[Food insecurity and variety of food in Mexican households with children under five years]. / Inseguridad alimentaria y variedad de la alimentación en hogares mexicanos con niños menores de cinco años.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the variety of feeding in households with children under five years by level of food insecurity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed data from the database of the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2008, using the Mexican Scale for Food Security and constructed variables for "per capita expenditure", "purchase frequency" and "quantity purchased" for 12 food groups, associating them with food insecurity (FI). RESULTS: The prevalence of households classified with food insecurity was 48%. We found a relationship between lower food variety and greater food insecurity, with a possible "substitution effect" of protein sources among households with FI. CONCLUSION: As food insecurity severity increased, the variety of the diet decreased.

Inseguridad alimentaria y variedad de la alimentación en hogares mexicanos con niños menores de cinco años / Food insecurity and variety of food in Mexican households with children under five years

Objetivo. Describir la variedad de la alimentación en hogares con niños menores de cinco años por nivel de inseguridad alimentaria. Material y métodos. Se analizó información de la base de datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso y Gasto en los Hogares (ENIGH) 2008, utilizando la Escala Mexicana para la Seguridad Alimentaria (EMSA) y se construyeron variables de gasto per cápita, frecuencia de compra y cantidad comprada de 12 grupos de alimentos, asociándolas con la inseguridad alimentaria (IA). Resultados. La prevalencia de hogares clasificados en inseguridad alimentaria fue de 48%. Existe una relación entre una menor variedad de alimentos y mayor IA, y un posible efecto de sustitución de fuentes de proteínas en los hogares en IA. Conclusión. Cuanto mayor IA, menor es la variedad de alimentos.

Objective. To describe the variety of feeding in households with children under five years by level of food insecurity. Materials and methods. We analyzed data from the database of the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2008, using the Mexican Scale for Food Security and constructed variables for "per capita expenditure", "purchase frequency" and "quantity purchased" for 12 food groups, associating them with food insecurity (FI). Results. The prevalence of households classified with food insecurity was 48%. We found a relationship between lower food variety and greater food insecurity, with a possible "substitution effect" of protein sources among households with FI. Conclusion. As food insecurity severity increased, the variety of the diet decreased.

INCAP studies of vegetable proteins for human consumption.

This article describes the efforts of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) to develop a relatively low-cost vegetable protein mixture suitable as a complementary food for infants and young children. As it turned out, the resulting product became popular with older children and adults, and its superior nutritional benefits were widely recognized by the population. This effort led to broader studies by INCAP of the nutritional quality of vegetable protein mixtures, including raw materials, processing to convert them into human-grade products, product formulation, and commercialization.

Alimentación de recién nacidos pretérmino con dos fórmulas lácteas / Fedding preterm newborns whit two special premature infant formula

Se estudiaron 30 recién nacidos pretérmino, sanos que fueron dividido en forma aleatoria en dos grupos de 15. El grupo de A recibió una fórmula especial y el grupo B una fórmula modificada en proteínas. Se les pesó diariamente y se obtuvieron al inicio y al final del estudio varias mediciones somatométricas y la cantidad de energía y proteínas ingeridas; además se hicieron algunas determinaciones bioquímicas en sangre. En el grupo A, se encontraron diferencias significativas en las cifras de calcio, fósforo, fosfatasa alcalina, sodio y hemoglobina; asimismo, las mediciones somatométricas fueron significativas sólo en el perímetro del brazo. Cinco niños del grupo A y dos del B fueron dados de alta antes de las tres semanas de edad posnatal. Cuatro recién nacidos del grupo A y uno del B mostraron un incremento de peso similar al que ocurre durante el desarrollo uterino. Los hallazgos sugieren que la fórmula especial permite un crecimiento adecuado y mantiene a los niños metabolicamente más estables

The effect of additional dietary skimmed milk on the nutrition of children of the colony of St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla using deaths from malnutrition in the age-group 1 - 4 years as indicator

Since 1954 UNICEF has given skimmed milk powder to the children of the colony of St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla. Even in the short period since then, there has been a statistically significant improvement in the death of the children as shown by a comparison of the number of malnutrition deaths in the age group 1-4 before and after the use of the milk. It is shown further that this additional milk is the only major change which can account for the improved nutritional status. (AU)