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Objectives. Understanding the nutritional consequences of food insufficiency is important for informed policy-making that addresses the problem of domestic hunger. This study estimated the extent to which individuals from food-insufficient households were likely to have low intakes of energy and 14 other nutrients. Methods. The diets of pre-schoolers, adult women, and the elderly were analyzed with 24-hour recall data from the 1989 through 1991 Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals. Logistic regression analysis was used to study the association of self-reported household food insufficiency with nutrient intakes below 50% of the recommended daily allowance. Results. For adult women, food insufficiency was significantly associated with low intakes of eight nutrients, including energy, magnesium, and vitamins A, E, C, and [B.sub.6]. Elderly individuals in the food-insufficient group were also more likely to have low intakes of eight nutrients, including protein, calcium, and vitamins A and [B.sub.6] Household food insufficiency was not significantly associated with low intakes among preschoolers. Conclusions. The results validate the use of self-reported hunger measures in nutritional surveillance and highlight nutrients of concern for food assistance and nutrition education efforts targeted at individuals from food-insufficient households. (Am J Public Health. 1997:87:1956-1961)

The effects of the January 1994 devaluation of the African Financial Community (CFA) franc on the nutritional situation of the populations concerned has been little documented. We report in this article on two nutritional cross-sectional surveys that were conducted before and after this devaluation (1993 and 1996) in two districts of Brazzaville, Congo. The surveys involved a representative sample of 4206 households with a child aged 4-23 months. Complementary feeding practices and the anthropometric indices of the children and their mothers were compared, adjusting for changes in household socioeconomic characteristics. The results show a decline in the quality of the first complementary foods offered to the infants, i.e. less frequent use of special transitional foods and imported complementary flours (of higher nutritional quality), and preparation of less nutritious local gruels. Overall, the nutritional situation had deteriorated, with greater levels of stunting and wasting among children, mothers with lower body mass index, and infants with reduced birth weights. Increased food prices would appear to be the direct cause of the decreased quality in complementary feeding, but factors other than the devaluation have also had an impact on household welfare. The influence of these factors on nutritional status is discussed. Keywords: Congo; devaluation; feeding behaviour; nutrition surveys; socioeconomic factors., Voir page 116 le resume en francais. En la pagina 117 figura un resumen en espanol. Introduction The African Financial Community (CFA) franc was devalued by 50% on 12 January [...]

HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS need to identify malnutrition in patients, a report by the Patients Association (PA) states. Many patients lack knowledge on the signs and symptoms of the condition and do [...]