This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between dietary intake and educational outcomes (EO) in Australian first-year university students.

This cross-sectional and longitudinal study measured outcomes of interest at three points over 1 year. Measures included self-reported dietary patterns and dietary intake via a three-day estimated food record. Objective EO (corresponding semester grade point average (GPA), overall GPA and graduation status) variables were extracted from academic records. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were examined using regression models and generalised estimating equations, respectively.

A large university in Queensland, Australia.

Participants (n 80) were first-year students who had completed high school in the previous year.

Some significant associations were found with semester GPA, including: (a) moderate positive associations between serves of vegetables and semester GPA at time point 2 and over time; and (b) a weak negative association between Na intake and semester GPA at time point 2. Although insignificant, meaningful negative associations were found between alcohol consumption and semester GPA at time point 1 and over time. Some significant associations were also found with graduation status, including: (a) a positive association between meeting Australian carbohydrate recommendations and graduation status; and (b) a negative association between Fe intake and graduation status, both at time point 1.

Both cross-sectional and longitudinal findings highlight positive associations between vegetable intake and EO and negative associations between alcohol consumption and EO. Further relevant work is needed with larger, more variable samples in demographic, dietary and EO characteristics.

To compare the cost and affordability of two fortnightly diets (representing the national guidelines and current consumption) across areas containing Australia’s major supermarkets.

The Healthy Diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing protocol was used.

Price data were collected online and via phone calls in fifty-one urban and inner regional locations across Australia.

Not applicable.

Healthy diets were consistently less expensive than current (unhealthy) diets. Nonetheless, healthy diets would cost 25–26 % of the disposable income for low-income households and 30–31 % of the poverty line. Differences in gross incomes (the most available income metric which overrepresents disposable income) drove national variations in diet affordability (from 14 % of the median gross household incomes in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory to 25 % of the median gross household income in Tasmania).

In Australian cities and regional areas with major supermarkets, access to affordable diets remains problematic for families receiving low incomes. These findings are likely to be exacerbated in outer regional and remote areas (not included in this study). To make healthy diets economically appealing, policies that reduce the (absolute and relative) costs of healthy diets and increase the incomes of Australians living in poverty are required.

To analyse the trend of social inequality in food consumption among Brazilians from 2008 to 2019.

Time series analyses using cross-sectional annual data from the Telephone Surveillance System (VIGITEL 2008–2019). Food consumption was evaluated through: (1) consumption of five or more portions of fruits and vegetables in ≥5 d/week; (2) consumption of beans in ≥5 d/week and (3) consumption of soft drinks or artificial juices in ≥5 d/week. Absolute inequality was assessed by the slope index of inequality (SII) and relative inequality by the concentration index (CIX). SII and CIX positive values indicate higher prevalence among more educated citizens and negative among less educated ones. Time trend was assessed by linear regression using weighted least squares.

26 Brazilian state capitals and the Federal District.

621 689 individuals ≥18 years.

Fruits and vegetable consumption was more prevalent among the more educated citizens, while beans were mostly consumed by the less educated, and soft drinks or artificial juices was more prevalent among individuals with intermediate education. The highest absolute inequality was found for beans (SII2019 -25·9). In 12 years, the absolute inequality increased for fruit and vegetable consumption (from SII2008 12·8 to SII2019 16·2), remained for beans (SII2008 -23·1 to SII2019 -25·9) and reduced for soft drinks or artificial juices (SII2008 8·7 to SII2019 0·4). Relative inequality was low and constant.

Despite the advances reducing inequalities in soft drinks or artificial juice consumption, the increase in the social gap for adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is troublesome.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities made a change in the classification of malnutrition and concomitant service delivery protocol among the Rohingya children, residing in world’s largest refugee camp, located in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In this paper, we discussed the potential implications of this updated protocol on the malnutrition status among children residing in the Rohingya camps.

This paper reviewed relevant literature and authors’ own experience to provide a perspective of the updated protocol for the classification of malnutrition among the children in the Rohingya camps and its implication from a broader perspective.

