Post Midterm Material Flashcards
List the four main groups of factors affecting food choice.
Culture
Nutrition Knowledge & beliefs
Food
Practical considerations
Describe the cultural factors affecting food choice. [4]
- Acceptable foods
- Customs
- Food symbolism
- Religious beliefs
Describe the nutrition knowledge and beliefs influence on food selection. [3]
- Health concerns
- Attitudes and values
- Education
Describe practical considerations affecting food choice. [4]
- Food availability and cost
- Hunger
- Convenience
- Health status
Describe how food preferences influence food choice. [3]
- Taste, smell, colour, texture, temperature
- Hereditary
- Familiarity
Primarily learned; change over time; informed by culture
What is culture? [3]
- The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning
- All cultures are equally developed – none is better, more advanced, or more primitive than any other
- Food is a major part of culture (it both informs and demonstrates culture)
- Something we learn throughout life
- Culture is dynamic, it’s always changing.
“Customary ways of thinking and acting”
Answer: C
At the end of the day, what foods you’re able to eat depends on convenience, availability and cost, as well as health status (i.e., ability to acquire and prepare food). Your preferences, beliefs knowledge, and culture all come secondary to practical considerations.
Describe the importance of cultural factors in dietary habits. [5]
- How food is acquired and stored
- Which foods are selected for consumption (food availability)
- How foods are prepared
- Meal patterns
- Attitudes towards food
What is acculturation? [2]
- The adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture
- Results in changes in culture and customs, food, clothing, language
What is ethnocentrism? [3]
- The belief that one’s own value system and lifestyle is most appropriate
- Judging another culture by the values and standards of one’s own culture
- How ethnocentrism can be expressed: When we encounter lifestyle/values that are different from ours and respond with: dissaproval, anger, disgust, disbelief, pity, or amusement.
What is cultural relativism? [3]
- Beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, ethics (i.e., culture) is relative to social context
- Belief that there are no right or wrong cultures, cultures are just different
- We should not judge another society’s culture
Describe the influence of religion on food for Jewish people.
- Jewish dietary rules based on scholarly interpretations of the Torah
- Kosher: what acceptable is to eat
- “The pig ….. he is unclean to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.” (Leviticus 11:8)
Describe the influence of religion on food for Islamic people.
- Halal: that which is permitted
- Examples of non-halal (i.e., ‘haram’ = prohibited) foods: pork (pig); animals not slaughtered in accordance with halal practices; alcohol
The body functions best with what kind of diet?
A diet emphasizing lean protein, high fibre, complex carbohydrates, vegetables & fruits, and minimizing sugar and sodium.
What is the basis for modern dietary habits? [2]
* Agricultural revolution: human culture moved away from hunter-gatherer to agriculture and settlement approximately 12,000 years ago.
* Industrial revolution: consolidation and intensification in agriculture and industry; began in the UK ~1750-1850
Describe some processes in the food industry that were introduced during the Industrial Revolution. [6]
- Refining whole grains: removal of most of the fibre and vitamins
- Refining sugar: processed sugar cane or sugar beets
- Pasteurization
- Refrigeration
- Canned food
- Hydrogenation
Industrialization increases food processing and consumption of processed foods.
What are some of the social determinants of health? [10]
- Income & social status
- Physical environments
- Employment & working conditions
- Education & literacy
- Childhood experiences
- Gender
- Culture
- Social support
- Race
- Indigeneity
Define urban ‘slums’ and provide examples of nutrition-related challenges associated with living in an urban slum.
A “slum” is defined by the following 5 characteristics:
1. Overcrowding
2. Inadequate access to safe water
3. Inadequate access to sanitation and infrastructure
4. Housing is of poor structural quality
5. Insecure residential status
Globally, it is estimated that approximately 1/3 of people living in an urban setting are living in an urban slum and lack access to improved water, improved sanitation, sufficient housing area, and/or housing of adequate quality.
Describe production via sack gardens and how they improve food security in the context of urban slums. Also list: Benefits [4]. Challenges [3].
Sack gardens: urban farming initiative, can contribute to food security in urban slums
**Empty sugar sack filled with soil, manure, stones
* In holes, plant kale, spinach, Swiss chard, etc.
