Consumption Of Less-healthy Foods Research Articles

Triggers in the environment promoting food consumption

Most literature suggests that people can be influenced when choosing what to purchase or eat. Product availability, labelling and marketing, pricing, and portion size may all influence food choices. Environmental cues and the position of products on shelves, near checkouts, and in vending machines can also affect food choices and eating behaviours. Understanding the effects of these factors on human behaviour, and how they are affected by personal factors such as knowledge, values, motivations, and health goals, may provide avenues to nudge consumers towards healthy choices, and reinforce theoretical primers that support consumers to set appropriate goals for their well-being even when nudges promote consumption of less healthy foods

Dietary patterns and birth outcomes in the ELSPAC pregnancy cohort

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to identify dietary patterns in a Czech pregnancy cohort established in the early postcommunist era and investigate associations between dietary patterns, maternal characteristics and...

302-OR: Medical Prescriptions for Vegetables Are Associated with Reduced Consumption of Unhealthy Foods, Improved Food Security, and Lowered Cardiometabolic Risk among Adults with or at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Previously, we have reported that improving access to fresh vegetables reduces cardio-metabolic risk for predominantly Mexican American adults with or at risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). This analysis examined changes in self-reported consumption of less healthy foods (soda, sugary drinks, and tortillas) and the association with medical prescriptions for locally sourced fresh vegetables. In this observational cohort study, 202 adults (152 female, 80% Hispanic/Latino, mean ±SD age of 53.8 ±12.6 years) with (n=62) or at risk (American Diabetes Association risk calculator) of T2D received 21 servings per week of locally sourced fresh vegetables prescribed by a physician for 10 weeks. No nutrition education was provided. For participants with paired data, there were reductions in waist circumference (-0.9 ±3.7 cm, p=0.003); systolic blood pressure for those with baseline ≥ 130 mmHg (-8.9±16.5 mmHg, p=0.001); and HbA1c values for participants with a baseline >7.0 % (-0.4 [-0.8, -0.1] %, p=0.016). Fewer participants had low or very low food security (USDA 6-item Food Security Module) after the intervention (25 versus 76, p<0.0001), associated with reductions in consumption of tortillas (p<0.00001); soda and other sugar-sweetened fruit drinks, sweet tea, and sports or energy drinks (p<0.001); and their weekly frequency of eating out (p=0.01). The improvement in food security was also associated with better sleep (ρ=0.22, p=0.007). The use of medical prescriptions for vegetables is associated with greater food security and lower cardiometabolic risk in predominantly Mexican-American adults with or at risk of T2D, possibly related to less consumption of unhealthy foods. Disclosure N. M. Glantz: Research Support; Self; Abbott, Eli Lilly and Company. C. Conneely: Research Support; Self; Abbott, Eli Lilly and Company. A. J. Larez: Research Support; Self; Abbott, Eli Lilly and Company. W. C. Bevier: Research Support; Self; Abbott Diabetes, Eli Lilly and Company. D. Kerr: Advisory Panel; Self; Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Research Support; Self; Abbott Diabetes, Elsevier, Lilly Diabetes, Stock/Shareholder; Self; Glooko, Inc. Funding U.S. Department of Agriculture (2018-33800-28404)

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet according to occupation-based social classifications and gender

Background The link between the dietary pattern known as the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and lower morbidity/mortality is well known, and its efficacy in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases has been proven in recent years. However, adherence to the MedDiet seems to be related to socioeconomic status. The objective was to analyze whether their adherence to the MedDiet differs from the rest of the working population. Material and methods: A transversal study was carried out on adherence to the MedDiet. One thousand six hundred nine workers were studied, of whom 626 belonged to the group of workers at risk of social exclusion. Results: It was found that 43.9% of the permanent staff had a high adherence, compared to the figure of 20.9% for the population at risk of exclusion (p < .01). No differences were evident between men and women in the same category of workers (41.7% vs. 47.9% in permanent staff and 22.5% vs. 40.5% in workers at risk of social exclusion). The lowest adherence to the MedDiet (11.4%) was found in the group of young women at risk of social exclusion. Their consumption of healthy foods was significantly lower than the group of older women, while their consumption of less healthy foods (cakes/pastries, butter and fizzy drinks) was higher. Conclusions: It is difficult to draw conclusions about whether it is the most expensive foods contained in the MedDiet which cause this difference in adherence, since, there is also a higher expenditure on non-essential products such as cakes/pastries, fizzy drinks and tobacco. Key messages People at risk of social exclusion and specially the younger women have a lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet than other occupational social classes. The higher consumption of butter, fizzy drinks and cakes/pastries is the dietary habit which most affects adherence to the Mediterranean diet in the group of people at risk of exclusion. It is not possible to ensure that the higher cost of any foods included in the Mediterranean diet, such as fish and fruit, is the main cause of this difference in adherence.

