This article was downloaded by: [University of Sydney] On: 04 May 2015, At: 03:05 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Ecology of Food and Nutrition Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gefn20

Global Perspectives on Nutritional Knowledge, Eating Behavior, Household Food Security, and Hunger a

Sunil K. Khanna Editor-in-Chief a

College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University Published online: 02 Mar 2015.

Click for updates To cite this article: Sunil K. Khanna Editor-in-Chief (2015) Global Perspectives on Nutritional Knowledge, Eating Behavior, Household Food Security, and Hunger, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 54:2, 115-117, DOI: 10.1080/03670244.2015.1018025 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2015.1018025

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Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 54:115–117, 2015 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0367-0244 print/1543-5237 online DOI: 10.1080/03670244.2015.1018025

Global Perspectives on Nutritional Knowledge, Eating Behavior, Household Food Security, and Hunger

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SUNIL K. KHANNA Editor-in-Chief College of Public Health and Human Sciences Oregon State University

In the last two decades, especially, social and biological scientists have examined a variety of topics related to food and nutrition. They have not only broadened the scope of topics, but also used a wide array of theories and methods to explore food and nutrition from multiple and interdisciplinary perspectives. These efforts have led to the development of new innovate research methods and theoretical paradigms to examine innovative topics such as nutritional knowledge, food preferences, eating behavior, physical health outcomes, and household food security. This issue of EFN’s volume 54 includes four articles by researchers who have used innovative methods and interdisciplinary perspectives to examine food security, hunger, food preference, eating behavior, and physical health outcomes in communities/cultural settings in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Collectively, these articles are based on both quantitative and qualitative data to contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the community/population-based domains of food and nutrition. The articles draw our attention to the importance of carefully examining the complex interrelationships among factors such as household social economic status, food security, rural/urban residence, dietary habits and food preferences, gender, and self-esteem to fully explore physical health implications of food/nutritional intake. The article by Walsh and Van Rooyen examines the predictors of food security in a large sample of rural and urban households in Free State Province, South Africa. The authors collected their data as part of a larger survey, “Assuring Health for All in the Free State,” conducted in rural areas (2007) and urban areas (2009) of the Free State Province. Based on a rigorous analysis of the data, Walsh and Van Rooyen found that food insecurity was common in both rural and urban communities, but it was much worse in

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urban households. In addition, the authors suggest that poverty is one of the proximate causes of food insecurity in both the urban and rural areas. Based on their findings, Walsh and Van Rooyen recommend short-term intervention programs that focus on improving food availability and access in the target communities. They suggest prioritizing interventions that focus on improving community’s participation in local food production, food autonomy, and teaching food preservation and storage skills to household members. Finally, the authors suggest that long-term interventions should focus on alleviating poverty to improve household food security. The article by Oldewage-Theron, Egal, and Moroka explores the association between nutrition knowledge and dietary intake among school-aged adolescents, aged 14 to 18 years, in rural Cofimvaba, South Africa. The authors used a number of validated data collection tools to collect socioeconomic data, nutrition knowledge, 24-hour dietary intake recall, and food frequency. Data analysis revealed a poor nutrient intake and lack of food variety as key challenges faced by the adolescents who participated in the study. The authors also observed that the respondents had “fair” knowledge regarding general nutritional information, but they were less aware of serving size and number of servings required per day. Based on the findings of their study, Oldewage-Theron, Egal, and Moroka suggest implementing nutrition education programs targeting this age group to improve selection and intake of healthy food items by adolescents. Based on an analysis of cross-sectional anthropometric measurements, food composition evaluation, and food consumption data, Caamaño and colleagues focus on obesity among women in six rural communities in the state of Queretaro in Mexico. In this article, the authors make a strong case for the importance of studying increasing obesity rates among women in Mexico. In developing countries, uneven economic growth and poor government policies regulating food supply have, in part, changed everyday diet and lifestyle in communities experiencing varying rates of urbanization. This nutrition transition is characterized by an increased consumption of calorie rich food and drinks. This article tests this assumption in six communities in rural Mexico. The authors report that the prevalence of overweight and obesity rates in their sample was 15% higher than the average prevalence in other rural areas in Mexico. They attribute this alarming trend of increasing obesity among rural Mexican women in part to a high intake of soft drinks and fried vegetables, low intake of dairy foods, and an increase in the number of “extra” meals per day. In an interesting study of the relationship between eating behaviors, body mass index (BMI), and self-esteem among university students, Sanlier, Biyikli, and Biyikli, observed a significant statistical association between selfesteem and emotional eating among Dutch university students. The authors collected information on eating behavior (using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire), anthropometric data, and level of self-esteem (using the

Editorial

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Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) among 503 university students. In their sample, the authors observed a negative relationship between self-esteem and breakfast skipping. The authors advocate for the inclusion of psychological assessment in interventions focusing on improvement of nutritional/health status among university students. The articles published in this issue of Ecology of Food and Nutrition are based on research conducted by using both multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and methods to examine such topics as food insecurity, food preferences, physical and psychological health status, obesity, and poverty. The articles not only provide a snapshot of the diversity of topics and emerging research interests in the field of food and nutrition, but also propose innovative community-level interventions based on sound data and scientific principles.

Global perspectives on nutritional knowledge, eating behavior, household food security, and hunger.

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