Objective: The association between organic food consumption and biomarkers of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP) and cystatin C (CysC) was explored in this cross-sectional analysis of older adults. Design: Dietary data and organic food consumption was collected in 2013 from a FFQ. Alternative Mediterranean diet score (A-MedDiet) was calculated as a measure of healthy eating. Biomarkers CRP and CysC were collected in serum or plasma in 2016. We used linear regression models to assess the associations between organic food consumption and CRP and CysC. Setting: This cross-sectional analysis uses data from the nationally representative, longitudinal panel study of Americans over 50, the Health and Retirement Study. Participants: The mean age of the analytic sample (n 3815) was 64·3 (se 0·3) years with 54·4 % being female. Results: Log CRP and log CysC were inversely associated with consuming organic food after adjusting for potential confounders (CRP: β = –0·096, 95 % CI 0·159, –0·033; CysC: β = –0·033, 95 % CI –0·051, –0·015). Log CRP maintained statistical significance (β = –0·080; 95 % CI –0·144, –0·016) after additional adjustments for the A-MedDiet, while log CysC lost statistical significance (β = –0·019; 95 % CI –0·039, 0·000). The association between organic food consumption and log CRP was driven primarily by milk, fruit, vegetables and cereals, while log CysC was primarily driven by milk, eggs and meat after adjustments for A-MedDiet. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that organic food consumption is inversely associated with biomarkers of inflammation CRP and CysC, although residual confounding by healthy eating and socioeconomic status cannot be ruled out.

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SummaryDespite efforts to curb the rise in Mexico's child and adolescent overweight and obesity rates, prevalence in Mexico has grown by 120% since 1990 to 43.3% in 2022. This investment case identifies policies that will produce the largest returns for Mexico. The investment case model builds beyond a cost‐of‐illness analysis by predicting the health and societal economic impact of implementing child and adolescent overweight and obesity interventions in a cohort aged 0–19 from 2025 to 2090. The Markov model's impacts include healthcare expenditures, years of life lost, and reduced wages and productivity. We projected and compared costs in a status quo scenario to an intervention scenario to estimate cost savings and calculate return‐on‐investment (ROI). Total lifetime health and economic costs amount to USD 1.8 trillion—USD 30 billion on average per year. Implementing five interventions can reduce lifetime costs by approximately 7%. Each intervention has a low cost per disability‐adjusted life year averted over 30‐year, 50‐year, and lifetime horizons. The findings demonstrate that a package of interventions mitigating child and adolescent overweight and obesity offers a strong ROI. The novel investment case methods should be applied to other countries, particularly low‐ and middle‐income countries.

The relative importance of environmental pathways that results in enteropathogen transmission may vary by context. However, measurement of contact events between individuals and the environment remains a challenge, especially for infants and young children who may use their mouth and hands to explore their environment. Using a mixed-method approach, we combined 1) semistructured observations to characterize key behaviors associated with enteric pathogen exposure and 2) structured observations using Livetrak, a customized software application, to quantify the frequency and duration of contacts events among infants in rural Ecuador. After developing and iteratively piloting the structured observation instrument, we loaded the final list of prompts onto a LiveTrak pallet to assess environmental exposures of 6-month infants (N = 19) enrolled in a prospective cohort study of diarrheal disease. Here we provide a detailed account of the lessons learned. For example, in our field site, 1) most mothers reported washing their hands after diaper changes (14/18, 77.8%); however only a third (4/11, 36.4%) were observed washing their hands; 2) the observers noted that animal ownership differed from observed animal exposure because animals owned by neighboring households were reported during the observation; and 3) using Livetrak, we found that infants frequently mouthed their hands (median = 1.9 episodes/hour, median duration: 1.6 min) and mouthed surroundings objects (1.8 episodes/hour, 1.9 min). Structured observations that track events in real time, can complement environmental sampling, quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews. Customizing these observations enabled us to quantify enteric exposures most relevant to our rural Ecuadorian context.

Objectives To explore the association between organic food consumption and inflammatory biomarkers, c-reactive protein (CRP) and cystatin C (CysC). Methods This analysis uses data from the nationally representative, longitudinal panel study of Americans over 50, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The mean age of the analytic sample (n = 3623) was 64.3 (SE 0.3) years old with just over half (54.3%) being female. Dietary data was collected in 2013 from a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) as well as questions on organic food consumption in the past year. Biomarkers CRP and CysC were collected in blood serum or plasma in 2016. The Alternative Mediterranean diet score (A-MedDiet) was created using the FFQ to assess the quality of study participants' overall diet. Crude and adjusted linear regression models were constructed to assess the association between consumption of organic foods and log-transformed CRP and CysC, accounting for the complex sample design. Results Log CRP and log CysC were both inversely associated with consuming organic food after adjusting for potential confounders (CRP: β = −0.082; P-value = 0.0284; CysC: β = −0.042; P-value < 0.0001). Additional adjustments for the A-MedDiet attenuated the results. Log CysC remained statistically significant [β = −0.028; P-value < 0.0064] with consumption of organic animal sourced foods driving the association: milk [β = −0.034; P-value = 0.0098], eggs [β = −0.025; P-value = 0.0494], and meat [β = −0.032; P-value = 0.0061]. Conclusions These findings support the hypothesis that organic food consumption is inversely associated with biomarkers of inflammation CRP and CysC. The results suggest that organic food may be a potential protective factor in chronic disease, particularly in regard to consumption of animal-sourced foods. Funding Sources HRS is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, and is conducted by the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.