Master of Science, Miami University, 2013, Family and Child Studies

This study examines food insecurity from the providers' perspective in a Midwestern county. To understand food insecurity in this county, an interview of the county choice food pantries and its food bank supplier was completed. Data included descriptive demographic data about the county residents, as well as interviews with both a director and front-line worker from the food bank and five choice food pantries from different townships in the county. The study examined the providers' perspective on how county residents experience food access and food insecurity barriers. The study focused on the process by which the food bank, food pantries and federal food assistance programs alleviate food insecurity and work towards self-sustained food security. I discussed study limitations and implications for practice, policy and research.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2017, Anthropology

Recent scholarly literature that discusses local food movements and alternative food networks (AFNs) has criticized the organic, fair trade, and Slow Food movements for being activities centered within upper class and wealthy communities. This study engages with this literature by conducting ethnographic research on the vibrant alternative food movement of Athens, Ohio. Using ethnographic techniques, such as participant observation, surveys, and semi-structured interviews with local food activists, local farmers, and local business owners, this study maps out networks and relations of individuals involved in alternate food networks within Athens County. By exploring local definitions of and barriers to accessing good food, this thesis gauges how the Athens' food network compares to national and local movements in terms of inclusivity of socioeconomic groups. My goal is to observe how AFNs in Athens address questions of poverty and food justice, and how they engage with disadvantaged local communities in one of the country's poorest regions. An ethnographic approach will provide unique insight into how these networks are inclusive or exclusive of individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

MS, Kent State University, 2017, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

Currently, there is limited research that investigates organic food trends in college students. Little is known about knowledge, perception, purchasing behaviors, and potential barriers of organic food in students. The purpose of this descriptive, posttest only, multi-factorial design study was to measure knowledge and perception of organic food buyers vs. organic food non-buyers in Northeast Ohio college students with varying demographics (N = 1490). An anonymous 52-question electronic survey was distributed to 21,089 students to recruit participants for the study via e-mail. The survey consisted of four sections in the following order: socio-demographic characteristics, purchasing, knowledge, and perception. This study examined gender, major, and place of residence with respect to organic food buyers and organic food non-buyers among university students. Participants for this study were at least 18 years of age and were enrolled full-time at the university's main campus. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, three-way factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square, and paired t-tests. An alpha level of 0.05 was set to determine if statistical significance was present in the data. Results of this study indicate that students have a higher perception of organic food than conventional food with respect to being better for the environment, more humane, tastes better, is safe to consume, and that they provide additional health benefits. Conventional food is perceived as being more affordable and having a longer shelf life than organic food. Females, non-science majors, and organic food buyers have a higher perception of organic food than males, science majors, and organic food non-buyers. Findings indicate that consumers purchase organic food based on perceived benefit. Results also revealed that place of residence does not influence whether college students purchase or do not purchase organic food. With respect to knowledge, gender and (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, City and Regional Planning

Food waste is a wicked problem. It is the result of agricultural economic policies, income inequality, deficient distribution networks, and food edibility enculturation among other factors. Food waste is generated at every level of the food system, with each level having numerous activities with enough uniqueness and reasons for wasting food. Equally, there are numerous ways to prevent, reduce and recycle food waste at each level of the food system, but solutions also depend on the same factors that causes it and are additionally influenced by sustainability policies, existing waste management infrastructure, land use priorities, and social and personal psychological norms. Hence it can feel that finding a solution for food waste is a never-ending battle. Solutions must be implemented at all levels of the food system and in order to do this food waste and solid waste management planners must look for causes and solutions at the macro and micro scales. The research presented here is concerned with implementing solutions and understanding how these solutions could be successfully implemented. In the first essay, I report the case study of a planning process undertaken in the Mississippi Gulf Coast to develop a food system plan that integrated strategies commonly included in regional solid waste management plans, in order to manage food waste more sustainably with strategies designed to accommodate local needs and unique circumstances. While most food system plans acknowledge the importance of managing food waste, this study was the first food system planning effort that included a committee composed of local solid waste management professionals and local stakeholders interested in food waste prevention, reduction, and recycling. The planning process was a three-step process that engaged stakeholders in the food supply chain from production, distribution, retail, and consumption through to post-consumption. The essay describes the specific steps taken to assess the g (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

