scholarly journals Total and whole grain intake in Latin America: findings from the multicenter cross-sectional Latin American Study of Health and Nutrition (ELANS)

Author(s):  
Regina Mara Fisberg ◽  
Mariane Mello Fontanelli ◽  
Irina Kowalskys ◽  
Georgina Gómez ◽  
Attilio Rigotti ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Regina Mara Fisberg ◽  
Ana Carolina Barco Leme ◽  
Ágatha Nogueira Previdelli ◽  
Aline Veroneze de Mello ◽  
Angela Martinez Arroyo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: To quantify the energy, nutrients-to-limit and total gram amount consumed, and identify their top food sources consumed by Latin Americans. Design: Data from The Latin American Study of Nutrition and Health (ELANS). Setting: ELANS is a cross-sectional study representative of eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Participants: Two 24h dietary recalls on non-consecutive days were used to estimate usual dietary intake of 9218 participants with ages between 15-65years. “What We Eat in America” food classification system developed by USDA was adapted and used to classify all food items consumed by the ELANS population. Food sources of energy, added sugars, saturated fatty acids (SFA), sodium and total gram amount consumed were identified and ranked based on percentage contribution to intake of total amount. Results: Three-highest ranked food categories of total energy consumed were: rice (10.3%), yeast breads (6.9%), and turnovers and other grain-based items (6.8%). Highest ranked food sources of total gram amount consumed were: fruit drinks (9.6%), other 100% juice (9.3%), and rice (8.3%). Three highest ranked sources for added sugars were: other 100% juice (24.1%), fruit drinks (16.5%), and sugar and honey (12.4%). SFA ranked foods were: turnovers and other grain-based (12.6%), cheese (11.9%), and pizza (10.3%). Three top sources of sodium were: rice (13.9%), soups (9.1%), and rice mixed dishes (7.3%). Conclusion: Identification of top sources of energy and nutrients-to-limit among Latin Americans is critical for designing strategies to help them meet nutrient recommendations within energy needs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Fisberg ◽  
Irina Kovalskys ◽  
Georgina Gómez Salas ◽  
Rossina Gabriella Pareja Torres ◽  
Martha Cecilia Yépez García ◽  
...  

This report examines the challenges of conducting a multicenter, cross-sectional study of countries with diverse cultures, and shares the lessons learned. The Latin American Study of Nutrition and Health (ELANS) was used as a feasibility study involving the most populous cities of eight countries in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) in 2014–2015, about 40% of the population of the Americas. The target sample included 9 000 individuals, 15–65 years of age, and was stratified by geographic location (only urban areas), gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Six principal challenges were identified: team structuring and site selections; developing a single protocol; obtaining ethic approvals; completing simultaneous fieldwork; ensuring data quality; and extracting data and maintaining consistency across databases. Lessons learned show that harmonization, pilot study, uniformity of procedures, high data quality control, and communication and collaboration across sites are imperative. Barriers included organizational complexity, recruitment of collaborators and research staff, institutional cooperation, development of infrastructure, and identification of resources. Consensus on uniform measures and outcomes and data collection methodology, as well as a plan for data management and analysis, communication, publication, and dissemination of study results should be in place prior to beginning fieldwork. While challenging, such studies offer great potential for building a scientific base for studies on nutrition, physical activity, and other health topics, while facilitating comparisons among countries.


Author(s):  
Dayana Rojas ◽  
Jorge Saavedra ◽  
Mariya Petrova ◽  
Yue Pan ◽  
José Szapocznik