Rohingya refugee camps, Bangladesh.

Children aged less than five years residing in the Rohingya camps.

Major adaptation during this COVID-19 was the discontinuation of using weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) and the use of only mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and presence of oedema for admission, follow-up and discharge of malnourished children in the camps. However, evidence suggests that use of MUAC only can underestimate the prevalence of malnutrition among the children in Rohingya camps. These apparently non-malnourished children are devoid of the rations that they would otherwise receive if classified as malnourished, making them susceptible to more severe malnutrition.

Our analysis suggests that policymakers should consider using the original protocol of using both MUAC and WHZ to classify malnutrition and retain the guided ration size. We also believe that it would not take an extra effort to adopt the original guideline as even with MUAC only guideline, certain health measures needed to adopt during this pandemic.

American Indian and Alaska Native peoples (AI/AN) have a disproportionately high rate of obesity, but little is known about the social determinants of obesity among older AI/AN. Thus, our study assessed social determinants of obesity in AI/AN aged ≥ 50 years.

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using multivariate generalised linear mixed models to identify social determinants associated with the risk of being classified as obese (BMI ≥ 30·0 kg/m2). Analyses were conducted for the total study population and stratified by median county poverty level.

Indian Health Service (IHS) data for AI/AN who used IHS services in FY2013.

Totally, 27 696 AI/AN aged ≥ 50 years without diabetes.

Mean BMI was 29·8 ± 6·6 with 43 % classified as obese. Women were more likely to be obese than men, and younger ages were associated with higher obesity risk. While having Medicaid coverage was associated with lower odds of obesity, private health insurance was associated with higher odds. Living in areas with lower rates of educational attainment and longer drive times to primary care services were associated with higher odds of obesity. Those who lived in a county where a larger percentage of people had low access to a grocery store were significantly less likely to be obese.

Our findings contribute to the understanding of social determinants of obesity among older AI/AN and highlight the need to investigate AI/AN obesity, including longitudinal studies with a life course perspective to further examine social determinants of obesity in older AI/AN.

FFQ assess habitual dietary intake and are relatively inexpensive to process, but may take up to 60 min to complete. This article describes the validation of the Flower-FFQ, which consists of four short FFQ measuring the intake of energy and macronutrients or specific (micro)nutrients/foods that can be merged into one complete daily assessment using predefined algorithms.

Participants completed the Flower-FFQ and validated regular-FFQ (n 401). Urinary N (n 242) and K excretions (n 361) were measured. We evaluated: (1) group-level bias, (2) correlations and (3) cross-classification.

Observational study.

Dutch adults, 54 ± 11 (mean ± SD) years.

Flower-FFQ1, Flower-FFQ2, Flower-FFQ3 and Flower-FFQ4 were completed in ±24, 9, 8 and 9 min (±50 min total), respectively. The regular-FFQ was completed in ±43 min. Mean energy (flower v. regular: 7953 v. 8718 kJ/d) and macronutrient intakes (carbohydrates: 204 v. 222 g/d; protein: 75 v. 76 g/d; fat: 74 v. 83 g/d; ethanol: 8 v. 12 g/d) were comparatively similar. Spearman correlations between Flower-FFQ and regular-FFQ ranged from 0·60 to 0·80 for macronutrients and from 0·40 to 0·80 for micronutrients and foods. For all micronutrients and foods, ≥ 78 % of the participants classified in the same/adjacent quartile. The Flower-FFQ underestimated urinary N and K excretions by 24 and 18 %; 75 and 73 % of the participants ranked in the same/adjacent quartile.

Completing the Flower-FFQ required 50 min with a maximum of 25 min per short FFQ. The Flower-FFQ has a moderate to good ranking ability for most nutrients and foods and performs sufficiently to study diet–disease associations.

‘Food deserts’ and ‘food swamps’ are food retail environment typologies associated with unhealthy diet and obesity. The current study aimed to identify more complex food retail environment typologies and examine temporal trends.