Peer Effects on Weight Status, Dietary Behaviour and Physical Activity among Adolescents in Europe: Findings from the I.Family Study

SummaryThis study uses survey data from the I.Family Study to investigate the association between adolescent and peer overweight in a sample of adolescents aged 12–16 from six European countries. We find clear evidence of peer effects on body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat, which are stronger among adolescents at the upper end of overweight distribution. We also provide evidence that both consumption of less healthy foods and time spent in leisure time physical activity and audio‐visual media are positively associated with similar behaviours among friends. These observations may suggest that peer effects on adolescent overweight operate by influencing friends’ behaviour patterns, especially unhealthy food consumption and physical (in)activity.

Exploring the moderating effect of children's nutritional knowledge on the relationship between product evaluations and food choice

ObjectiveAlthough the last decade has seen multiple attempts to increase consumers' nutritional knowledge in expectation that this will result in healthier diets, extant knowledge about the influence of nutritional knowledge on children's food choices remains scarce due to mixed empirical evidence and limited inquiry into the role of product evaluations on the consumption of less healthy foods. Furthermore, no research has examined whether nutritional knowledge can effectively moderate the relationship between product evaluations and food consumption, leaving a gap in our knowledge about potentially effective intervention strategies to curb childhood obesity. MethodUsing survey data from children aged 7–13 years and their parents (N = 354) recruited at an annual fair visited by families in South Australia, regressions were performed to examine how product evaluations are associated with the consumption of less healthy foods and whether nutritional knowledge reduces the strength of these associations at different ages (7–8 years, 9–10 years, and 11–13 years). ResultsWhile children did not view fast foods to be fun or healthy, there was a positive association between appealing taste, perceived social acceptability and consumption of less healthy foods. Higher nutritional knowledge weakened the relationship between product evaluations and consumption in children younger than 11. Parents with higher nutritional knowledge had children who tended to consume less healthy foods less frequently. Although older children (11–13 years) possessed higher nutritional knowledge, it was not associated with their consumption; instead, taste and perception of social acceptability were the only factors associated with frequent consumption of less healthy products. ConclusionPractitioners are encouraged to test intervention strategies that concentrate on both product evaluations and nutritional knowledge to provide more effective outcomes. Further research about peer norms that endorse unhealthy eating is encouraged to facilitate a more comprehensive approach to unhealthy eating.

Food advertising, children's food choices and obesity: interplay of cognitive defences and product evaluation: an experimental study.

To investigate the role of product evaluations, nutritional and persuasion knowledge on children's food choices conducted because of limited evidence about the role of product evaluations on consumer choices in conjunction with cognitive defences. A randomised controlled 2 × 2 factorial experiment with an exposure to a food and a control (toy) advertisement conducted in a non-laboratory setting at an annual event traditionally visited by families. Children aged 7-13 years with biometric/weight data representative of the general Australian population. Height and weight (converted into body mass index z-scores) measured in addition to children's nutritional and persuasion knowledge, product evaluations, age and gender. The factors that undermine children's cognitive defences relate to taste, social appeal of foods and low nutritional and persuasion knowledge. An interplay between the above-mentioned factors was also observed, identifying four groups among young consumers, alluding to a complex and at times impulsive nature of children's decisions: (1) knowledgeable children with less positive product evaluations choosing a healthy snack; (2) knowledgeable but hedonism-oriented children seeking peer conformity choosing an advertised product; (3) knowledgeable children who chose a snack belonging to the same product category; and (4) less knowledgeable children with positive product evaluations and low nutritional knowledge choosing snacks from the advertised product category. Obese children were more likely to belong to a cluster of less knowledgeable and hedonism-oriented children. The problem of consumption of less healthy foods is complex and multiple factors need to be considered by health practitioners, social marketers and parents to address the issue of childhood obesity. Nutritional knowledge alone is not sufficient to ensure children make healthier food choices and emphasis should also be placed on persuasion knowledge education, targeting of peer norms, self-efficacy and stricter regulation of advertising aimed at children.

Eaten up by boredom: consuming food to escape awareness of the bored self.

Research indicates that being bored affectively marks an appraised lack of meaning in the present situation and in life. We propose that state boredom increases eating in an attempt to distract from this experience, especially among people high in objective self-awareness. Three studies were conducted to investigate boredom’s effects on eating, both naturally occurring in a diary study and manipulated in two experiments. In Study 1, a week-long diary study showed that state boredom positively predicted calorie, fat, carbohydrate, and protein consumption. In Study 2, a high (vs. low) boredom task increased the desire to snack as opposed to eating something healthy, especially amongst those participants high in objective self-awareness. In addition, Study 3 demonstrated that among people high in objective self-awareness, high (vs. low) boredom increased the consumption of less healthy foods and the consumption of more exciting, healthy foods. However, this did not extend to unexciting, healthy food. Collectively, these novel findings signify the role of boredom in predicting maladaptive and adaptive eating behaviors as a function of the need to distant from the experience of boredom. Further, our results suggest that more exciting, healthy food serves as alternative to maladaptive consumption following boredom.