AbstractSARS-CoV-2 has infected over one hundred million people worldwide and has affected Latin America particularly severely in terms of both cases and deaths. This study aims to determine the association between SARS-CoV-2 testing and COVID-19 fatality rate worldwide over 8 months and to examine how this relationship differs between Latin America and all other countries. This cross-sectional study used March 2021 data from 169 countries. Multivariate regressions predicted COVID-19 fatality (outcome) from the number of SARS-CoV-2 tests (exposure), while controlling for other predictors. Results for March 2021 were compared to results from June 2020. Additionally, results for Latin America were also compared to all other countries except Latin American for March 2021. SARS-CoV-2 testing was associated with a significant decrease in COVID-19 fatality rate in both June 2020 and March 2021 (RR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.87–0.96 and RR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.74–1.00, respectively). SARS-CoV-2 testing was associated with a significant decrease in COVID-19 fatality rate in Latin American countries but not in all other countries (RR = 0.45; 95% CI 0.23–0.89 and RR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.82–1.11, respectively). However, the difference between the risk ratios for June 2020 and March 2021 and between the risk ratios for Latin America and all other countries were not statistically significant. Increased SARS-CoV-2 testing may be a significant predictor of lower COVID-19 case fatality rate, specifically in Latin American countries, due to the existence of a strong association, which may have driven the worldwide results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis F Gomez ◽  
Carolina Soto-Salazar ◽  
José Guerrero ◽  
María Garcia ◽  
Diana C Parra

Abstract To conduct a systematic review examining the associations between neighborhood environments and self-rated health (SRH) and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the urban context of Latin America. We conducted a structured search of quantitative studies in three bibliographic databases published in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French from January 1990 to December 2015. We restricted the search to studies conducted in Latin-American cities with one million and more inhabitants. Eleven studies were finally included in the analysis. Ten were cross-sectional studies and one was a cohort follow-up study. Two studies found positive associations between accessibility to parks and HR-QOL. One study found that high neighborhood social capital was positively associated with SRH. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was positively associated with both HR-QOL and SRH in two studies. A walkable neighborhood was positively associated with SRH in two studies. Three studies included attributes related with neighborhood security perception and road safety, with higher scores of HR-QOL, both in the physical and mental dimensions, while high levels of street noise were negatively associated. Narrowness and slope of streets were negatively associated with SRH. No association was found between the perception of neighborhood security and SRH. The results of this systematic review show that several studies conducted in Latin America have found significant associations between neighborhood environment and SRH and HRQOL. However, the relatively small number of studies and the heterogeneity among them require further studies to better understand this topic in the region.


2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Baker ◽  
Kenneth F. Greene

The rise of the left across Latin America is one of the most striking electoral events to occur in new democracies during the last decade. Current work argues either that the left's electoral success stems from a thoroughgoing rejection of free-market policies by voters or that electorates have sought to punish poorly performing right-wing incumbents. Whether the new left has a policy or performance mandate has implications for the type of policies it may pursue in power and the voting behavior of Latin American electorates. Using a new measure of voter ideology called vote-revealed leftism (VRL) and a time-series cross-sectional analysis of aggregate public opinion indicators generated from mass surveys of eighteen countries over thirteen years, the authors show that the left has a clear economic policy mandate but that this mandate is much more moderate than many observers might expect. In contrast to the generalized view that new democracies are of low quality, the authors reach the more optimistic conclusion that wellreasoned voting on economic policy issues and electoral mandates are now relevant features of politics in Latin America.


2008 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus J. Kurtz ◽  
Sarah M. Brooks

Although research in the advanced industrial nations has identified a supportive link between an expanded public sector role and economic openness, studies of the developing world have been much less sanguine about the possibilities of broader state intervention in the context of economic liberalization. The authors investigate the possibility that governments in Latin America may “embed” economic openness in a broader public sector effort. They find that while several countries have moved toward an orthodox neoliberal model with minimal state interventions, other Latin American governments have maintained a broader public sector presence on the supply side of the economy while pursuing deep liberalization. They call the latter strategy “embeddedneoliberalism,” to distinguish it from the more egalitarian ambitions of postwar embedded liberalism. Cross-sectional time-series analysis reveals that embedded neoliberal strategies in Latin America have grown out of a legacy of advanced import-substitution industrialization and have been promoted by nonleft governments, except in cases where labor is very strong. The orthodox neoliberal model, by contrast, has emerged where postwar industrial development was attenuated and where labor unions were weakened considerably by the debt crisis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fisberg ◽  
◽  
I. Kovalskys ◽  
G. Gómez ◽  
A. Rigotti ◽  
...  

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