Shabnam Momin - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Shabnam Momin

Nutrients

Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nu... more Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nutritional professionals as it has been associated with health outcomes. However, as some LA-rich foods offer protection against chronic diseases such as CVD (e.g., fatty fish), while others increase risk (e.g., red meat), the individual foods contributing to LA intake may be an important factor to consider. Therefore, this analysis sought to examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in the proportion of overall LA intake accounted for by individual food groups, via a cross-sectional analysis of 3815 adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 2017–2018 cycle). Separate multivariable linear regressions models specified the proportion of overall LA intake attributable to each of the nine food groups (dairy, eggs, fat, fish, fruits and vegetables, grains, meat, nuts, and sweets) as the outcome, and race/ethnicity as the predictor, with age...

Nutrients

Previous studies have suggested that infants high in negative affect have higher levels of adipos... more Previous studies have suggested that infants high in negative affect have higher levels of adiposity, arising in part via changes in nutrition (e.g., “feeding to soothe”). Few studies have examined whether positive affect shows similar or inverse associations with adiposity. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between adiposity and observations of positive affect in both a social and a non-social context, using data from infants at four (n = 125) and 12 (n = 80) months of age. Our analyses did not find any cross-sectional associations between positive affect and adiposity (all p > 0.05). However, in the longitudinal analyses, positive affect in a non-social context, when observed at four months of age, was positively associated with weight-for-length at 12 months of age (zWFL; ß = 1.49, SE = 0.67, p = 0.03), while positive affect observed at four months of age in a social context was inversely associated with body fat percentage at 12 months ...

American Journal of Hypertension

Hypertension (HTN) is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including... more Hypertension (HTN) is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including ischemic heart disease, stroke, heart failure and atrial fibrillation. The prevalence of HTN, as well as mortality rates attributable to HTN, continue to increase, particularly in the United States and among Black populations. The risk of HTN involves a complex interaction of genetics and modifiable risk factors, including dietary patterns. In this regard, there is accumulating evidence that links dietary intake of red meat with a higher risk of poorly controlled blood pressure and HTN. However, research on this topic contains significant methodological limitations, which are described in the review. The report provided below also summarizes the available research reports, with an emphasis on processed red meat consumption and how different dietary patterns among certain populations may contribute to HTN-related health disparities. Finally, this review outlines potential mechanisms and ...

Excess adiposity during the first year of life places children at increased risk f or adverse hea... more Excess adiposity during the first year of life places children at increased risk f or adverse health outcomes across the lifespan. Previous studies have suggested that a temperament high in negative affect during infancy is associated with higher adiposity, yet few studies have examined whether positive affect shows similar associations. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships with an across early and late infancy between three measures of adiposity and positive affect, by observing positive affect in both a social and a non-social context. Data were available on 125 infants at four months of age, and again at 12 months of age for 79 of these infants. Our analyses did not find any cross-sectional associations between positive affect and adiposity (all P>.05). However, in the longitudinal analyses, positive affect in a non-social context, when observed at four months of age, was positively associated with higher z scores for weight-for-length (zWF...

The FASEB Journal, 2012

Perkembangan transportasi di Indonesia yang semakin meningkat menyebabkan naiknya kebutuhan lahan... more Perkembangan transportasi di Indonesia yang semakin meningkat menyebabkan naiknya kebutuhan lahan untuk penggunaan jalan. Transportasi memegang peranan yang penting karena komunikasi tidak dapat dijalankan tanpa ada hubungan yang cukup baik didalam wilayah ataupun antar wilayah. Hal ini mendorong manusia untuk memanfaatkan setiap lahan yang ada sebaik mungkin, salah satunya di kawasan perbukitan dan berlereng yang topografinya cenderung beragam. Namun untuk mewujudkan transportasi yang aman, nyaman, dan memiliki konstruksi yang awet pada daerah lereng, diperlukan sebuah analisis terhadap tingkat keamanan lereng dalam perencanaannya. Penelitian yang dilakukan meliputi survei lokasi, pengambilan sampel tanah, dan pemboran tanah. Jenis sampel yang akan digunakan ada dua jenis yaitu sampel tanah asli atau tidak terganggu dan sampel tanah yang terganggu. Dari pengujian yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode sistem klasifikasi AASTHO dan USCS diketahui tanah di Kota Muara Teweh Kabupaten Barito Utara adalah tanah lanau berpasir dengan plastisitas tinggi. Hasil analisis perhitungan angka keamanan lereng menggunakan metode fellenius untuk kondisi lereng tanpa terendam air adalah 1,5, Angka keamanan untuk kondisi lereng terendam air adalah 0,9, Hasil analisis dinding penahan tanah tipe Kantilever untuk stabilitas terhadap gaya guling adalah 4,54; untuk stabilitas terhadap gaya geser adalah 1,95; untuk stabilitas terhadap daya dukung tanah adalah 651,034 kN/m 2. Hasil perhitungan analisis dinding penahan tanah tipe Kantilever menyatakan aman terhadap gaya guling dan geser. Kata kunci: dinding penahan tanah, metode fellenius, stabilitas