Measures of food retail environment accessibility and relative healthy food availability were defined for small areas (SA2s) of Melbourne, Australia, from a census of food outlets operating in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016. SA2s were classified into typologies using a two-stage approach: (1) SA2s were sorted into twenty clusters according to accessibility and availability and (2) clusters were grouped using evidence-based thresholds.

The current study was set in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia.

Food retail environments in 301 small areas (Statistical Area 2) located in Melbourne in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Six typologies were identified based on access (low, moderate and high) and healthy food availability including one where zero food outlets were present. Over the study period, SA2s experienced an overall increase in accessibility and healthiness. Distribution of typologies varied by geographic location and area-level socio-economic position.

Multiple typologies with contrasting access and healthiness measures exist within Melbourne and these continue to change over time, and the majority of SA2s were dominated by the presence of unhealthy relative to healthy outlets, with SA2s experiencing growth and disadvantage having the lowest access and to a greater proportion of unhealthy outlets.

To examine the prevalence and determinants of food insecurity among private sector service workers in Finland and assess validity of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool.

In this cross-sectional study, food insecurity and background characteristics were collected from Finnish private service workers via electronic questionnaires (2019) and national register data (2018–2019). We conducted univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine the variables explaining food insecurity. Validity of HFIAS was assessed with rotated principal component analysis and Cronbach’s α.

Members of the trade union for private sector service workers, Service Union United (PAM), from all municipalities in Finland participated in the study in 2019.

The subjects were 6435 private sector workers that were members of the Service Union United (PAM) in Finland. Mean age of participants was 44 years (sd 12·7 years).

Two-thirds of the participants (65 %) were food insecure with over a third (36 %) reporting severe food insecurity. Reporting great difficulties in covering household expenses and young age markedly increased the risk of severe food insecurity (OR 15·05; 95 % CI 10·60, 21·38 and OR 5·07; 95 % CI 3·94, 6·52, respectively). Not being married, low education, working in the hospitality industry, being male and living in rented housing also increased the probability of severe food insecurity. The HFIAS tool demonstrated acceptable construct and criterion validity.

Severe food insecurity was widespread and associated with low socio-economic status, young age and being male among Finnish private sector service workers, emphasising the need for regular monitoring of food insecurity in Finland.

Changes in the item order of the US Household Food Security Survey Module (USHFSSM) were performed throughout time. This study aimed to compare the psychometric properties of the general and specific factors of the 2000 and 2012 versions of the USHFSSM to measure the construct of food insecurity in two Portuguese samples of households with children.

Cross-sectional.

Portugal.

An adaptation of the 2000 version was applied to 839 adults (from households with children aged 7–17 years) from the National Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey 2015–2016, while the 2012 version was used among 2855 families from the Generation XXI birth cohort.

The 2000 version showed to have a stronger ωh than the 2012 version (0·89 v. 0·78 for the general factor), as well as eigenvalues higher than 1 for the general factor (eigenvalues equal to 9·54, 0·97 and 0·80, for the general factor, specific factor 1 and specific factor 2, respectively), while the 2012 version had also the contribution of specific factors to explain food insecurity (eigenvalues equal to 9·40, 2·40 and 1·20, for general factor and specific factors 1 and 2, respectively). Good internal consistency (ωt = 0·99, for both versions) was obtained.

In conclusion, the 2000 and 2012 versions of the USHFSSM showed good psychometric properties; however, the 2000 version has stronger general factor, while the 2012 version also has the contribution of specific factors.

To examine the association between food security and feeding practices in Latinx parents of pre-school-aged children and examine possible effect modification by parental self-efficacy.

Cross-sectional assessment using the US Department of Agriculture screener for food insecurity as the exposure and sub-scales of the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire as the outcome with the General Self-Efficacy Scale as an effect modifier. Non-parametric descriptive statistics were used to compare groups based on food security status.

Two Latinx communities with low-socioeconomic status in Texas in 2017 and in Oregon in 2018–2019.

