Guatemala

INFORMAS in Guatemala and Costa Rica is run by Dr. Manuel Ramirez-Zea and Dr. Fernanda Kroker-Lobos.

Guatemala implemented the following modules: Food Composition, Food Labelling, Food Promotion (TV) and the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food Epi). The latest in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico (INSP) and the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology of Chile (INTA).

In Costa Rica, the Guatemalan team has built partnerships with the School of Public Health of the University of Costa Rica to implement the modules of Food Promotion (TV) and to validate methodology for mapping out food outlets and food advertising around rural and urban schools.  Through a partnership with the Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health (INCIENSA), the team performed a secondary analysis on Food Labelling and composition of ultraprocessed food targeted to children.

People Involved

Manuel Ramírez Zea, PhD

Manuel Ramírez Zea, PhD

Coordinator

INCAP Research Center for the prevention of Chronic Diseases Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama –INCAP

Email: Manuel Ramírez Zea

 

Fernanda Kroker-Lobos, PhDFernanda Kroker-Lobos, PhD

Research fellow in Population Nutrition

INCAP Research Center for the prevention of Chronic Diseases Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama –INCAP-

Email: Fernanda Kroker-Lobos

Outputs Table

GUATEMALA

Status (as of February 2020)

Outputs

Public Sector (Food EPI)

Private Sector

Data collection completed Manuscript in preparation

Corporate Political Activity to start in Guatemala and Panama in 2020

 1,2,3
Food Composition Data collection completed Manuscript in preparation 4,5
Food Labelling Data collection completed Manuscript in Preparation 6
Food Promotion (Television) Data collection completed Manuscripts submitted

7,8
COSTA RICA Status (as of February 2020) Outputs
Food Labelling Data collection completed Manuscript in preparation 9,10
Food Promotion (Television) Television: Data collection completed Manuscript in preparation 11,12
Food Retail and promotion around schools Data collection completed Manuscript in preparation 13

Outputs (publications, reports, conference presentations)

  1. Sanchez C, Ramirez-Zea M, Vandevijvere S, Kroker-Lobos MF. Healthy Food Environment Policy Index in Guatemala. Manuscript in Preparation.
  2. Sanchez C, Ramirez-Zea M, Vandevijvere S, Kroker-Lobos MF. Healthy Food Environment Policy Index in Guatemala. Invited speaker at the Iberoamerican Congress of Nutrition, Lima Peru September 2017.
  3. Sanchez C, Ramirez-Zea M, Vandevijvere S, Kroker-Lobos MF. Healthy Food Environment Policy Index in Guatemala. Oral presentation at the Congress of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine Public Health and Hygiene Valencia, Spain. June 2017
  4. Alarcon A, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea M Kroker-Lobos MF. Lack of nutrient declarations and low nutritional quality of pre-packaged foods sold in Guatemalan supermarkets”. Public Health Nutrition 2020, 23(13):1-10  DOI: 10.1017/S1368980020000336
  5. Alarcon A, Kroker-Lobos MF, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea M. Nutrient Declarations and Nutritional Quality of Processed and Ultra-processed Foods Sold in Guatemala. Oral Presentation, American Society of Nutrition, Experimental Biology, Chicago April 2017.
  6. Pineda A, Ramirez-Zea M, Vandevijvere S, Kroker-Lobos MF.  Analysis of the information contained on packaged foods from supermarkets in Guatemala City. Oral presentation at the Congress of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine Public Health and Hygiene Valencia, Spain. June 2017
  7. Emma Lucia Cosenza-Quintana, Analí Morales-Juárez, Manuel Ramirez-Zea, Stefanie Vandevijvere, Maria F Kroker-Lobos. Overabundance of unhealthy food advertising targeted to children on Guatemalan television. Health Promotion International. Published Online Feb 14, 2020; 1-10. daaa002, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaa002.
  8. Cosenza E, Morales A, Kroker-Lobos MF, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea M. Analysis of Food Advertising in Children’s TV Programming in Guatemala”. Oral Presentation, American Society of Nutrition, Experimental Biology, Chicago April 2017.
  9. Gamboa T, Blanco A, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea, Kroker-Lobos MF. Claims and promotional strategies declared on front-of-pack processed and ultraprocessed products in Costa Rica. Poster presentation. American Society of Nutrition, Experimental Biology, Chicago, April 2017.
  10. Gamboa T, Blanco A, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea, Kroker-Lobos MF. Nutritional Content According to the Presence of Front of Package Marketing Strategies: The Case of Ultra-Processed Snack Food Products Purchased in Costa Rica. Nutrients 2019, 11, 2738; doi:10.3390/nu11112738
  11. Zamora I, Jensen M, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea, Kroker-Lobos MF. Television Food and Beverage Marketing to Children in Costa Rica: Is a Regulatory Policy Needed?. Poster presentation American Society of Nutrition, Experimental Biology, Chicago, April 2017.
  12. Zamora I, Jensen M, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea M, Kroker-Lobos MF. “Television Food and Beverage Marketing to Children in Costa Rica: Current State and Policy Implications”. Public Health Nutr. 2019 May 21:1-12. doi: 10.1017/S136898001900077
  13. Cruz-Félix AP, Vargas S, Vandevijvere S, Ramirez-Zea. Food outlet density and food advertising around public schools in San José, Costa Rica: a pilot study. Oral presentation at the Congress of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine Public Health and Hygiene Valencia, Spain. June 2017

 

Additional Publications

International Development Research Center, Canada –IDRC