The US government has recently implemented four policies designed to reduce the consumption of su... more The US government has recently implemented four policies designed to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in children. These are: (1) the introduction of an excise tax on SSBs, (2) regulations of marketing of SSBs to children; (3) policies designed to reduce SSB availability in schools; and (4) enhanced nutrition labeling of SSBs. The goal of this chapter is to understand whether the potential effects of these policies on child obesity outweigh any ethical concerns with their implementation. In order to do this, we will first describe and evaluate the evidence that a reduction in SSB intake will reduce obesity risk in children. Second, we will describe, in turn, the rationale for each policy, including evidence that they will reduce either child SSB consumption or child obesity risk. In our concluding section, we will discuss the ethical and financial implications of government policies to reduce SSB consumption and use these in addition to the evidence already...

Circulation, 2021

Background: The metabolites associated with a Mediterranean-style (AMED) diet may give insight in... more Background: The metabolites associated with a Mediterranean-style (AMED) diet may give insight into why AMED is robustly associated with protection against CVD. Previous investigations seeking to identify these have been limited by the use of modest sample sizes and targeted assays. Methods: Using samples from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), we conducted untargeted 1 H NMR spectroscopy (600 MHz) with internal and external annotation on the sera of ~3,698 participants, ages 45-84, who were free from overt CVD. We included data on baseline dietary intake (self-reported), and all incident CVD events (excluding stroke) over a 10-year period. From >100,000 spectral features, 845 significant associations (P<2.2*10 -6 ) were identified via linear regression, and reduced to a putative list of 46 via elastic net regularized models. Hierarchical clustering identified 11 feature groups, from which cluster scores were constructed. The ‘mediate’ package in R used bootstra...

Circulation, 2021

Background: Linoleic acid (LA), a primary polyunsaturated fatty acid, is a nutritional quandary a... more Background: Linoleic acid (LA), a primary polyunsaturated fatty acid, is a nutritional quandary as has been associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) protection but may have negative effects in inflammation and cancer. Objective: To determine whether the relative contributions of nine food sources (dairy, eggs, select fats and oils, fish, fruit, grains, meat, nuts, and desserts) to overall LA intake differ by race / ethnicity in the adult US population. Methods: We included all non-pregnant, non-lactating adults (< 20 years, ~50% female) with plausible dietary data (average daily caloric intake ≥600 kcals/day and ≤6000 kcals/day; N=3,884). The percentage of LA calories attributable from each of the nine food groups was calculated. Linear regression models, incorporating survey weights, examined differences by race/ethnicity and included age, gender, income level, highest level of education and daily caloric intake as covariates, with a post-hoc Tukey test applied ...

Journal of the American Heart Association, 2020

A substantial body of research suggests that efforts to prevent pediatric obesity may benefit fro... more A substantial body of research suggests that efforts to prevent pediatric obesity may benefit from targeting not just what a child eats, but how they eat. Specifically, child obesity prevention should include a component that addresses reasons why children have differing abilities to start and stop eating in response to internal cues of hunger and satiety, a construct known as eating self‐regulation . This review summarizes current knowledge regarding how caregivers can be an important influence on children's eating self‐regulation during early childhood. First, we discuss the evidence supporting an association between caregiver feeding and child eating self‐regulation. Second, we discuss what implications the current evidence has for actions caregivers may be able to take to support children's eating self‐regulation. Finally, we consider the broader social, economic, and cultural context around the feeding environment relationship and how this intersects with the implementa...

