This study examined the determinants of blood lead (BPb) in 513 pregnant women in Mexico City: 311 from public hospital prenatal clinics, representing primarily women of low socioeconomic status (SES), and 202 from private hospitals, primarily women of high SES. Overall, BPb levels ranged from 1.38 to 29 micrograms/dl, with geometric means of 6.7 and 11.12 micrograms/dl for women from private a...

BACKGROUND An important consideration in determining the ability of fortified food-aid commodities to meet the nutritional needs of beneficiaries is the manner in which commodities are utilized and prepared and the degree to which micronutrient losses occur during handling and cooking by the beneficiaries. OBJECTIVE A field study was conducted in Uganda, Malawi, and Guatemala to obtain data o...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this article is to engage clinicians in a dialogue about ideas on how to provide more specific, contextually relevant, practical and culturally tailored diabetes self-management recommendations as suggested by Mexican-American women diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Current diabetes self-management recommendations, targeting Mexican Americans in particular, remain largel...

INTRODUCTION The US Department of Agriculture has stocking criteria for healthy foods among Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP)-authorized retailers. Increased access to healthy food could improve diet quality among SNAP participants, which has implications for chronic disease prevention. The objective of this study was to quantify healthy foods stocked in small-size to mid-size ret...

Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium spp. and commonly contaminate maize and maize products worldwide. Fumonisins are rodent carcinogens and have been associated with human esophageal cancer. However, the lack of a valid exposure biomarker has hindered both the assessment of human exposure and the evaluation of disease risk. A sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method t...

This dissertation analyzes determinants of obesity and a cash transfer policy to alleviate poverty and its effects on obesity. I used data from the United States and Mexico to highlight evidence from two countries that are neighbors but very different in their socio-economic makeup. In the first chapter, I examined the relationship between the number and type of food outlets in a neighborhood a...

The performance of a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit (Enviro-Logix) was assessed for the determination of Cry9C protein, which is produced by the genetically modified corn StarLink, in 8 types of corn-based foods (starch, refined oil, soft tortillas, tortilla chips, corn flakes, corn puffs, corn muffins, and corn bread) in an interlaboratory study involving 7 labora...