OBJECTIVE Investigate food choice, food access, and food insecurity among seniors. METHODS Eight focus groups were conducted in 2 counties with high and low Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation rates. A total of 62 seniors (aged ≥ 60 years) were recruited and each attended 1 focus group at a community center. The sample was 79% female and most were Caucasian (91%), s...

despite reports on association between overweight/obesity among women and household food insecurity (fi) in developed countries, such association is not evident in developing countries. this study aimed to assess the association between household fi and weight status in adult females in tehran, iran.in this cross-sectional study, 418 households were selected through systematic cluster sampling ...

BACKGROUND Inequitable access to healthy food may contribute to health disparities. This study examines the relationship between the prevalence of adult diabetes and food access in the U.S. by county economic/racial composition. METHODS An ecological study from 2012 was used to estimate the relationship between diabetes and retail food outlet access. County diabetes prevalence was measured ba...

Running wheel access and resulting voluntary exercise alter food intake and reduce body weight. The neural mechanisms underlying these effects are unclear. In this study, we first assessed the effects of 7 days of running wheel access on food intake, body weight, and hypothalamic gene expression. We demonstrate that running wheel access significantly decreases food intake and body weight and re...

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric illness characterized by excessively restricted caloric intake and abnormally high levels of physical activity. A challenging illness to treat, due to the lack of understanding of the underlying neurobiology, AN has the highest mortality rate among psychiatric illnesses. To address this need, neuroscientists are using an animal model to study how neural ci...

OBJECTIVE To examine the associations between financial, physical and transport conditions that may restrict food access (which we define as food security indicators) and the purchase of fast foods and nutritious staples such as bread and milk. DESIGN Multilevel logistic and multinomial regression analysis of cross-sectional survey data to assess associations between the three indicators of f...

We all have bacteria in our guts, and so do all animals, including birds. These bacteria are good for us in many ways and help to digest the food we eat. We often see similar groups of bacteria in the guts of animals that are related to each other. But it is not clear why this is. It could be because similar animals eat similar foods, or maybe because of other similarities between the related a...

Previous research has linked neighborhood characteristics and obesity trends. In particular, lack of access to affordable, healthy food is seen as contributing to poor dietary habits and low levels of physical activity. At the household level, food choices are often shaped by time constraints where working families use fast food to cope with low pay and long, inflexible work schedules, and as a...