Current Nutrition Reports, 2019

Purpose of Review This review summarizes the latest scientific evidence for the presence of metab... more Purpose of Review This review summarizes the latest scientific evidence for the presence of metabolomic differences between infants fed breast milk (I-BM) and infants fed formula milk (I-FM). Recent Findings Across the studies included in this review, a total of 261 metabolites were analyzed, of which 151 metabolites were reported as significantly associated with infant feeding modality (BM versus FM). However, taken as a whole, the relevant literature was notable both for methodological limitations, such as small sample sizes, and heterogeneity between the studies. This may be why many associations between infant metabolite profile and feeding modality have not replicated across studies. Summary To our knowledge, this is the first review to integrate the available literature on metabolomic differences between I-BM versus I-FM. This narrative review synthesized the data across studies and identified those metabolites which show the most robust associations with infant feeding modality. Methodological limitations of the current studies are identified, followed by recommendations for how to address these in future studies.

Current Nutrition Reports, 2018

Purpose of Review-Current feeding advice to prevent pediatric obesity focusses on caregiver feedi... more Purpose of Review-Current feeding advice to prevent pediatric obesity focusses on caregiver feeding behaviors. This review integrates newer data showing that child appetitive traits also have a genetic component. Recent Findings-Caregiver feeding behaviors robustly correlate with child eating behaviors; however there is also a strong heritable component. Summary-The satiety cascade delineates the biological drive underlying hunger, satiation and satiety. Innate individual differences exist for the components of the satiety cascade, which may explain the heritability of child eating behaviors. However, given the correlation of caregiver feeding behaviors with child eating behaviors any etiological model should include both genetic/ biological components and environmental. Integrating the biological etiology of child eating behaviors into the current environmental model has implications for tailoring feeding advice which needs to move from a "one size fits all" approach, to one that is tailored to individual differences in children's biological drives to appetite.

Current Nutrition Reports, 2018

Purpose of Review Various policies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption in chil... more Purpose of Review Various policies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption in children have been implemented. Here, we review the evidence on whether these policies are effective in reducing SSB intake and whether a reduction in SSB intake results in a concomitant reduction in child obesity. We also highlight ethical concerns with such efforts. Recent Findings The evidence supporting relationship between SSB consumption and child body mass index (BMI) is consistently small and lacks causality. The effects of policies are unclear; taxation has no clear relationship to SSB purchasing, innovative marketing outlets make it difficult to examine the effects of restricting marketing on SSB consumption, and there is no evidence that reducing SSB availability in schools decreases consumption. Summary Research studies with rigorous and reproducible study designs are needed to examine whether reducing SSB consumption reduces child obesity, and to identify implementable policies that not only reduce SSB consumption but also child weight.

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2017

Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2013

To understand current practice of child feeding behaviors, and underlying factors influencing the... more To understand current practice of child feeding behaviors, and underlying factors influencing these practices in Asian Indian mothers, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 immigrant Asian Indian mothers of children ages 5-10 years. Using the theory of planned behavior as a guiding framework, child feeding behaviors employed, beliefs about the outcomes of feeding behaviors, perceived ease or difficultly in practicing feeding behaviors, and social norms were explored during the interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted using coding and display matrices. Mothers were motivated by nutrition outcomes when practicing positive and negative controlling feeding behaviors. Outcomes related to preservation of Indian culture and values also influenced feeding behaviors. Pressuring to eat was often practiced despite the perception of ineffectiveness. Use of food rewards was found, and use of TV to control children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s food intake despite the clear understanding of undesirable nutrition outcomes was a unique finding. Asian Indian mothers need effective child feeding strategies that are culturally appropriate. Integrating cultural beliefs in nutrition education could help support existing motivation and behavior modification.

Obesity Science & Practice, 2021

Early childhood (0–3 years) is a critical period for obesity prevention, when tendencies in eatin... more Early childhood (0–3 years) is a critical period for obesity prevention, when tendencies in eating behaviors and physical activity are established. Yet, little is understood about how the environment shapes children's genetic predisposition for these behaviors during this time. The Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) is a two phase study, initiated to study obesity risk factors from infancy. Data collection has been completed for Phase 1 in which three sub‐studies pilot central measures for Phase 2. A novel infant temperament assessment, based on observations made by trained researchers was piloted in Behavior Observation Pilot Protocol (BOPP) study, a new device for measuring infant feeding parameters (the “orometer”) in the Baylor Infant Orometer (BIO), and methods for analyzing DNA methylation in twins of unknown chorionicity in EpiTwin.

