Although the importance of fruit and vegetable (F&V) intakes in the prevention of chronic diseases is well established, there are limited data on intakes in very young children. This study estimates F&V intakes and sources and the contribution to the total diet using data from the National Pre-School Nutrition Survey, a nationally representative sample (n 500) of Irish children aged 1-4 years. ...

OBJECTIVE To document the energy and nutrient intake of Mexican preschool children using data from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2006 (ENSANUT 2006). MATERIAL AND METHODS Dietary data from 3 552 children less than 5 years old collected through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire were analyzed. Energy and nutrient daily intakes and adequacies were calculated. Co...

OBJECTIVE We investigated associations between changes in national food energy supply and in average population body weight. METHODS We collected data from 24 high-, 27 middle- and 18 low-income countries on the average measured body weight from global databases, national health and nutrition survey reports and peer-reviewed papers. Changes in average body weight were derived from study pairs...

To consolidate an effective and efficient universal health care coverage requires a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the health care system in providing services demanded by population in need. This study analyses the dynamics of health insurance coverage and effective access coverage to some health interventions in Mexico. It examines the evolution of inequalities and heterogeneou...

AIM We established a monitoring system for the annual follow-up of blood chemistry data obtained by the National Health and Nutrition Survey in Japan. METHODS Blood chemistry testing has been entrusted to SRL Inc. We used two external quality control assurance programs established by the Japan Medical Association (JMA) and by CDC/CRMLN during the previous 8-year period. Ten analytes were meas...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the dietary quality of Mexican adults' diet, we constructed three dietary quality indices: a cardioprotective index (CPI), a micronutrient adequacy index (MAI) and a dietary diversity index (DDI). DESIGN Data were derived from the 2006 National Health and Nutrition Survey, which is a national survey representative of the Mexican population with a stratified, multistage, ...

The effectiveness of flour fortification in reducing anaemia prevalence is equivocal. The goal was to utilise the existing national-level data to assess whether anaemia in non-pregnant women was reduced after countries began fortifying wheat flour, alone or in combination with maize flour, with at least Fe, folic acid, vitamin A or vitamin B12. Nationally representative anaemia data were identi...

BACKGROUND There is little information on country trends in the complete distributions of children's anthropometric status, which are needed to assess all levels of mild to severe undernutrition. We aimed to estimate trends in the distributions of children's anthropometric status and assess progress towards the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG 1) target of halving the prevalence of weight-for...

OBJECTIVE Prevalence of acute malnutrition is classically estimated by the proportion of children meeting a case definition in a representative population sample. In 1995 the WHO proposed the PROBIT method, based on converting parameters of a normally distributed variable to cumulative probability, as an alternative method requiring a smaller sample size. The present study compares classical an...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D homeostasis may play a critical role in glucose metabolism. Little is known on vitamin D deficiency and its association with diabetes in countries of the Arabia Gulf where the population is experiencing a rapid increase in the incidence of diabetes. METHODS In a cross-sectional study of 960 adults enrolled in the first National Nutrition Survey of the State of Kuwait (NNS...