Community gardening efforts often carry a social purpose, such as building climate resilience, alleviating hunger, or promoting food justice. Meanwhile, the identities and motivations of community gardeners reflect both personal stories and broader social narratives. The involvement of universities in community gardening projects introduces an additional dimension of power and privilege that is underexplored in scholarly literature. This research uses critical autoethnography to explore the relationship of community gardening and social identity. Guided by Chang (2008) and Anderson and Glass-Coffin (2013), a systematic, reflexive process of meaning-making was used to compose three autoethnographic accounts. Each autoethnography draws on the author's lived experience in the community food system in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire between 2010 and 2019 to illustrate aspects of community gardening and social identity in this context. Unique access to data and insights about community food systems is provided by the author's dual and multiple positionality in this context (e.g., as an educator/student, provider/recipient of food assistance, mother/environmentalist). The resulting accounts weave thickly descriptive vignettes with relevant scholarly literature that contextualize and problematize the author's lived experience. A key theme across the narratives is that “people live layered lives . . . making it possible to feel oppression in one area and privilege in others” (Bochner, 2002, p. 6). Intended impacts of this research are expanding critical autoethnographic methods in food studies and environmental studies, offering cultural critique on the impacts of university engagement in community food systems, and embracing qualities of vulnerability, engagement, and open-endedness in critical social research (Anderson & Glass-Coffin, 2013).

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

The retail food environment has a significant impact on the availability and affordability of food options for consumers within a given neighborhood. However, approaches for accounting for the complicated spatial clustering of diverse food outlets in a study location are mostly frequentist models, and there is an absence of Bayesian models. Furthermore, the majority of food environment studies combine socioeconomic characteristics and neighborhood segregation into a single model to study the food environment. This approach, often confound the subtle relationship that any of these factors have on policy. This research investigates the food environment using a Bayesian hierarchical spatial model, a method that has seldomly been employed in food environment studies. This research examines both the community and consumer food environments. This study is made up of three manuscripts. The first manuscript (Chapter 4) examined the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic factors and racial segregation on the distribution of supermarkets and grocery stores in Cleveland. The purpose of this chapter was to determine which of the two complimentary factors provides a more robust explanation for the geographical distribution of the stores in Cleveland. Using the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) as a basis for model robustness, the results of comparing four models show that racial segregation predicts the store distribution far better than socioeconomic characteristics. This finding demonstrated how structural issues such as neighborhood segregation may have played a part in Cleveland's limited availability of supermarkets and grocery stores. The second paper (Chapter 5) investigated in-store and neighborhood healthy food availability as well as their relationships with neighborhood racial segregation and socioeconomic characteristics. Eleven healthy food items were rated in order to obtain a composite score for healthy food availability. According to the study's findings, su (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Environmental Science, Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Sciences

With the growth of urbanization, the access to fresh, unprocessed foods is decreasing leading to regions of food deserts. Most city planning has not been designed to include access to fresh food supply for the residents. There are many different factors contributing to the phenomenon such as low-income, lack of access to proper and feasible public transport, lack of vehicle ownership, and absence of food retailers in specific urban regions. Utilizing Geographical Information Systems (GIS), stores and public transportation were mapped, and the availability of healthy food was evaluated. Food deserts in the city of Youngstown were identified by placing a buffer zone around each store. Economic background, race/ethnicity, transportation access, and health conditions of people living in the City of Youngstown were investigated. The large stores that provide a variety of fresh foods were located on the boundary of the city making them less accessible to residents near the city center. Public transportation did not greatly improve access because of its limited schedule. Most of the stores easily accessible to residents did not carry fresh fruits and vegetables although they did carry a limited amount of milk, eggs, and bread. Adverse health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and obesity did not vary much between food desert regions and non-desert regions of Youngstown. All the adverse health conditions were higher in the city as compared to Mahoning County rates. There is a need to improve the availability and access to healthy and fresh food to address the well-being of the community.

