian countries. In Japan, there has been a growing concern on increase of obesity and the metabolic syndrome among middle-aged men. Additionally, child obesity has also become one of the important health problems.

▪ Keyword : Commentary

▪ Content : With every issue of APJCN, the following statement is made: The aims of the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition (APJCN) are to promote the education and training of clinical nutritionists in the region and to enhance the practice of human nutrition and related disciplines in their application to health and the prevention of disease

▪ Keyword : behavior therapy, body weight changes, randomized controlled trial, follow-up studies, diet

▪ Content : This study evaluated effects of a behavioral approach which placed emphasis on tailored behavior counseling, diet, weight loss and weight maintenance. A one-year randomized controlled trial was conducted among 235 overweight/obese adults in Japan. The intervention group (n=119) received individual-based counseling using a behavioral approach and the changes made in the diet and physical activity were dependent on each participant as much as possible.

▪ Keyword : rice intake, weight change, the metabolic syndrome, Chinese, cohort study

▪ Content : Objectives: To examine the association between rice intake, staple food patterns (measured by percentage of rice in staple food (PRS)), weight change and the risk of the metabolic syndrome development. Methods: We followed 1231 adults, aged 20 and older, from 2002 to 2007. Food intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Body weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose and lipids were measured.

▪ Keyword : anthropometric measurements, geriatrics, serum albumin, mortality, decubitus ulcer

▪ Content : Objective: Malnutrition is frequent in the geriatric population and is often undetected and untreated. Although we often use serum albumin as a nutritional marker, it has limitations in elderly patients in terms of predicting diseases and infections. Anthropometric measurements are not commonly used, despite their simple, easy, and effective characteristics.

▪ Keyword : isoflavones, HPLC, soy drink, osteoporosis, Vietnam

▪ Content : The effectiveness of soy isoflavones to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women is controversial. While consumption of soy in Vietnam is very high, we recently reported a prevalence of osteoporosis comparable to that of many Western populations. In the present study, we analyzed the isoflavone content of soy drink products commercially available in Vietnam and Sweden, and we also compared these products to “home-made” soy drink from beans of different origin.

▪ Keyword : food preferences, preschool children, over-weight, obesity, Mexico

▪ Content : Objective: To evaluate the preference of healthy and unhealthy foods among pre-school children attending daycare and its association with that of their parents, body mass index and socio-demographic variables. Methodology: We asked children and parents to depict their food preferences through 54 pictures of different food items

▪ Keyword : depression, socioeconomic status, body mass index, interaction, elementary school

▪ Content : Depression is an important health problem in children and the onset of depression is occurring at a younger age than previously suggested. The associations of being overweight and low socioeconomic status in childhood depression have been well documented; nevertheless few studies have addressed the combined effects of socioeconomic status and body weight, with depression in school-age children.

▪ Keyword : asthma, children, dietary pattern, risk factors, reduced rank regression

▪ Content : Childhood asthma has rapidly increased over the past few decades, possibly due to changes in lifestyle and dietary patterns. We aimed to determine associations between dietary patterns and asthma in schoolchildren in Taiwan. The Nutrition and Health survey in Taiwan Elementary School Children was carried out by using a multistaged complex sampling design.