Nutrients

Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nu... more Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nutritional professionals as it has been associated with health outcomes. However, as some LA-rich foods offer protection against chronic diseases such as CVD (e.g., fatty fish), while others increase risk (e.g., red meat), the individual foods contributing to LA intake may be an important factor to consider. Therefore, this analysis sought to examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in the proportion of overall LA intake accounted for by individual food groups, via a cross-sectional analysis of 3815 adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 2017–2018 cycle). Separate multivariable linear regressions models specified the proportion of overall LA intake attributable to each of the nine food groups (dairy, eggs, fat, fish, fruits and vegetables, grains, meat, nuts, and sweets) as the outcome, and race/ethnicity as the predictor, with age...

Nutrients

Previous studies have suggested that infants high in negative affect have higher levels of adipos... more Previous studies have suggested that infants high in negative affect have higher levels of adiposity, arising in part via changes in nutrition (e.g., “feeding to soothe”). Few studies have examined whether positive affect shows similar or inverse associations with adiposity. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between adiposity and observations of positive affect in both a social and a non-social context, using data from infants at four (n = 125) and 12 (n = 80) months of age. Our analyses did not find any cross-sectional associations between positive affect and adiposity (all p > 0.05). However, in the longitudinal analyses, positive affect in a non-social context, when observed at four months of age, was positively associated with weight-for-length at 12 months of age (zWFL; ß = 1.49, SE = 0.67, p = 0.03), while positive affect observed at four months of age in a social context was inversely associated with body fat percentage at 12 months ...

American Journal of Hypertension

Hypertension (HTN) is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including... more Hypertension (HTN) is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including ischemic heart disease, stroke, heart failure and atrial fibrillation. The prevalence of HTN, as well as mortality rates attributable to HTN, continue to increase, particularly in the United States and among Black populations. The risk of HTN involves a complex interaction of genetics and modifiable risk factors, including dietary patterns. In this regard, there is accumulating evidence that links dietary intake of red meat with a higher risk of poorly controlled blood pressure and HTN. However, research on this topic contains significant methodological limitations, which are described in the review. The report provided below also summarizes the available research reports, with an emphasis on processed red meat consumption and how different dietary patterns among certain populations may contribute to HTN-related health disparities. Finally, this review outlines potential mechanisms and ...

Excess adiposity during the first year of life places children at increased risk f or adverse hea... more Excess adiposity during the first year of life places children at increased risk f or adverse health outcomes across the lifespan. Previous studies have suggested that a temperament high in negative affect during infancy is associated with higher adiposity, yet few studies have examined whether positive affect shows similar associations. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships with an across early and late infancy between three measures of adiposity and positive affect, by observing positive affect in both a social and a non-social context. Data were available on 125 infants at four months of age, and again at 12 months of age for 79 of these infants. Our analyses did not find any cross-sectional associations between positive affect and adiposity (all P>.05). However, in the longitudinal analyses, positive affect in a non-social context, when observed at four months of age, was positively associated with higher z scores for weight-for-length (zWF...

The FASEB Journal, 2012

Perkembangan transportasi di Indonesia yang semakin meningkat menyebabkan naiknya kebutuhan lahan... more Perkembangan transportasi di Indonesia yang semakin meningkat menyebabkan naiknya kebutuhan lahan untuk penggunaan jalan. Transportasi memegang peranan yang penting karena komunikasi tidak dapat dijalankan tanpa ada hubungan yang cukup baik didalam wilayah ataupun antar wilayah. Hal ini mendorong manusia untuk memanfaatkan setiap lahan yang ada sebaik mungkin, salah satunya di kawasan perbukitan dan berlereng yang topografinya cenderung beragam. Namun untuk mewujudkan transportasi yang aman, nyaman, dan memiliki konstruksi yang awet pada daerah lereng, diperlukan sebuah analisis terhadap tingkat keamanan lereng dalam perencanaannya. Penelitian yang dilakukan meliputi survei lokasi, pengambilan sampel tanah, dan pemboran tanah. Jenis sampel yang akan digunakan ada dua jenis yaitu sampel tanah asli atau tidak terganggu dan sampel tanah yang terganggu. Dari pengujian yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode sistem klasifikasi AASTHO dan USCS diketahui tanah di Kota Muara Teweh Kabupaten Barito Utara adalah tanah lanau berpasir dengan plastisitas tinggi. Hasil analisis perhitungan angka keamanan lereng menggunakan metode fellenius untuk kondisi lereng tanpa terendam air adalah 1,5, Angka keamanan untuk kondisi lereng terendam air adalah 0,9, Hasil analisis dinding penahan tanah tipe Kantilever untuk stabilitas terhadap gaya guling adalah 4,54; untuk stabilitas terhadap gaya geser adalah 1,95; untuk stabilitas terhadap daya dukung tanah adalah 651,034 kN/m 2. Hasil perhitungan analisis dinding penahan tanah tipe Kantilever menyatakan aman terhadap gaya guling dan geser. Kata kunci: dinding penahan tanah, metode fellenius, stabilitas