MS, Kent State University, 2019, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

Diagnoses of medically necessary food restrictions due to food allergy and celiac disease may be increasing in prevalence in the United States, and are a growing concern for college dining services and the college students with these conditions (Branum & Lukacs, 2009; Catassi et al., 2010; Gupta et al., 2011; Rajagopal & Strohbehn, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of the dietary accommodations by dining services of students with medically necessary food restrictions compared to students without food restrictions at Kent State University (KSU). Participants were 18 years or older full-time students on the KSU main campus participating in a dining plan who completed an online survey containing sections on demographics, a food restriction assessment, food allergy knowledge, and dining hall satisfaction. Analysis of the data showed no significant difference in satisfaction between students with and without medically necessary food restrictions, nor between students of different class standings (p > 0.05). Food allergy training, practices, and knowledge of foodservice workers in the KSU dining halls were also assessed to gather descriptive data, which showed no significant difference in food allergy knowledge between workers with and without formal food allergy certification (p > 0.05). The results revealed that improvements to dining services should target all students rather than a specific group. Also highlighted was the inability of young adults in college to properly manage their food restrictions due to food allergy or celiac disease, which may be improved by providing more education and dialogue through dining services.

MS, Kent State University, 2016, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of organic food buyers among college students (N = 980). This study also examined perception and knowledge between organic food purchasers and non-purchasers. An anonymous electronic survey was distributed through the university's email system. The email invitation to participate was sent to 8,927 university students. The survey consisted of five sections designed to investigate: (a) demographics, (b) purchasing, (c) availability, (d) perception, (e) knowledge. There were significant between buyers and non-buyers of organic food as buyers had a higher mean knowledge of organic food than non-buyers. Chi-square and t-tests were used to run significances between buyers and non-buyers to examine perception, knowledge, and demographics. Results also indicated that as both groups perceive organic food as healthier and nutritionally superior to organic food, barriers stand in the way of purchasing such as cost. There was no significant knowledge difference between buyers and non-buyers. Data showed the most significant reasons buyers do purchase organic food is due to being health conscious (76%) and also for nutritional quality (64%). Results indicated that both groups cited websites as the highest used resource to learn about organic food. Results also indicated that gender did not have an effect on purchasing organic food but class ranking did have a significant effect. Data also showed significance between ethnicity and purchasing organic food.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Human Ecology: Human Nutrition

Food insecurity has been associated with overweight/obesity in U.S. women. Several hypotheses have been proposed to address this paradoxical association, but none has yet been tested. This dissertation is designed to test the “monthly cycle of food abundance and food shortage” hypothesis, and to examine the effects of food stamp program (FSP) participation, disordered eating, and dietary intake patterns on the association. It is hypothesized that food insecure women would experience a monthly cycle with higher total energy intake (TEI) and household food stores at the beginning of the month, followed by a more limited TEI and food supply at the end. The dissertation compared food insecure and overweight/obese (FIS/ovob) women with three other women groups: food secure and normal weight (FS/norm), food secure and overweight/obese (FS/ovob), and food insecure and normal weight (FIS/norm). The monthly variations in TEI and food stores were assessed in a sample of low-income women in Ohio, by comparing the energy intake from the first ten days with that of the last ten days of the month during three continuous months. For FIS/ovob women, significant decreases were found in the total number of food items (Month 1: 87.74 vs. 68.26, Month 2: 83.3 vs. 72.2, Month 3: 88.81 vs. 75.3, p<0.05) and in essential food groups including grains, vegetables, fruits, meat & beans, and milk; in TEI (2114.19 vs. 1843.06 kcal, p<0.05) and fat intake (804.1 vs. 649.93 kcal, p<0.05) in Month 1. Among food insecure women, food stamp recipients showed a higher BMI (38.24 vs. 30.94, p<0.01) and more severe decreases in three-month food items (61.58 vs. 8.22, p<0.01) than non-recipients. In addition, deeper food insecurity was marginally correlated with more severe Eating Concern in disordered eating (Pearson's correlation: 0.23, p=0.09). Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2008 data, a higher carbohydrates/energy ratio and a lower protein/energy ratio w (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics

