Leslie Sue Lieberman

In Vivo Measurements of Facial Tissue Thicknesses in American Caucasoid Children

Ultrasonic determinations were made of facial tissue thicknesses in 50 healthy American caucasoid children, ranging in age from 4 to 15. Twenty measurements were taken at sites along the median, right sagittal, and right lateral planes. A static scanner was used in the B-mode. Three measurements significantly increased with age, the mid-philtrum (rs = 0.43, p less than 0.01) in females, the mental sulcus (rs = 0.30, p less than 0.05) in males, and the frontal eminence (rs = 0.32, p less than 0.05) in both sexes. Moreover, 25% of the measurements, while not statistically significant, decreased with increasing age. These data provide a basis for facial reproductions in caucasoid children.

Evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on optimal foraging in obesogenic environments.

The nutrition transition has created an obesogenic environment resulting in a growing obesity pandemic. An optimal foraging approach provides cost/benefit models of cognitive, behavioral and physiological strategies that illuminate the causes of caloric surfeit and consequent obesity in current environments of abundant food cues; easy-access and reliable food patches; low processing costs and enormous variety of energy-dense foods. Experimental and naturalistic observations demonstrate that obesogenic environments capitalize on human proclivities by displaying colorful advertising, supersizing meals, providing abundant variety, increasing convenience, and utilizing distractions that impede monitoring of food portions during consumption. The globalization of fast foods propels these trends.

Determinants of maternal health service utilization in Ethiopia: analysis of the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey

BackgroundAntenatal Care (ANC), use of skilled delivery attendants and postnatal care (PNC) services are key maternal health services that can significantly reduce maternal mortality. Understanding the factors that affect service utilization helps to design appropriate strategies and policies towards improvement of service utilization and thereby reduce maternal mortality. The objective of this study was to identify factors that affect utilization of maternal health services in Ethiopia.MethodsData were drawn from the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey. The dependent variables were use of ANC, skilled delivery attendants and PNC services. The independent variables were categorized as socio-cultural, perceived needs and accessibility related factors. Data analysis was done using SPSS for windows version 20.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used in the analysis.ResultsThirty four percent of women had ANC visits, 11.7% used skilled delivery attendants and 9.7% of women had a postnatal health checkup. Education of women, place of residence, ethnicity, parity, women’s autonomy and household wealth had a significant association with the use of maternal health services. Women who completed higher education were more likely to use ANC (AOR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.8-7.8), skilled delivery attendants (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.9-6.2) and PNC (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI = 2.0-5.2). Women from urban areas use ANC (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.9-2.9), skilled delivery attendants (AOR = 4.9, 95% CI = 3.8-6.3) and PNC services (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI = 2.0-3.4) more than women from rural areas. Women who have had ANC visits during the index pregnancy were more likely to subsequently use skilled delivery attendants (AOR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1-1.7) and PNC (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI = 2.8-4.1). Utilization of ANC, delivery and PNC services is more among more autonomous women than those whose spending is controlled by other people.ConclusionMaternal health service utilization in Ethiopia is very low. Socio-demographic and accessibility related factors are major determinants of service utilization. There is a high inequality in service utilization among women with differences in education, household wealth, autonomy and residence. ANC is an important entry point for subsequent use of delivery and PNC services. Strategies that aim improving maternal health service utilization should target improvement of education, economic status and empowerment of women.

Medico-nutritional practices among Puerto Ricans in a small urban northeastern community in the United States.

Abstract This paper discusses the changing Puerto Rican folk medico-nutritional system currently practiced in a small urban center in New England. Two salient factors have been designated as primarily responsible for the rapid adoption of improved Western medico-nutritional practices. These factors are: (1) the social cohesion of the Puerto Rican community fostered by an extensive network of social ties and an integrated information referral system; (2) the large number of health and nutrition related agencies and agents working in the community. Especially important is the pivotal role of the nutritional Paraprofessionals. Conflicts in health and nutritional ideology and in health care seeking behavior are explored within the context of the community. The conclusion is reached that the rapid acculturation of the study community is unique compared to other Puerto Rican communities on the Mainland.

Objective and Subjective Aspects of the Drive to Eat in Obesogenic Environments

In obesogenic environments the compulsion to eat and eating behaviors occur even though biomarkers of physiological hunger are not present. Appetite is driven by a symphony of invisible hormones, enzymes, peptides, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators from peripheral inputs including the sensory organs, adipose tissue, stomach, small intestines and pancreas acting in the gut and the central nervous system (CNS) particularly the hindbrain, hypothalamus and cerebral cortex. Many of these responses are catalyzed by the visible abundance of food and food cues that are ever-present for an increasing number of people. Other aspects of the environment that unconsciously (mindlessly) increase food intake are: large packages, eating distractions, convenience, as well as physical characteristics of foods such as high food salience and increases in variety. Chemosensory (i.e., sweetness) and visual manipulations (e.g., colors and shapes) of food are prominent features of the obesogenic environment and are deceptive with regard to both consumption volume and energy density. This chapter will explore the linkages of these objective neurophysiological parameters, their environmental triggers and the subjective experiences of obesogenic eating.

