A virtual culinary medicine intervention for ethnically diverse individuals with type 2 diabetes: development of the Nourishing the Community through Culinary Medicine.

Virtual culinary medicine education interventions have the potential to improve dietary behaviors, nutrition knowledge, cooking skills, and health outcomes for ethnically diverse individuals with type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study is to describe the adaptation of the Nourishing the Community through Culinary Medicine (NCCM) program for virtual delivery, and the protocol for pilot testing this intervention. The intervention includes five 90-min virtual NCCM sessions streamed live from a Teaching Kitchen. Feasibility outcomes are recruitment, retention, acceptability, and satisfaction. Short-term effectiveness outcomes are measured through self-administered questionnaires, including perceived health, average daily servings of fruits and vegetables, frequency of healthy food consumption, shopping, cooking, and eating behaviors, cooking self-efficacy, diabetes self-management, perceived barriers to healthy eating, and nutrition knowledge. Demographics and biometric outcomes are sourced from the patient's electronic medical records including glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), Body Mass Index, and blood pressure. We will conduct a single-arm pilot study to test the feasibility and short-term effectiveness of NCCM program with individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Closing the Gap Between Emerging Initiatives and Integrated Strategies to Strengthen Science Diplomacy in Latin America.

Science diplomacy is a fast-growing field of research, policy, and practice dedicated to understanding and reinforcing the connections between science and international affairs to tackle national, regional, and global issues. By aligning science and diplomacy, countries can attract talent, strengthen their national research ecosystems, provide avenues for participation of scientists in policy, and coordinate integrated solutions to challenges with technical dimensions. While Latin America has a long tradition of bilateral and regional cooperation, science still plays a marginal role in foreign policy, as has become evidenced by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With few exceptions, Latin American nations have a relatively immature science, technology, and innovation ecosystem, compounded by low public and private investments in research, coexisting with profound socio-economic inequalities, and large vulnerable populations. Such challenging conditions have created barriers to a fluid relationship between science and diplomacy, fundamentally characterized by inefficient communication between scientists and policymakers, weak collaboration channels, and duplicated roles, which altogether perpetuate siloed mentalities and a lack of trust between the two communities. Over the last decade, a first influential wave of Latin American scientists, diplomats, and other professionals, including five of the co-authors, have undertaken science diplomacy training provided by specialized organizations. Through these experiences, we recognized the need to elevate awareness and build capacities in science diplomacy in our respective countries and overall, across Latin America. Here, we describe emerging efforts and mechanisms to bridge the gap between scientists and policymakers at the national and regional level. Furthermore, we offer recommendations to amplify the impact of those pioneering initiatives toward consolidating a robust science diplomacy practice across the region. The national experiences described from Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama can serve as a roadmap for other Latin American nations in the early process of developing a science diplomacy strategy, so they can also align themselves to a collective pathway. Most critically, we propose a way forward so that Latin America can leapfrog beyond disjointed training of individuals into integrated institutional strategies that can harness the tools of science diplomacy to enhance science-informed multilateral cooperation and enable more effective science-informed policymaking.

Traffic-light labels and financial incentives to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage purchases by low-income Latino families: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to test the effectiveness of financial incentives and traffic-light labels to reduce purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages in a community supermarket. DESIGN: In this randomized controlled trial, after a 2-month baseline period (February-March 2014), in-store traffic-light labels were posted to indicate healthy (green), less healthy (yellow) or unhealthy (red) beverages. During the subsequent five months (April-August 2014), participants in the intervention arm were eligible to earn a $US 25 in-store gift card each month they refrained from purchasing red-labelled beverages. SETTING: Urban supermarket in Chelsea, MA, USA, a low-income Latino community. SUBJECTS: Participants were customers of this supermarket who had at least one child living at home. A total of 148 customers (n 77 in the intervention group and n 71 in the control group) were included in the final analyses. RESULTS: Outcomes were monthly in-store purchases tracked using a store loyalty card and self-reported consumption of red-labelled beverages. Compared with control participants, the proportion of intervention participants who purchased any red-labelled beverages decreased by 9 % more per month (P=0·002). More intervention than control participants reduced their consumption of red-labelled beverages (-23 % v. -2 % for consuming ≥1 red beverage/week, P=0·01). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, financial incentives paired with in-store traffic-light labels modestly reduced purchase and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by customers of a community supermarket.