For nearly a half century, food aid has aroused considerable debate among economists. However, a definitive answer to the fundamental question - “What is the impact of food aid?”- has proven elusive. Theodore W. Schultz's 1960 article warned that program food aid likely had a disincentive impact on farmers in recipient countries. More recently, Christopher Barrett has maintained that food aid has little effect on local production, but rather displaces imports (2002). Both ideas are based on an examination of program food aid; food that is sold on the recipient country's market. Since the 1960s, assistance has evolved beyond program food aid to include targeted food aid, which is at least intended for free distribution to the hungry poor. In this study a welfare analysis is performed to develop hypotheses regarding the relationships among targeted food aid, program food aid, imports and production. The central hypotheses resulting from the theoretical framework are that program food aid discourages production and it may displace imports. Targeted food aid displaces imports and may discourage domestic production. These hypotheses are tested using a vector autoregression similar to that used by Barrett et al. (1998). Departures from Barrett's study include the use of fixed effects to control for differences among countries and differentiation distinguish between targeted and program food aid. INTERFAIS data on food aid (provided by the World Food Programme) are used along with FAOSTAT data on per capita cereal production and imports by country; the data span the years 1988 to 2000 and 64 countries. The main findings of the empirical work are that neither targeted nor program food aid affect food production in the countries receiving them and that both result in import displacement. However, the degree of import displacement is greater for program food aid than for targeted food aid. The implications of this research for policy makers are that improvements to social wel (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, American Culture Studies/History

Various scholars have examined the historical development of women's consumer magazines, the advertisements of product manufacturers, and the social construction of the idealized American woman. This study is a qualitative historical analysis of the dramatic cultural turn that took place during the early decades of the twentieth century and how those changes were expressed within the editorial content of Good Housekeeping and the advertisements of iconic food producer, the Campbell Soup Company. Both positioned themselves as vital to women's education, thereby having a significant effect on the traditional private sphere of womanhood and the male-dominated public sphere. During the years of this study, 1905-1920, the United States was in the midst of rapidly transforming from a small-scale agricultural economy to consumer capitalism, which profoundly reshaped the essential structure of society and changed the fundamental nature of everyday life. The mass production and wide distribution of goods created new public concerns, such as the safety of the food supply and the veracity of advertising claims made by product manufacturers. On the surface, it appeared that Good Housekeeping and Campbell Soup primarily intended to inculcate white, middle-class women in a discourse of consumerism, most often represented by idealized images of the modern New Woman. However, as this study demonstrates, the cultural work done by both entities was far more complex than just instilling consumerist behavior in women. Early on, Good Housekeeping tapped into women's desire for political participation, and the magazine actively encouraged their mobilization in order to tackle significant national issues, such as purifying the food supply, lowering the infant mortality rate, promoting temperance, maintaining the home front during war, and supporting suffrage. While these efforts were supposed to take place in a manner not detrimental to home life, they did in fact provide an opening for w (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, History (Arts and Sciences)

Between 1954 and 1974 there was a concerted focus on improving global food security through the Food for Peace program. This dissertation explores the ways that voluntary agencies acted in concert with the U.S. government and recipient nations to address food security through programs focused on feeding vulnerable populations and providing food as payment-in-kind on work projects. Specifically, it looks at programs in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Additionally, it examines why, after 1974, the U.S. government chose to back away from its emphasis on Food for Peace. While Food for Peace was a popular aid program, this dissertation looks at how political maneuvering, the disappearance of surpluses, and a lack of emphasis on agricultural development culminated in the failure of the Food for Peace program to meet its goals in the countries identified above. Moreover, it suggests that this inability to address global food needs when the issue had ample attention reverberates even today, as food insecurity continues in much of the world.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Management

Food banks and food retail stores serve critical roles in closing the gap in access to fresh quality food. Both entities are salient resources for low-income food insecure consumers. Low-income consumers, specifically those who participate in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), rely upon food banks to combat hunger and extend food supply. In 2018, the USDA reported 52% of SNAP consumers visited a food bank within a 12-month period. The increasing out-growth and demand for hunger relief services, such as food banks, has caused a shift in food access. In addition, the presence of food banks has been identified as a potential threat to market share for local retailers. This dynamic has created tension for local grocers who manage operations in food insecure environments. Through this study, I examine the impact of food banks on food retail stores in a local food environment. The main finding of my study is that food bank distributions have an income and substitution effect in food insecure environments. This effect is exemplified by fluctuations in retail transactions and SNAP consumer purchase behavior. As an income effect, consumers utilize food bank distributions to supplement the lack of finances to acquire food. Conversely, as a substitution, food bank distributions provide consumers with access to food items that are not available at grocery stores. Our findings are from an integrated mixed-method study. Qualitative results from Study 1 encompassed 24 retail operators and partners across Cuyahoga County, Ohio. I found local retail operators and partners identified food banks as silent competitors in food insecure environments. Local retailers and partners provide access to food items in the absence of large-scale supermarkets. The services provided by food banks were identified as a disruptor for local retailers in managing operations in food insecure areas. In Study 2, I examined the economic impact of food bank distributions on (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 0, Epidemiology and Biostatistics

