Joan Vaccaro

Florida International University | FIU · Department of Dietetics and Nutrition

Background Turkish immigrants form the largest ethnic minority group in the Netherlands and show a higher prevalence of (i) cardiovascular disease (CVD), (ii) cigarette smoking, and (iii) type 2 diabetes (T2D) as compared to the native Dutch. This study examines the association of CVD risk factors: serum cotinine, as an indicator of cigarette smoke...

Purpose: This study examined the association of microalbuminuria (MAU), as determined by albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), with hypertension (HTN) among Turkish immigrants with type 2 diabetes (T2D) living in deprived neighborhoods of The Hague, Netherlands. Methods: A total of 110 participants, physician-diagnosed with T2D, aged ≥ 30 years wer...

Background: Health disparities disproportionally affect Black and Hispanic older US adults. Health research is needed to understand and eliminate these disparities; however, older adults, and particularly Black and Hispanic/Latino older adults are underrepresented in health research. Adult children have influenced health behavior and health outcome...

Background: A previous study found racial/ethnic disparities in disposition post-acute rehabilitation care. The aim of this study was to examine disposition by type of stroke, stroke severity and comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, obesity) among older female stroke patients by race/ethnicity and age group after inpatient hospitalization. Method...

The purpose of this study was to present the challenges faced when implementing a diet and exercise intervention for low-income older Hispanics with type 2 diabetes. This was a first of its kind observational study of recruitment, attendance, and characteristics in a Spanish-speaking community government funded congregate meal site. This report eva...

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of an eight-week nutrition and physical activity intervention, entitled: “My Healthy Habits”, at summer camps to prevent obesity, reduce screen time, promote healthy eating habits and physical activity among children. Material and Methods: Eight-week pretest-posttest: intervention versus a comparison group was...

The purpose of this study was to present the challenges faced when implementing a diet and exercise intervention for low-income older Hispanics with type 2 diabetes with an observational study of recruitment, attendance, and characteristics of Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes in a community congregate meal site pre and post administration of a...

The prevalence of diabetes among Americans aged 65 years and older is greater than 25%. Medical expenditures for persons with diabetes are more than twice as high as those for patients without diabetes. Diabetes in older adults often times coexists with frailty, resulting in reduced quality of life and increased health-care use. Many older adults w...

Environmental factors, preventive medical care, and behaviors play a role in childhood obesity. This study used the National Survey of Children’s Health, 2011-2012, for 42,828 children, ages 10–17 years. Greater percent of children in the overweight/obese category performed no moderate-to-vigorous physical activity: 11.9 (10.6, 13.3) as compared to...

Aim The purpose of the present study was to determine the association of unhealthy dietary food items with cardiometabolic risk factors with and without sociodemographic factors. Methods This cross‐sectional study used data available to the public from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) 2009–2010 where unhealthy food consumption was...

Osteoporosis, a chronic disease that results in low bone mass with an increased risk of fragility fractures, is prevalent in older adults. Diet can prevent or lessen the severity of osteoporosis. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess differences in diet, quality of life, self-rated health, and physical function between congregate...

This poster depicts the association of physical function and self-rated health in older adults with and without osteoporosis attending Congregate Meals. It was presented at the International Conference on Frailty & Sarcopenia Research (ICFSR). Miami Beach, FL, USA, March 1-3, 2018. and will be published in the Journal of Frailty & Aging (in press).

The recommended dietary servings of macronutrients were compared with participants who attend Congregate Meals across the US by osteoporosis status (with and without). Inadequate calorie and macronutrient intake was found for participants regardless of whether they had osteoporosis or not. Nutrition education is available at Congregate meal sites;...

Comparison of older adults with and without osteoporosis in terms of health and functional abilities from a representative sample of congregate meal attendees throughout the United States.

The U.S. government provided a website, entitled MyPlate, and required menu labels to state calories to help the population make healthy dietary and exercise choices. The purpose of this study is to assess the awareness and use of nutrition information provided by MyPlate and by restaurant menu labels with dietary and exercise behavior for US adult...