The US government has recently implemented four policies designed to reduce the consumption of su... more The US government has recently implemented four policies designed to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in children. These are: (1) the introduction of an excise tax on SSBs, (2) regulations of marketing of SSBs to children; (3) policies designed to reduce SSB availability in schools; and (4) enhanced nutrition labeling of SSBs. The goal of this chapter is to understand whether the potential effects of these policies on child obesity outweigh any ethical concerns with their implementation. In order to do this, we will first describe and evaluate the evidence that a reduction in SSB intake will reduce obesity risk in children. Second, we will describe, in turn, the rationale for each policy, including evidence that they will reduce either child SSB consumption or child obesity risk. In our concluding section, we will discuss the ethical and financial implications of government policies to reduce SSB consumption and use these in addition to the evidence already...

Circulation, 2021

Background: The metabolites associated with a Mediterranean-style (AMED) diet may give insight in... more Background: The metabolites associated with a Mediterranean-style (AMED) diet may give insight into why AMED is robustly associated with protection against CVD. Previous investigations seeking to identify these have been limited by the use of modest sample sizes and targeted assays. Methods: Using samples from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), we conducted untargeted 1 H NMR spectroscopy (600 MHz) with internal and external annotation on the sera of ~3,698 participants, ages 45-84, who were free from overt CVD. We included data on baseline dietary intake (self-reported), and all incident CVD events (excluding stroke) over a 10-year period. From >100,000 spectral features, 845 significant associations (P<2.2*10 -6 ) were identified via linear regression, and reduced to a putative list of 46 via elastic net regularized models. Hierarchical clustering identified 11 feature groups, from which cluster scores were constructed. The ‘mediate’ package in R used bootstra...

Circulation, 2021

Background: Linoleic acid (LA), a primary polyunsaturated fatty acid, is a nutritional quandary a... more Background: Linoleic acid (LA), a primary polyunsaturated fatty acid, is a nutritional quandary as has been associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) protection but may have negative effects in inflammation and cancer. Objective: To determine whether the relative contributions of nine food sources (dairy, eggs, select fats and oils, fish, fruit, grains, meat, nuts, and desserts) to overall LA intake differ by race / ethnicity in the adult US population. Methods: We included all non-pregnant, non-lactating adults (< 20 years, ~50% female) with plausible dietary data (average daily caloric intake ≥600 kcals/day and ≤6000 kcals/day; N=3,884). The percentage of LA calories attributable from each of the nine food groups was calculated. Linear regression models, incorporating survey weights, examined differences by race/ethnicity and included age, gender, income level, highest level of education and daily caloric intake as covariates, with a post-hoc Tukey test applied ...

Journal of the American Heart Association, 2020

A substantial body of research suggests that efforts to prevent pediatric obesity may benefit fro... more A substantial body of research suggests that efforts to prevent pediatric obesity may benefit from targeting not just what a child eats, but how they eat. Specifically, child obesity prevention should include a component that addresses reasons why children have differing abilities to start and stop eating in response to internal cues of hunger and satiety, a construct known as eating self‐regulation . This review summarizes current knowledge regarding how caregivers can be an important influence on children's eating self‐regulation during early childhood. First, we discuss the evidence supporting an association between caregiver feeding and child eating self‐regulation. Second, we discuss what implications the current evidence has for actions caregivers may be able to take to support children's eating self‐regulation. Finally, we consider the broader social, economic, and cultural context around the feeding environment relationship and how this intersects with the implementa...