This dissertation explores the nutritional quality of food that moves through the hunger relief system before it becomes available to clients, with focus on the COVID-19 pandemic related food supply and policy contexts. Previous evidence documenting the relationship between food availability and food item selection suggests that improving the pantry inventory can improve the quality of foods that clients take home for consumption. Chapter 2 illustrates the trends in food procurement by food banks through four major food sources from 2018 to 2020; and evaluates the change in healthfulness of inventory by comparing the change in pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables (healthy) to desserts and snacks (unhealthy). The results showed that federal food streams and purchased foods were crucial food sourcing levers used by the food banks to meet the increased food demand during the COVID-19 pandemic; while the proportion of inventory comprised of produce decreased in 2020 from 2019, it increased in overall poundage by over a million pounds; and snacks and desserts continued a declining trend both in proportion and poundage, from 2018 through 2020. Chapter 3 investigates the quality of the sourced inventory by partnered programs from the food banks. This aim shows that food procured from federal sources were of the highest quality, followed by food received as donations. Although the program-level characteristics such as location, size, and intervention were not associated with the overall nutritional quality of inventory, programs with the highest proportion of pounds of federal and donated foods had better nutritional quality, as did programs with the lowest proportion of dry inventory. Given the significance of federal food sources in the previous two aims, chapter 4 pivots to investigate the impact of TEFAP disbursement methods (Choice, No-Choice, Modified-Choice) on the quality of pantry-sourced food over time. Although there were no significant differences observed betw (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2022, Health Education

Introduction: Food insecurity is a significant public health problem in the United States, and it impacts the health and well-being of individuals of all ages (King, 2017; Nazmi et al., 2018; Weber et al., 2018). Food insecurity refers to the “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” (Anderson, 1990). Several governmental and non-profit organizations offer food assistance programs for food insecure individuals who are income eligible (Coleman-Jenson et al., 2017). The central concern addressed in this study was that many food assistance programs have low levels of engagement (Carvalho et al., 2020; Gray & O'Leary, 2019; Weber et al., 2018), and the causes for this are unclear. This research considered the effects of personal and environmental factors on behavior and used the Social Ecological Model (SEM) to explain and predict the individual demographic, sociocultural, and system-level influences of food assistance program utilization. Purpose: A mixed methods approach was employed to conduct two separate studies for this research. The first study was a quantitative data analysis using pre-existing patient electronic health record (EHR) data from a non-profit healthcare system headquartered in northwest Ohio. The results of this study describe healthcare-based food clinic program utilization and identify several individual demographic, sociocultural, and system-level predictors of program engagement and continued participation. The second study was a qualitative inquiry exploring the individual lived experiences of food insecure patients who utilized the food clinic in the same non-profit healthcare system. Using the Social Ecological Model as a framework, the results of this study provide a deeper understanding of how sociocultural and system-level interactions influenced the engagement, utilization, and continued participation i (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, City and Regional Planning

The lack of access to affordable and healthy food is cited as a significant reason for health disparities in society and threatens public health. For decades, trends in the urbanization and food retail sector have left a considerable part of the society deprived of affordable and healthy food outlets in their neighborhoods. This is especially the case for low-income groups and people of color. In addition to the uneven spatial distribution of healthy and affordable food outlets, defining food access in itself is a very complex task. This complexity makes developing strategies to solve food access issues in society challenging. People's or households' decisions regarding where to shop, how far to travel, and what to purchase, as well as different individual and household attributes, ranging from where they live to how much they value diet, are all important. Hence, the following dissertation aims to examine the different characteristics that impact where households shop, how far they travel, and what they purchase. The goal is to broaden our understanding of food access. The dissertation includes three different studies using information from the USDA's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) dataset. Specifically, the first study addresses food store choice of shoppers, including their ability to access the nearest healthy store (supermarket/superstore), unhealthy stores (gas station, convenience store, dollar store), and other healthy stores (specialty stores, farmers' markets, medium to large grocery stores). The first study highlights how price and distance matter for selecting the nearest healthy store. When the nearest healthy store is a far distance, shoppers are driven to purchase at nearby stores, which may be unhealthy or small healthy stores, such as a grocery store. The second study examines factors that affect the distances household travel for food. The surrounding food environment is associated with total real traveled miles (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Public Policy and Management

