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Engaging young children in food skills such as food planning and preparation early in life may be an important predictor of later child cooking skills. The aim of this study was to examine whether early life involvement in food skills (mean age at baseline = 3.6 years) is prospectively associated with cooking skills among a sample of 60 children (mean age at follow-up = 10.0 years; 83% White) from the Guelph Family Health Study, an ongoing cohort study examining the effect of a home-based obesity prevention intervention. Early life involvement in food skills, i.e., child involvement in grocery shopping and meal preparation, was reported by parents at baseline. Children self-reported their cooking skills at follow-up. After adjusting for child age, child sex, parent age, household income, and intervention status, early life involvement in food skills was significantly associated with later child cooking skills (β = 0.24, 95% CI (0.02–0.45), p = 0.03). Future studies with larger and more socioeconomically, geographically, and racially diverse samples are needed to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about Canadians' knowledge of the 2019 Canada's Food Guide (CFG) recommendations. Using cross-sectional survey data from the Guelph Family Health Study, our brief communication aimed to explore parents' knowledge of the 2019 CFG recommendations through descriptive statistics and content analysis. Among a sample of 122 parents, we found that parents had a general understanding of the 2019 CFG's recommendations but poor knowledge of specific details of the recommendations, such as the names of the three food groups and which foods contain unhealthy fats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study explored 1) the effect of applying an autocalibration algorithm on accelerometer data analyzed using different signal processing techniques and 2) how these techniques changed the signal composition. Using a dataset of preschoolers (n = 137; 4.31 ± 0.87 years; Actigraph accelerometers (100 Hz) on right hip 24 hours/7 days) the vector magnitude (VM) was calculated as a reference; highpass, bandpass and lowpass filters were applied and the "Euclidean Norm Minus One" (ENMO) was calculated. Amplitude probability distribution functions were created to compare the 1) uncalibrated versus calibrated data and, 2) amplitude distribution across the techniques. Results showed that the calibration correction significantly impacted ENMO, VM lowpass and VM data, but the impact on VM highpass and bandpass data was minimal. Comparing across the techniques, results showed the lowest outputs were derived according to ENMO, followed by the VM highpass/VM bandpass and the VM lowpass/VM which yielded very similar results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatic fatty acid (FA) composition may influence steatosis development in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). In a cross-sectional study, we compared the hepatic FA profile in hepatitis C patients with (n = 9) and without (n = 33) steatosis [greater than or equal to] 5% of hepatocytes involved). FA composition of hepatic and RBC total lipids was measured by gas chromatography. Lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in liver and plasma, blood biochemistry, and nutritional status were also assessed. Patients with steatosis had more fibrosis, higher necroinflammatory activity of their hepatitis C infection, were more often infected with genotype 3, and had lower serum cholesterol. Monounsaturated FA in the liver were higher and trans FA were lower in patients with steatosis. Lower stearic acid and higher oleic acid in hepatic total lipids suggested higher [DELTA]9-desaturase activity, [alpha]-Linolenic acid in the liver was higher and the ratios of long-chain PUFA:essential FA precursors were lower for (n-3) and (n-6) PUFA. Plasma vitamin C was lower in steatosis, but RBC FA composition and other parameters did not differ. We conclude that hepatic FA composition is altered in patients with hepatitis C and steatosis, probably due to modulation of enzymatic elongation and desaturation. Oxidative stress or nutritional status does not seem to play a predominant role for development of steatosis in CHC.