Changing patterns of food, nutrition, and health.

Abstract

Ecology of Food and Nutrition (EFN) promotes scholarly discussion and engagement on the holistic and cross-cultural dimensions of food and nutrition. Articles published in this journal focus on foods and food systems in terms of their utilization to satisfy human nutritional needs and improve health and well-being. The journal also publishes articles that examine how ecological, social, and cultural factors influence food availability, choices, and consumption, food cultures, and nutrition. Only a handful of journals publish articles that explicitly address the intersections of food and nutrition, biology and culture, and policy and practice from a holistic and global perspective. It is this kind of scholarship that EFN seeks to promote. The current issue of EFN includes eight articles based on studies conducted in Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Kenya, the Mediterranean Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the United States. These articles focus on a range of topics, including household food insecurity, prenatal maternal health, child nutrition, changing food consumption patterns, and determinants of dietary awareness and food behavior. The article by Pedrero-Tome and colleagues presents the results of a crosssectional study exploring the relationship between household food insecurity and the nutritional status of schoolchildren in rural El Salvador. The authors used the Food Security Perception Survey to collect data on 143 households and performed anthropometric measurements in a sample of 334 schoolchildren. The authors report that anthropometric failure was observed in nearly 38% of the schoolchildren and nearly 59% of the sample households experienced food insecurity. In their article, Suri and colleagues present the results of a cross-sectional study on the socio-demographic determinants of nutritional status in preschool children (3–6 years) in north India. The authors collected data using a 24-hour dietary recall and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and anthropometric measurements on a sample of 350 preschoolers. The results of this study suggest that the majority of children consumed less than 60% of the nutrient intake recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Furthermore, family income, the number of siblings, and birth order were associated with dietary insufficiency, and stunting and wasting were more prevalent among girls as compared to boys. The article by Owens and colleagues focuses on examining the relationship between cultural context and food consumption. The authors used cultural consensus analysis – a method commonly used to determine shared ECOLOGY OF FOOD AND NUTRITION 2022, VOL. 61, NO. 2, 125–127 https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2022.2041297