Food insecurity and poor diet quality affect millions of United States (US) residents, leading to negative health and social outcomes and burdening the US health care system. Activists and researchers theorize that food environments, the constellations of food resources within a given geography, represent a locus of intervention that can improve food security and access to healthful food. Despite this theoretical connection, research on the relationships between food environments, food security, and diet quality remains inconsistent. The papers presented in this dissertation aim to present three approaches to studying food environments that help illuminate these connections. The study presented in Chapter 2 uses a hierarchical modeling approach to understand the connection between county-level food environments and food security. This analysis relies on 12,748 household-level observations from the December 2010 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement as well as food environment data from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns. This exploratory descriptive essay suggests that population-adjusted county-level counts of grocery stores and specialty stores are associated with a decreased risk of household food insecurity, while population-adjusted county-level counts of convenience stores are associated with an increased risk of household food insecurity. Furthermore, this study highlights a potential moderating role of specialty stores on risk of household food insecurity for households in iii which all adults identify as Black. The study also suggests a potential moderating role of population-adjusted county-level counts of SNAP-authorized food retailers on risk of household food insecurity for households with at least one disabled household member. Using a relational approach, Chapter 3 develops the proximate food retail quality (PFRQ) score, an individual-level inverse-distance weighted measure of food ret (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2020, Food Science and Technology

Curcumin, the bioactive compound found in turmeric, exhibits a wide range of health-promoting properties. However, its application in food and medicine is limited by its poor bioaccessibility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for corn oil oleogels structured with three different concentrations of rice bran wax (RBW) (2%, 6%, and 10% w/w) to serve as a delivery system for curcumin to increase its bioaccessibility compared to an ungelled (0% RBW) control. The physical properties of oleogels were characterized with and without curcumin to assess the impact of curcumin on oleogel physical properties. Various measures, including texture profile analysis (TPA), solid fat content (SFC), polarized light microscopy (PLM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and x-ray diffraction (XRD), were used to characterize the oleogels. Additionally, an in vitro simulated digestion study was used to assess the bioaccessibility of curcumin in oil and oleogel systems. Data analysis revealed no significant differences in polymorphic or thermal properties between oleogels with and without curcumin; however, differences in microstructural properties were documented for oleogels with curcumin. Curcumin did not appear to have any significant impact on SFC of oil or oleogel samples at a given RBW concentration. Oleogel hardness also differed between control and curcumin-containing oleogels at 10% RBW. After in vitro simulated digestion, oleogels prepared with 2%, 6% and 10% RBW all significantly increased the concentration of curcumin in the micellar fraction relative to the ungelled (0% RBW) control. This finding demonstrates that oleogels structured by RBW effectively increased curcumin bioaccessibility in a simulated digestion model. Results from this study provide insight into the potential utilization of RBW oleogels for delivering curcumin and other poorly water-soluble compounds in food, dietary supplement, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Allied Health Sciences: Nutrition

Objective. The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument that measures the food literacy and home food environment for urban food pantry clients and test the face validity of the developed instrument with food pantry clients. Methods. Standardized cognitive interviews with food pantry clients were conducted to test the face validity of this instrument at an urban food pantry in Northside, OH. Results. Seven items were necessary to improve clarity of language, provide adequate response options and reduce to the bias or assumptions. The instrument overall was seen to be appropriate for food pantry clients Conclusion. Necessary edits were made to make the Home Food Environment and Food Literacy tool more valid for urban food pantry clients in Northside, OH. Further research is necessary to test other types of validity and reliability of the Home Food Environment and Food Literacy tool in food insecure populations.