Nutrition education and its relationship to body image and food intake in Asian young and adolescents: a systematic review

Background

The literature brings to light the unhealthy nutritional habits prevalent among Asian adolescents and their high level of body image dissatisfaction. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the effect of nutritional education interventions on their nutritional knowledge and food intake behavior, attitude, practice, and body image.

Methods

We searched relevant published studies in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and Springer using the PICO framework and performed a quality assessment using the 10-point checklist adapted from the National Institutes for Health tool.

Results

The majority of the nutritional education interventions improve unhealthy food intake and body image misperception, particularly on nutritional knowledge/self-efficacy, healthy dietary habits, physical activities, and fruit and vegetable intake. We also found a negative association with excess weight gain, obesity, and unethical weight reduction practices, leading to dissatisfaction with body image.

Conclusion

These interventions can help address dietary problems and body image perception and support the development of future interventions.

Longitudinal Associations between Ethnic/Racial Identity and Discrimination among Asian and Latinx Adolescents

The numbers of Asian and Latinx adolescents are growing fast in the United States. While their ethnic/racial identity and experience of discrimination have been found to play important roles in their development, current scholarship has only begun to understand their longitudinal relationships. Moreover, most of the existing studies have examined these associations only at the between-person level. To address these gaps, the current study examined both between- and within-person longitudinal associations between ethn-ic/racial identity (exploration, commitment, private regard, and centrality) and discrimination over a 3-year period among a total of 241 adolescents (Asian: n = 139, Latinx: n = 102; female: 65.96%; M age = 15.27, SD = 0.66). The within-person approach using the random-intercept cross-lagged panel models explained the associations better than the between-person approach using the cross-lagged panel model. Specifically, reciprocal within-person longitudinal associations were found between discrimination and developmental dimensions of ethnic/racial identity (exploration and commitment) for Asian adolescents and content dimensions (private regard and centrality) for Latinx adolescents. These findings imply the usefulness of within-person longitudinal designs in understanding the associations between ethnic/racial identity and discrimination. Implications for potential similarities and differences in the longitudinal associations between ethnic/racial identity development and the experience of discrimination for the two groups are discussed.

Risk behaviors screening in Thai adolescents with acute and chronic illnesses

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is considered as a transition period from childhood to adulthood. This transition leads to various types of risk behaviors. Ten percent of adolescents suffer from a chronic illness that can limit their daily activities and which may exhibit higher rates of risk behaviors than those without chronic illnesses.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the prevalence of risk behaviors in chronically ill adolescents compared to adolescents without chronic illnesses and their associated risk factors.

METHODS

We enrolled 312 patients aged 10-20 years who visited Ramathibodi Hospital from January 2015 to December 2017. There were 161 adolescents with chronic illnesses and 151 without a chronic illness. We used a computer-based program for the Youth Risk Behaviors Survey as well as a confidentiality interview. Statistical analyses included the chi-squared (χ²) and Student's t-tests as appropriate.

RESULTS

The risk behaviors in chronically ill adolescents were the following: learning problems, 86.3%; excessive screen time, 62.3%; unintentional injuries, 60.2%; depression, 38.5%; low self-esteem, 18.1%; substance abuse, 13% and sexual behavior, 6.2%. Youths with a chronic illness were more likely to report significantly higher risk of excessive screen time (62.3% vs. 48%, p = 0.01), depression (38.5% vs. 15.9%, p < 0.01) and, also low self-esteem (18.1% vs. 8.6%, p = 0.01) compared to those without chronic illness.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicated that adolescents with chronic illnesses engage more in health risk behaviors and are prone to mental health and learning problems. These data emphasize the importance of health risk behavior screening and preventive counseling for young patients with chronic illnesses where these risks might worsen their disease.

Prospective multinational serosurveillance study of Bordetella pertussis infection among 10- to 18-year-old Asian children and adolescents

OBJECTIVES

Bordetella pertussis continues to cause outbreaks worldwide. To assess the role of children and adolescent in transmission of pertussis in Asia, we performed a multinational serosurveillance study.

METHODS

From July 2013 to June 2016, individuals aged 10 to 18 years who had not received any pertussis-containing vaccine within the prior year were recruited in 10 centres in Asia. Serum anti-pertussis toxin (PT) IgG was measured by ELISA. Demographic data and medical histories were obtained. In the absence of pertussis immunization, anti-PT IgG ≥62.5 IU/mL was interpreted as B. pertussis infection within 12 months prior, among them levels ≥125 IU/mL were further identified as infection within 6 months.

RESULTS

A total of 1802 individuals were enrolled. Anti-PT IgG geometric mean concentration was 4.5, and 87 (4.8%) individuals had levels ≥62.5 IU/mL; among them, 73 (83.9%) had received three or more doses of pertussis vaccine before age 6 years. Of 30 participants with persistent cough during the past 6 months, one (3.3%) had level ≥125 IU/mL. There was no significant difference in proportions with anti-PT IgG ≥62.5 IU/mL among age groups (13-15 vs. 10-12 years, 16-18 vs. 10-12 years), between types of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DTP; whole cell vs. acellular), number of doses before age 6 years within the DTP whole-cell pertussis vaccine (five vs. four doses) or acellular pertussis vaccine (five vs. four doses) and history of persistent cough during the past 6 months (yes vs. no).

CONCLUSIONS

There is significant circulation of B. pertussis amongst Asian children and adolescents, with one in 20 having serologic evidence of recent infection regardless of vaccination background.