Latinx parents of preschool aged children, English and Spanish speaking. Dyads were excluded if they had moderate-severe developmental disabilities, a seizure disorder with a restrictive diet or taking medications known to influence typical growth.

Of the 168 families in Oregon, 65 (38 %) reported food insecurity, and 10 (21 %) of the 48 families in Texas reported food insecurity. Food security was associated with greater parental monitoring practices in both the Texas and Oregon samples. We observed no differences in creating a healthy home food environment by food security status in either sample. Parental general self-efficacy showed evidence of effect modification in Oregon - only parents with lower self-efficacy showed a significant association between food security and feeding practices.

Latinx parents of preschool children experience high levels of food insecurity, which are associated with maladaptive parental feeding practices. Greater parental general self-efficacy moderates this association and could buffer the effects of food insecurity on children’s health.

To investigate the determinants of vegetable intake in urban socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents to inform the development of an intervention programme.

A narrative systematic review was carried out by searching five electronic databases from 2013 to 2020. The descriptors used for the search strategy were vegetable intake, adolescents, determinants and correlates. Inclusion criteria were including a sample of socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents aged 12–18 years, evaluation of the association between vegetable intake and determinants of intake, and conducted in urban settings of high-income countries. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Identified determinants of vegetable intake were reported according to the five levels of the socio-ecological model of health.

Studies included in the review were conducted in four countries: USA (n 8), Australia (n 3), Ireland (n 1) and New Zealand (n 1).

Adolescents aged 12–18 years from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds living in urban settings.

Thirty-nine determinants were identified. Nutrition knowledge was the only determinant consistently investigated in several independent samples which was not associated with vegetable intake in socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents. For the remaining potential determinants, it was not possible to examine the consistency of evidence as there were not enough studies investigating the same determinants. Most of the studies followed a cross-sectional design and were carried out in school settings.

There is a need for further studies on the determinants of vegetable intake in this population preferably with longitudinal designs and beyond the school setting in different countries to guide the development of successful interventions.

To evaluate Lebanese licensed dietitians’ knowledge, prevalence of use and recommendation of dietary supplements (DS), and their associated factors.

Cross-sectional survey.

Dietitians across Lebanon were contacted through the telephone and were asked to participate in the study. An online self-administered questionnaire was designed and sent to dietitians either by email or by WhatsApp, between 4 March and 4 May 2020.

This study included 319 dietitians randomly selected from the dietitians’ list that was provided by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Around 75 % of dietitians had a knowledge score above 50 %. Overall, 73·7 % of them have used DS and 46·1 % have recommended them. Higher knowledge score was associated with less years of experience, using scientific articles as source of information on DS, and participating in research. Resorting to pharmacists was significantly associated with both nutrient supplements (NS) and herbal supplements (HS) use, whereas referring to health food stores was associated with HS use only. NS recommendation to patients was associated with personal NS use (OR = 3·38, P < 0·001), considering pharmacists as a source of information on DS (OR = 2·29, P = 0·01) and discussing DS with patients (OR = 3·82, P = 0·01). Having personally used HS (OR = 12·23, P < 0·001) and having discussed DS with patients (OR = 8·51, P = 0·01) increased the likelihood of recommending HS.

A proper DS education, the elaboration of national scientific guidelines and the implementation of concise laws regarding the regulations of DS would play a crucial role in supporting dietitians’ practices and improving the quality of patient care with respect to DS.

About one-third of under-five Filipino children are stunted, with significant socio-economic inequality. This study aims to quantify factors that explain the large gap in stunting between poor and non-poor Filipino children.

Using the 2015 Philippine National Nutrition Survey, we conducted a linear probability model to examine the determinants of child stunting and then an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to explain the factors contributing to the gap in stunting between poor and non-poor children.

Philippines.

1881 children aged 6–23 months participated in this study.