The objective of the study was to evaluate 169 Kuwaiti mother–daughter dyads and their associations with health behaviors for eating healthy, engaging in physical activity, daughters perceived body weight, time spent with computer/video, and time viewing television. Female students aged 10–14 years were selected from private and public schools in t...

Background The Older Americans Act (OAA) requires that nutrition programs provide meals and related nutrition services that promote health and help manage chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to compare health status, food security, functional limitations, and chronic diseases of older adults who received or did not receive OAA meals usi...

Background and objectives: School-age children (SAC) are vulnerable to malnutrition which can negatively influence their academic attainment. There is limited information on relationship between nutritional status and school attendance and performance of school age children enrolled in school feeding programmes in Ghana. We assessed the association...

The purpose of this study was to determine health-related characteristics of a representative sample of older adults who attend congregate meal sites in the United States, and compare races/ethnicities and sexes. Participants were adults, aged 60 years and older, (N = 901) of the 2015 Tenth Annual National Survey of Older American Act Participants...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2016/1092819.].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among sex, race/ethnicity, and food security with the likelihood of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and lung disease for older adults. Method: Complex sample analysis by logistic regression models for chronic diseases were conducted from National Health and Nutrition...

This paper compares nutrition intakes and nutritional status of school children from two public schools in neighbouring communities of Ghana with different school feeding programmes. One hundred and eighty-two caregiver and school-age child pairs were interviewed concerning socio-demographics, dietary practices, and food security in a cross-section...

This study examined sex by race/ethnicity differences in medical advice received for diet and exercise with corresponding health behaviors of a U.S. representative sample of adults with type 2 diabetes (N = 1,269). Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 2011-2014 for 185 Mexican Americans, 123 Other Hispanics, 392 non-H...

author manuscript (in-press; open access) ABSTRACT Background. The State of Kuwait has a growing obesity epidemic in both genders and all age groups; however, obesity rates in the young seem to be rising. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 169 Kuwaiti female adolescents attending both private and public schools spanning the six gover...

Accepted manuscript (in-press; open access) ABSTACT This study examined sex by race/ethnicity differences in medical advice received for diet and exercise with corresponding health behaviors of a U.S. representative sample of adults with type 2 diabetes (N = 1269). Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 2011-2014 for 18...

Objective To explore the relationships among ethnicity/race, gender, demographics, age-group and dietary health in a nationally representative sample of older adults. DesignCross-sectional study. SettingData for this study were collected by interview in the mobile examination centers from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2011...

Background: Malnutrition of children in Ghana continues during school years. There is limited information on how school meals meet nutrient recommendations in Ghana. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare energy and nutrient content of meals served by Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) and Non-Governmental School Feeding Programme (NGS...

Objective To explore the relationships among ethnicity/race, gender, demographics, age-group and dietary health in a nationally representative sample of older adults. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Data for this study were collected by interview in the mobile examination centers from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 201...

Aims: Diet is a modifiable lifestyle behavior that can be protective of healthy aging by delaying or preventing the onset of chronic diseases. This study examined the relationships among ethnicity/race, demographics, age-group and dietary health in a nationally representative sample of older adults from five ethnic/racial groups. Methods: This was...

Background. Approximately 17% of children aged 6–11 years were classified as obese in the United States. Obesity adversely affects physical functioning and leads to reduced quality of life. Heart function for overweight and obese children has not been reported. Methods. Data for this study were from NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey (NNYFS) cond...

ackground: Both eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction affect a high proportion of college students. Self-esteem and self-efficacy may be protective factors for eating disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate diet self-efficacy, the confidence to maintain or lose weight, and its association with physical self-concept using data fro...

jun. 2015. ISSN e-ISSN 2289-5817. Available at: <http://jpaspex.com/index.php/JPASE/article/view/66> ABSTRACT Nutrition is an important component in chronic disease prevention. Diet plays an important role in the athletic performance and the overall health of the amateur bicyclists; yet information concerning diet and amateur bicyclists is lacking....