Current Nutrition Reports, 2019

Purpose of Review This review summarizes the latest scientific evidence for the presence of metab... more Purpose of Review This review summarizes the latest scientific evidence for the presence of metabolomic differences between infants fed breast milk (I-BM) and infants fed formula milk (I-FM). Recent Findings Across the studies included in this review, a total of 261 metabolites were analyzed, of which 151 metabolites were reported as significantly associated with infant feeding modality (BM versus FM). However, taken as a whole, the relevant literature was notable both for methodological limitations, such as small sample sizes, and heterogeneity between the studies. This may be why many associations between infant metabolite profile and feeding modality have not replicated across studies. Summary To our knowledge, this is the first review to integrate the available literature on metabolomic differences between I-BM versus I-FM. This narrative review synthesized the data across studies and identified those metabolites which show the most robust associations with infant feeding modality. Methodological limitations of the current studies are identified, followed by recommendations for how to address these in future studies.

Current Nutrition Reports, 2018

Purpose of Review-Current feeding advice to prevent pediatric obesity focusses on caregiver feedi... more Purpose of Review-Current feeding advice to prevent pediatric obesity focusses on caregiver feeding behaviors. This review integrates newer data showing that child appetitive traits also have a genetic component. Recent Findings-Caregiver feeding behaviors robustly correlate with child eating behaviors; however there is also a strong heritable component. Summary-The satiety cascade delineates the biological drive underlying hunger, satiation and satiety. Innate individual differences exist for the components of the satiety cascade, which may explain the heritability of child eating behaviors. However, given the correlation of caregiver feeding behaviors with child eating behaviors any etiological model should include both genetic/ biological components and environmental. Integrating the biological etiology of child eating behaviors into the current environmental model has implications for tailoring feeding advice which needs to move from a "one size fits all" approach, to one that is tailored to individual differences in children's biological drives to appetite.

Current Nutrition Reports, 2018

Purpose of Review Various policies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption in chil... more Purpose of Review Various policies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption in children have been implemented. Here, we review the evidence on whether these policies are effective in reducing SSB intake and whether a reduction in SSB intake results in a concomitant reduction in child obesity. We also highlight ethical concerns with such efforts. Recent Findings The evidence supporting relationship between SSB consumption and child body mass index (BMI) is consistently small and lacks causality. The effects of policies are unclear; taxation has no clear relationship to SSB purchasing, innovative marketing outlets make it difficult to examine the effects of restricting marketing on SSB consumption, and there is no evidence that reducing SSB availability in schools decreases consumption. Summary Research studies with rigorous and reproducible study designs are needed to examine whether reducing SSB consumption reduces child obesity, and to identify implementable policies that not only reduce SSB consumption but also child weight.

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2017

Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2013

To understand current practice of child feeding behaviors, and underlying factors influencing the... more To understand current practice of child feeding behaviors, and underlying factors influencing these practices in Asian Indian mothers, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 immigrant Asian Indian mothers of children ages 5-10 years. Using the theory of planned behavior as a guiding framework, child feeding behaviors employed, beliefs about the outcomes of feeding behaviors, perceived ease or difficultly in practicing feeding behaviors, and social norms were explored during the interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted using coding and display matrices. Mothers were motivated by nutrition outcomes when practicing positive and negative controlling feeding behaviors. Outcomes related to preservation of Indian culture and values also influenced feeding behaviors. Pressuring to eat was often practiced despite the perception of ineffectiveness. Use of food rewards was found, and use of TV to control children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s food intake despite the clear understanding of undesirable nutrition outcomes was a unique finding. Asian Indian mothers need effective child feeding strategies that are culturally appropriate. Integrating cultural beliefs in nutrition education could help support existing motivation and behavior modification.

Obesity Science & Practice, 2021

Early childhood (0–3 years) is a critical period for obesity prevention, when tendencies in eatin... more Early childhood (0–3 years) is a critical period for obesity prevention, when tendencies in eating behaviors and physical activity are established. Yet, little is understood about how the environment shapes children's genetic predisposition for these behaviors during this time. The Baylor Infant Twin Study (BITS) is a two phase study, initiated to study obesity risk factors from infancy. Data collection has been completed for Phase 1 in which three sub‐studies pilot central measures for Phase 2. A novel infant temperament assessment, based on observations made by trained researchers was piloted in Behavior Observation Pilot Protocol (BOPP) study, a new device for measuring infant feeding parameters (the “orometer”) in the Baylor Infant Orometer (BIO), and methods for analyzing DNA methylation in twins of unknown chorionicity in EpiTwin.