The overall stunting prevalence was 38·5 % with a significant gap between poor and non-poor (45·0 % v. 32·0 %). Maternal height, education and maternal nutrition status account for 26 %, 18 % and 17 % of stunting inequality, respectively. These are followed by quality of prenatal care (12 %), dietary diversity (12 %) and iron supplementation in children (5 %).

Maternal factors account for more than 50 % of the gap in child stunting in the Philippines. This signifies the critical role of maternal biological and socio-economic circumstances in improving the linear growth of children.

To report on the prevalence of different types of breast-milk substitutes (BMS) marketing and the compliance of such marketing with the ‘Control of Marketing of Infant and Young Child Food Act 2017’ (The Act) and the ‘International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO Code)’ in Thailand.

Cross-sectional quantitative study, guided by the WHO/UNICEF NetCode Periodic Assessment Protocol.

Health facilities and retail outlets in Bangkok, Thai media.

Mothers of 0–2-year-old children, health professionals, promotions at retail outlets and health facilities, product labels, marketing on television and the internet.

Marketing to mothers was highly prevalent, mostly from electronic or digital media, while BMS companies provided items to health professionals to distribute to mothers. Promotional materials in health facilities displayed company brands or logos. At retail outlets, most promotions were price-related. Approximately two-fifths of labels contained nutrition or health claims. Television marketing was growing-up-milk (GUM) advertisements, while internet promotions were varied from price-related materials to product reviews. Most instances of non-compliant BMS marketing with the Act were advertisements to mothers, and most were infant formula. Most non-compliant BMS marketing with the WHO Code was mainly concerned GUM, which are not covered by the Act and appeared in the media.

BMS marketing does not fully comply with the Act or the WHO Code. The Thai government should conduct regular monitoring and enforcement activities, educate health professionals, and strengthen the Act’s provisions on the media and GUM to fully align with the WHO Code.

To investigate the association between plant-based diets (PBD) and overweight/obesity compared to regular meat eaters in older women.

Cross-sectional analysis.

1946–1951 birth cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). PBD were categorised as vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian and regular meat eaters. Outcomes included body weight (BW), BMI and waist circumference (WC).

Women who completed Survey 7 (n 9102) with complete FFQ data.

Compared to regular meat eaters, BW, BMI and WC were significantly lower in pesco-vegetarians (−10·2 kg (95 % CI −5·1, −15·2); −3·8 kg/m2 (95 % CI −2·0, −5·6); −8·4 cm (95 % CI −3·9, −12·9)) and BW and BMI lower in lacto-ovo vegetarians (−7·4 kg (95 % CI −1·2, −13·6); −2·9 kg/m2 (95 % CI −0·6, −5·1)). In regular meat eaters, individuals consuming meat daily or multiple times/d had significantly higher BW, BMI and WC compared to those consuming meat >2 times/week but <daily or multiple times/d (2·5 kg (95 % CI 1·5, 3·5); 0·9 kg/m2 (95 % CI 0·5, 1·3) and 2·2 cm (95 % CI 1·3, 3·1)) and those consuming meat >1 but ≤2 times/week (6·8 kg (95 % CI 1·8, 11·8); 2·1 kg/m2 (95 % CI 0·3, 4·0) and 6·0 cm (95 % CI 1·7, 10·4)). This association was dose-dependent such that for every increase in category of weekly meat intake (i.e. >1 time/week but ≤2 times/week; >2 times/week but less than daily, and daily or multiple times/d), an associated 2·6 kg (95 % CI 1·8, 3·4) increase in BW, 0·9 kg/m2 (95 % CI 0·6, 1·2) increase in BMI and 2·3 cm (95 % CI 1·6, 3·0) increase in WC was reported.

BW, BMI and WC are lower in women following PBD and positively associated with increasing meat consumption. Results were robust to adjustment for confounders including physical activity levels, smoking status, habitual alcohol intake, use of supplements, and hormone replacement therapy.