* Applies agricultural knowledge of many urban poor who have migrated from rural villages
Benefits?
* Improved food security
* Average harvest: vegetables for 4 meals/wk
* Dietary diversification
* May be able to sell some of harvest
Challenges?
* Limited availability of clean soil, water, manure, seedlings, space
* Damage from pests and animals
* Goats and “midnight harvesters”
Wash interventions reduce [3].
WASH interventions reduce:
* diarrhea: kills 1,370 children per day; 60% of these deaths due to inadequate WASH
* intestinal parasites
* environmental enteropathy
Comment on the extent to which diarrhea is responsible for children’s deaths throughout the world
Diarrhea burden from birth–24 months predicts stunting
Example: In a pooled analysis of 9 studies, 28% of stunting at 24 months attributed to having 5+ episodes of diarrhea from birth–24 months
Diarrhea kills 1370 children per day. This is more than malaria, aids and measles combined. 60% due to inadequate WASH.
Who pays via lost opportunities when water is not available on premises?
“When water is not on premises and needs to be collected, it’s our women and girls who are mostly paying with their time and lost opportunities” -Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Division
Worldwide, women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours—every day—collecting water. -UNICEF, 2016
= 8.3 million (24-hour) days
More than 2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water.
Consider the role of social norms and personal beliefs in
strategies to reduce open defecation and give examples of initiatives that have aimed to change social norms
- Social pressure used to help end open defecation and increase sanitation facilities via large media campaign (key message: women should be able to use a latrine in privacy and security)
- Encouraged girls’ families to
demand a latrine of boys’ families before marriage - Appears to have increased latrine ownership among families with boys of marriage age by ~20% in 2004
- Resulted in ~700,000 more toilets in the state in 2008 versus 2004
“No toilet, no bride” – “No loo, no I do”
Answer: C
Vitamin A is integral to a strong immune response.
Answer: Zinc
10-14 days of supplementation in addition to oral rehydration.
List some improved water sources. [7]
Even improved sources can be contaminated.
Improved sources of drinking water include:
* Piped water into dwelling
* Piped water to yard/plot
* Public tap
* Tubewell or borehole
* Protected dug well
* Protected spring
* Rainwater collected and stored until used
List some improved sanitation.
- Flush toilet
- Piped sewer system
- Septic tank
- Flush/pour flush to pit latrine
- Pit latrine with slab
- Composting toilet
~2.4 billion people worldwide do not have access to an “improved” sanitation facility. 13% of global population engages in “open defecation”
How many people wash their hands after potential contact with waste?
Though hard to measure, it is estimated that only 19% of people throughout the world wash hands after potential contact with excreta.
What is ‘pourism’?
“Poorism” (i.e., taking tourists into slums to observe people living in significant economic poverty) is a growing niche in the tourism industry throughout Africa and elsewhere (e.g., Brazil, India).
What is ‘voluntourism’?
Doing volunteer work on another country with an
aim to make a positive contribution
Pros: learn about others; deepen empathy; tourism provides economic opportunities; if volunteer is trained to do the work they are doing - may be helpful
Cons: drains local resources; disrupts local economy; volunteers inexperienced; inadequate supervision; short involvement; may have (very) negative impacts on people
From a public health perspective, why would we want to reduce the number of people who engage in open defecation?
- Reduce chance of excreta entering water crops and food crops
- Infection can spread through feces
- Limit risk of transmission of transmission
- Vectors (i.e., pests like flies) can spread disease
- Support mental health
Most of the people worldwide who defecate in the open live in India (most in rural areas).
True or False?
True.
Open defecation is associated with increased infant mortality, stunting, and reduced cognitive development.
True or false?
True
Most people without a latrine do without because they cannot afford to build one; if they could build one, they would use it
True or False?
False.
Millions of people choose to defecate in the open even if they have access to improved sanitation.
If governments built latrines for everyone who did not have one (and nothing else changed), most people who currently defecate in the open would continue to do so
True or False?
True
What are the consequences of open defecation in India?
- High rate of stunting (~40%) among children
- Diarrhea is cause of death for ~10% of the children <5 years of age who die each year.