Using a Social Marketing Framework to Transform an Education Program: Lessons from the Hispanic Obesity Prevention and Education (PESO) Program:

Programa de Educación Sobre la Obesidad (PESO) was a targeted intervention which intended to raise awareness about the obesity epidemic, reduce the proportion of overweight and obese adults, and promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables within the Hispanic community of Seminole County, Florida. It was funded through the Florida Department of Health statewide Hispanic Obesity and Prevention Program. The PESO program utilized a multidisciplinary design to implement and evaluate a nutrition education and obesity reduction program. The 4-month program was a collaborative effort of the Seminole County Health Department, University of Central Florida, and Iglesia Vida Nueva church in Seminole County. We used a social marketing framework to deliver the curriculum and structure some of the lessons. In addition, we utilized this framework to critique, redesign, and make recommendations for future programs.

Interactive learning for congregate nutrition site nutrition education: a pilot study.

Abstract Older adults who participate in the Older Americans Act Title III-C Elderly Nutrition Program often are at moderate to high nutritional risk. Although nutrition education is a component of the Elderly Nutrition Program, there are numerous barriers to promoting behavior change in older adults. Nutrition education programs targeted to congregate nutrition site participants must address their unique nutritional needs, while engaging them in activities that promote learning and motivate them to make positive behavior changes. This paper describes a pilot study of a theory-driven, five-lesson educational module designed to promote healthful eating behaviors among congregate nutrition site participants through interactive learning.

Personal perspectives and contemporary trends in nutritional anthropology

Christine Wilson’s (2002) keynote address would make anexcellent introduction to a course on nutritional anthropol-ogy. It provides an early history of the discipline, namessome of the founding parents from both the nutritionalscience and anthropological lineages, and points a directionfor future interdisciplinary research. Dr Wilson has been atthe forefront of the development of nutritional anthropologysince its inception in the 1970s and she remains an influentialscholar more than three decades later. She has shaped thediscipline with her own research publications and presenta-tions, her innovative teaching, her more than two decades aseditor for Ecology of Food and Nutrition and her organizationof national and international symposia and conferences(Lieberman, 2001).She engages scholars from many disciplines who have aninterestinfood.Becauseofherbreadthofknowledge,Ialwayslearn important historical facts when I speak with her or readher papers. For example, in this essay, I was surprised to readof the Committee on Food Habits 1940s trials with tofuacceptability(Wilson,2002).Sheclearlyengendersthegoalofthe Committee on Food Habits (1943) which was to unite thebehavioral and nutritional sciences to develop an integrativediscipline to enable scholars to understand the distal andproximate reasons for why people eat what they eat, how,where, and when (Guthe & Mead, 1943).As Dr Wilson has noted, the Council on NutritionalAnthropology, a section of the American AnthropologicalAssociation,hasrecentlycelebratedits25thAnniversary.Oneof its activities has been to publish annotated syllabi withbibliographies for nutritional anthropology courses (SNACs)(Teufel & Staten, 1991; Lieberman & Sorensen, 1997). Thepedagogical trends show both an increase in interdiscipli-nary approaches reflected in the research literature and theproblem orientation of a plethora of applied anthropologytopics with nutritional components. Sobal’s commentarymakes a good case for interdisciplinary training and research(Sobal, 2002) while Booth argues for an expanded behavioralepidemiology of nutrition inclusive of psychology with atten-tion to individual as well population level data (Booth, 2002).The explicitly biocultural approach, both as a disciplinaryfocusinanthropologyandasaframeworkforinterdisciplinaryteachingandresearch,isexemplifiedintherecentcompilationof readings and commentaries by Goodman et al. (2000)NutritionalAnthropology:BioculturalPerspectivesonFoodandNutrition.A number of trends were observed in the courses contri-buted to SNAC II: Syllabi for Nutritional AnthropologyCourses(LiebermanSLieberman,1998).The45 published syllabi were from courses taught in departmentsand programs in anthropology, sociology, public health,health sciences, geography, international programs, folkloreand folk life, nutrition and dietetics. Although there wasenormous diversity in content, the shared object was ‘‘tounderstand why people eat what they eat.’’Some courses focused on psychological and symbolicfactorsandtheculturalidentityinvolvedinfoodhabits.Othercourses emphasized local and global economic, sociodemo-graphic,ecologicalandpoliticalfactors—oftenwithaproblemorappliedfocussuchasfoodsecurityoralterationsinresourcebases. Gender has become a central issue intersecting withearlier concerns of social class, economics, education,ethnicity/race, religion and health. Gender has become thefocusofstudiesoffoodproduction,distribution,consumptionand the psychobiological consequences of these activities(e.g. fertility, infant feeding practices, bulimia).Nearly all courses use examples of US ethnic groups and71% include international cases. National and internationalfood policy issues were couched in terms of food security andfood safety supplanting earlier discussions of famine andpopulation issues. Board ecological issues ranged from tradi-tional subsistence strategies such as pastoralism to the poten-tial impact of genetically engineered species of plants andanimals. Both under- and over-nutrition were examined inmultidisciplinary contexts for example, relating health beliefsto fast food marketing techniques. Courses employed anumber of exercises from nutritional anthropometry toE-mail: llieberm@mail.ucf.edu standard 24-hour dietary recalls to the preparation of0195–6663/02/010077+02

The body habitus and the body politic

35.00/0 # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd

A special tribute in honor of Edward Eyre Hunt, Jr.

Shephard, Roy J. Body Composition in Biological Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. x + 345 pp. including references and index.