The mother–child breastfeeding dyad is a powerful force for achieving healthy, secure and sustainable food systems. However, food system reports exclude breastfeeding and mother’s milk. To help correct this omission and give breastfeeding women greater visibility in food systems dialogue and action, we illustrate how to estimate mother’s milk production and incorporate this into food surveillance systems, drawing on the pioneering experience of Norway to show the potential value of such analysis.

The estimates use data on the proportion of children who are breastfed at each month of age (0–24 months), annual number of live births and assumptions on daily human milk intake at each month. New indicators for temporal and cross-country comparisons are considered.

It is assumed that a breastfeeding mother on average produces 306 l of milk during 24 months of lactation.

The annual number of live births is from Statistics Norway. Data for any breastfeeding at each month of age, between 0 and 24 months, are from official surveys in 1993, 1998–1999, 2006–2007, 2013 and 2018–2019.

Estimated total milk production by Norwegian mothers increased from 8·2 to 10·1 million l per year between 1993 and 2018–2019. Annual per capita production increased from 69 to 91 l per child aged 0–24 months.

This study shows it is feasible and useful to include human milk production in food surveillance systems as an indicator of infant and young child food security and dietary quality. It also demonstrates significant potential for greater milk production.

This study qualitatively examined dietary diversity among married women of reproductive age who engaged in two socio-economic activities to explore the dynamics of food availability, access, costs and consumption.

Qualitative in-depth interviews. The food groups in the Minimum Dietary Diversity for women were used to explore women’s dietary diversity. IDI were used to develop a roster of daily food consumption over a week. We explored food items that were considered expensive and frequency of consumption, food items that women require permission to consume and frequency of permission sought and the role of economic empowerment. Data analysis followed an inductive–deductive approach to thematic analysis.

Rural and peri-urban setting in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Thirty-eight married women of reproductive age across two socio-economic groupings (women who work only at home and those who worked outside their homes) were recruited in April 2019.

Economic empowerment improved women’s autonomy in food purchase and consumption. However, limited income restricted women from full autonomy in consumption decisions and access. Consumption of non-staple food items, especially flesh proteins, would benefit from women’s economic empowerment, whereas staple food items would not benefit so much. Dietary diversity is influenced by food production and purchase where factors including seasonal variation in food availability, prices, contextual factors that influence women’s autonomy and income are important determinants.

With limited income, agency and access to household financial resources coupled with norms that restrict women’s income earning, women continue to be at risk for not achieving adequate dietary diversity.

To translate and validate the Child Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (CTFEQr17), assessing cognitive restraint (CR), uncontrolled eating (UE) and emotional eating (EE), among French-speaking Canadian young individuals.

Phase 1 comprised a translation and the evaluation of the comprehension of the questionnaire. Phase 2 comprised a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the evaluation of internal consistency (Cronbach’s α), test–retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC)) and construct validity, including correlations among the CTFEQr17 and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), anthropometrics, dietary intake and diet quality.

Primary and secondary schools, Québec City, Canada.

Phases 1 and 2 included 20 (40 % boys, mean age 11·5 (sd 2·4) years) and 145 (48 % boys, mean age 11·0 (sd 1·9) years) participants, respectively.

Phase 1 resulted in the questionnaire to be used in Phase 2. In Phase 2, the CFA revealed that the seventeen item, three-factor model (CTFEQr17) provided an excellent fit. Internal consistency was good (Cronbach’s α: 0·81–0·90). Test–retest reliability was moderate to good (ICC = 0·59, (95 % CI 0·48, 0·70), ICC = 0·78, (95 % CI 0·70, 0·84), ICC = 0·50, (95 % CI 0·38, 0·62) for CR, UE and EE, respectively). CR correlated with EAT-26 score (r = 0·43, P < 0·0001). UE and EE correlated negatively with BMI Z-scores (r = −0;·26, P = 0·003; r = −0;·19, P = 0·03, respectively). CR correlated with the proportion of energy intake from protein and diet quality (r = 0·18, P = 0·04; r = 0·20, P = 0·02, respectively).

The CTFEQr17 is suitable to use among French-speaking Canadian young individuals.