How did these children contribute to changing sanitation practices in their community?
Children in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India, promote toilet use
- Associated shame with open defecation.
- Connected open defecation to health implications.
- Social pressure on those resisting
- Expressed distaste in the filth of their environment (i.e., surrounding mountains, roads)
- Actually going out and preventing people from accessing areas they use to defecate
- Demonstrates the importance of youth empowerment and community engagement
Describe the current use of toilet facilities in India.
- In 2015/16, 39% of households in India practiced open defecation
- In 2019/21, the proportion was 19%
- Open defecation continues to be much more common in rural vs. urban areas.
Describe how food is central to climate change. [2]
- Food and agriculture are a key contributor of the greenhouse has emissions that drive climate change
- Food and agriculture are very sensitive to the impacts of a changing climate (higher temperatures, reduced precipitation, more extreme weather events)
Livestock production accounts for […] of current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – roughly equal to emissions from all forms of
transportation combined)
Livestock production accounts for 14.5% of current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – roughly equal to emissions from all forms of
transportation combined)
How do changing weather patterns reduce crop yields?
- More drought
- More heat waves
What is the difference between mitigation strategies and adaptation strategies?
Describe sustainable diets as a strategy to mitigate climate change.
- Low environmental impacts
- Nutritionally adequate
- Safe and healthy
- Culturally acceptable
- Accessible
- Affordable
- Consuming a ‘sustainble diet’ reduces GHG emissions and can result in substantial personal health benefits
Discuss food waste. [3]
- Approximately 1/3 of all food produced for human consumption is wasted.
- Approximately 30% of the world’s agricultural land is used to produce food that is never eaten
- Amount of GHG emissions resulting from food that is produced but not consumed is significant: if food waste was a country, it would be the 3rd highest emitter of GHGs
What are some strategies to reduce food waste? [6]
- Source reduction
- Feed Hungry People
- Feed Animals
- Industrial Uses
- Composting
- Incineration or Landfill
Name 3 benefits of the Green Revolution.
- Dramatic increases in yields of staple cereal grains
- Reduced/eliminated need for food imports in some countries
- Reduction in poverty/hunger in countries affected by Green Revolution - but effects are uneven
What are the three views of aid’s role and timeline?
- Aid as temporary : ‘Big push’ out of poverty traps, cope with short-term crisis and disasters (e.g., humanitarian responses/relief)
- Aid as permanent: Global social safety net, redistribution of some wealth and resources
- Aid as distortion: Distorts markets and causes dependency
Does food aid promote ‘dependency’ (at household, community, or national level)?
- Dependency occurs if an intervention intended to meet a recipient’s current need results in reduced capacity for recipient to meet needs in the future
- Does providing aid discourage self-reliance?
What is Golden Rice?
- A variety of rice produced through genetic engineering
- Added pathway to produce beta-carotene (provitamin A)
- Research report first published in Science in 2000
- 2005: Golden Rice 2 variety announced (produces 23 times more beta-carotene than original Golden Rice)
- Not currently available due to ‘extreme interpretation of the precautionary principle’.
Golden Rice could be one way to reduce vitamin A deficiency. Why would we want to reduce vitamin A deficiency?
- Vitamin A deficiency is a pervasive killer of malnourished children and pregnant mothers.
- Each year, at least a half million children and a hundred thousand women go blind or die from VAD because resistance to infection is reduced.
Describe the Ethiopian Famine of 1983-85.
- A defining event in celebrity engagements with humanitarian causes; “Tonight thank God it’s them intsead of you”
- “Band Aid representation of famin [contributed to] a view of humanitarianism in which moral responsibility towards impoverished parts of imagined ‘Africa’ is based on pity rather than demand for justice.
Describe Plumpy’nut.
- 500 kcal
- 25%
- 25% oil
- 25% sugar
- 25% milk powder
- Micronutrients
Dose: 200kcal/kg/day for 6-8 weeks (~2-3 sachets daily)
Is the formulation of RUTF optimal?
- Successful in promoting weight gain but:
- Effects on mortality and relapse unknown
- We need greater measurement of functional outcomes
