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Feasibility of Community Food Item Collection for the National Children's Study.
Citation:
Knuth, M., L. J. Moyer-Mileur, R. R. Larson, B. Sherwood, AND L. J. MELNYK. Feasibility of Community Food Item Collection for the National Children's Study. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 409(2):307-313, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
A. Long Term Goals 1. To develop cumulative risk assessment tools with broad applicability and used to assess consequences of exposure 2. To significantly reduce risk in communities where excess risk is identified B. Objectives 1. Develop Research Plan a. Creation of knowledge base b. Identify, compile, and evaluate current use tools c. Training/continuing education opportunities 1) Risk (e.g., assessment, communication, perception, management) 2) Seminar series d. Define elements of the program 1) Propose applications of available tools 2) Propose new tools to develop e. Develop partnerships/collaborators 1) Incorporate communication outreach plan 2. Apply Research Plan a. Define specific projects b. Use/modify/create approaches/protocols/tools
Description:
Background: The National Children’s Study proposes to investigate the role of environmental influences on health outcomes in pregnant women and children. A specific area of concern is contaminant exposure through the ingestion of solid foods. National food contaminant databases may miss dietary exposures unique to specific communities and sources of food. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of community food item collection for the assessment of pesticide exposure in pregnant women and young children. Methods: The study population consisted of mothers (n=45) of children aged 15-24 months in Salt Lake City, Utah. Foods for collection were based on: 1) frequency of different foods consumed by the target population as determined by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data; 2) child food frequency questionnaire; and 3) likelihood of pesticide contamination in the foods. Assessment measures included: demographics; environmental health survey; quality assurance checklist; and participant evaluation form. Results: An average of three food items were obtained from 44 households, yielding a collection rate of 97.8%. Overall, 100% of the food samples were rated as acceptable. Moreover, a vast majority of mothers reported that the study was not burdensome (95.5%) and that preparing the food sample was easy (93.2%). Conclusions: This study suggests that the community food item collection methodology shows promise as a low-burden approach for capturing dietary exposures on a household level, and appears to be a feasible tool for large population studies to assess dietary exposures unique to specific communities.