Men, particularly minorities, have higher rates of diabetes as compared with their counterparts. Ongoing diabetes self-management education and support by specialists are essential components to prevent the risk of complications such as kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological impairments. Diabetes self-management behaviors, in par...

Aims – Ongoing diabetes self-management education and support are essential to prevent the risk of complications such as kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological impairments (eye and peripheral nervous system damage) (American Diabetes Association, 2014). The purpose of this study is to determine aspects of medical care and its rel...

Background: Lack of adherence to dietary and physical activity guidelines has been linked to an increase in chronic diseases in the United States (US). The aim of this study was to assess the association of lifestyle behaviors with self-rated health (SRH). Methods: This cross-sectional study used self-reported data from Living for Health Program...

2014): Dietary factors, body weight, and screen time in US children with and without asthma, Children's Health Care Disclaimer: This is a version of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of the accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and revie...

Purpose: High sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease based on finding in primarily non-Hispanic White populations. Obesity, another risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is higher in Blacks as compared to non-Hispanic Whites. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between CRP, a marker...

Aim: to determine cut of points for The Homeostatic Model Assesment Index 1 and 2 (HOMA-1 and HOMA-2) for identifying insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among a Cuban-American population. Study Design: Cross sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Florida International University, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Depa...

ABSTRACT Background: Metabolic outcomes of obesity and its associated disorders may not be equivalent across ethnicity and diabetes status. Aim: In this paper, we examined the association of abdominal obesity, by ethnicity and diabetes status, for indicators of glucose metabolism in Blacks. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Haitian...

Abstract This cross sectional study examined the relationship between pulse pressure and microalbuminuria (MA) in Haitian Americans with type 2 diabetes. Subjects (n=133) were recruited from multiple sources from South Florida. Blood pressure was measured twice and averaged to calculate pulse pressure. Pulse pressure was calculated by systolic bloo...

Abstract This cross sectional study investigated the relationship between dietary patterns measured with Healthy Eating Index 2005 (HEI-05) and Self-Rated Health (SRH) in African Americans (AA) with (n=129) and without (n=120) type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recruitment was by community outreach in South Florida. Socio-demographic information and SRH were...

Abstract This study investigated how ethnicity, perceived family/friend social support (FSS), and health behaviors are associated with diabetes self-management (DSM) in minorities. The participants were recruited by community outreach methods and included 174 Cuban-, 121 Haitian- and 110 African-Americans with type 2 diabetes. The results indicated...

This study investigated how ethnicity, perceived family/friend social support (FSS), and health behaviors are associated with diabetes self-management (DSM) in minorities. The participants were recruited by community outreach methods and included 174 Cuban-, 121 Haitian-and 110 African-Americans with type 2 diabetes. The results indicated that ethn...

This study examined associations of language preference and length of stay in the United States and diet among 132 Haitian Americans aged ≥35, born in Haiti. Two dietary indices, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), were used to assess dietary quality. Years in the United States (>15 years; B = 0.063, p = .012) an...

This study examined associations of language preference and length of stay in the United States and diet among 132 Haitian Americans aged ≥35, born in Haiti. Two dietary indices, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), were used to assess dietary quality. Years in the United States (>15 years; B = 0.063, p = .012) an...

How children rate vegetables may be influenced by the preparation method. The primary objective of this study was for first grade students to be involved in a cooking demonstration and to taste and rate vegetables raw and cooked. First grade children of two classes (N= 52: 18 boys and 34 girls (approximately half Hispanic) that had assented and had...

Background: Diabetes and diabetes-related complications are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Depressive symptoms and perceived stress have been identified as possible risk factors for beta cell dysfunction and diabetes. The purpose of this study was to assess associations between depression symptoms and perceived stres...