In 2010, Mexican cuisine was declared as intangible cultural heritage, integral to Mexican identity and necessary to preserve for the good of humanity. Despite this recognition, first-generation Mexican communities in the United States face an exacerbated likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. In most United States studies, understanding the relationship between...
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis associated with consumption of seafood, particularly raw oysters. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 45,000 cases of V. parahaemolyticus infection occur each year in the U.S. A recent CDC report revealed that the incidence of...
The impact of fertilizer source and cultivar on growth, fruit quality, and yield was evaluated in organic blackberry (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson) from 2011-2013 in three studies. In all studies, plants were drip irrigated, and weeds were managed using a woven polypropylene, permeable landscape fabric (weed mat). At a...
A previous study conducted in our laboratory demonstrated the critical role that retronasal odors play in vegetable liking and disliking. It remains unclear, however, why some individuals like certain vegetable odors, while others do not. A possible explanation is that some individuals have learned to like the odor of a...
Quantitative procedures were developed to determine the effect of variability in the model parameters required for the estimation of microbial shelflife and thermal processing time. Monte Carlo simulations combined with these predictive models were implemented in Microsoft Excel™. In the first study,
predictive models were used for shelf-life predictions based...
The “fat-hunger paradox” is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States in which people of low socioeconomic status are disproportionately overweight or obese, and yet frequently lack access to adequate food and nutrition. Research indicates additional disparities in the prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst most racial and ethnic...
Changes in lifestyle over the last century have resulted in a dramatic increase in the incidence of diabetes in the United States (U.S.). Mexican-Americans, the largest Hispanic/Latino subgroup in the U.S., are 1.7x’s as likely to have diabetes as non- Hispanic Whites. Culturally appropriate approaches for treating diabetes in minority...
The objective of this evaluation was to determine whether the Meals Made Easy for Diabetes curriculum, using the Idaho Plate Method, positively affected participants' fruit, vegetable, and fat intake and their confidence to make appropriate food choices in potentially challenging situations. Adults with a self-reported diagnosis of diabetes (n=132) supplied...
Today in the United States, herbal supplements are growing increasingly popular, however, little is known about the safety and efficacy of these products. This study contributes to the growing body of information about the prevalence of herbal supplement use among young adults (18 to 24 years) and the beliefs young...
The purpose of this research was to evaluate a web-based training program for mentors of distance graduate students enrolled in a distance Master of Science Dietetic Management Program. The online training program was designed to consist of four modules focusing on mentoring skills, communication, research methods and university mandated guidelines...