A qualitative study of acculturation and diabetes risk among urban immigrant Latinas: implications for diabetes prevention efforts.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how acculturation influences diabetes risk among urban immigrant Latinas (Hispanic women). Five focus groups were conducted with 26 urban immigrant Latinas who were at high clinical risk for developing diabetes. The focus group sessions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The authors independently analyzed transcripts using an inductive method of open coding and established themes by consensus. All participants were foreign born and had low levels of acculturation. During the acculturation process, they noted changes in their lifestyle behaviors and the family context in which those behaviors are shaped. They reported that since living in the United States, their improved economic circumstances led to increased consumption of less healthy foods and beverages and a more sedentary lifestyle. They also described changing family roles and responsibilities, including working outside the home, which constrained healthy food choices. However, they perceived that their position of influence within the family offered opportunities to help family members prevent diabetes. Lifestyle interventions to prevent diabetes in Latinas should address their acculturation experiences, which affect family functioning and health behaviors related to diabetes risk. For example, given the perceived link between Latinas' improved economic circumstances and their diabetes risk, prevention programs should incorporate strategies to help Latinas avoid adopting less healthy lifestyle behaviors that become affordable during the acculturation process.

A Study of Fat Parameters in Sedentary and Non-sedentary Subjects in Davangere, Karnataka

Background: Recent studies in adolescents and adults have demonstrated significant relationship between physical inactivity and other adverse health practices, such as consumption of less-healthy foods or increased fat intake. Inactive individuals tend to consume more quantities of dietary fat. These data suggest that inactivity tends to cluster with other health behaviors that have adverse effect on the quantity and location of body fat deposition which results in obesity. A sedentary life style and especially poor cardio-respiratory fitness not only associated with the metabolic syndrome but could also be considered features of the metabolic syndrome. Epidemiological studies have shown an inverse relation between physical activity CHD and atherosclerosis. Approximately 2 million deaths are reported every year attributable to physical inactivity. A combination of improper diet, lack of physical activity and tobacco use is estimated to cause up to 80% of premature coronary heart disease. Method: 53 healthy sedentary and 42 healthy non-sedentary male subjects were selected randomly from the general population of Davangere city. Weight, Height was taken. BMI was calculated. Fat parameters such as Body Fat Percentage (BF %), Fat Mass (FM), Fat Free Mass (FFM) and Fat Mass Index (FMI) were calculated from the formula. Results: In our study fat parameters such as BF%, FM were increased. FFM decreased in sedentary subjects when compared to non-sedentary subjects. Physical inactivity causes excess fat accumulation which affects anthropometric and cardiovascular parameters. Although our study is by no means exhaustive, it provides a glimpse into the variety of adaptations/alterations in anthropometric parameters that occurs due to sedentary life style, even in the absence of overt disease.

Inactivity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Modern Lifestyle Associated with Adverse Health Consequences

Inactivity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Modern Lifestyle Associated with Adverse Health ConsequencesThe current era is characterized by kinetic limitation, both in children, and adolescents. Children today expend 400% less energy than did their counterparts of 40 years ago and are 40% less active than they were 30 years ago. Children and adolescents' today activity level is very low, while they spend their free time, mainly, in sedentary behaviours, such as tv viewing, and computer videogames playing. The average child or adolescent 2- to 18-years old spends on tv-videotapes watching or video games playing more than 5 hours per day. The lack of movement in children and adolescents' lives is one of the primary predisposing factors of increased morbidity, since many of the chronic diseases of adults are initiated in childhood. Approximately 40% of children aged 5 - 8 years old present increased risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, hypertension and high total cholesterol, or for diabetes. These diseases are most often irreversible due to the continuous sedentary lifestyle that has been adopted by children. Moreover, significant relationships between inactivity and other adverse health practices, such as consumption of less-healthy foods or increased fat intake, as well as cigarette smoking that have been demonstrated in adolescents, predispose to cardiovascular disease. To sum up, inactivity represents a behaviour that is associated with adverse health consequences which initiate even though from childhood and follow children and adolescents throughout their lives.

Diet, risk of obesity and socioeconomic circumstances of individuals in the UK: A seemingly unrelated approach

Understanding the link between diet, risk of obesity and the underlying socioeconomic circumstances of the individual is useful for health promotion and improvement interventions. In this study, we examined the socioeconomic factors that jointly affect food consumption choices and risk of obesity. We analyse the National Dietary and Nutrition Survey (2000/01) of adults aged 19-64 years living in private households in the UK, using a health production framework. We used information on the complete food history on individuals in the previous week to create eight common food groups. We estimated a system of linear risk of obesity (as measured by Body Mass Index) and eight diet equations with error terms that are correlated across equations for a given individual, but are uncorrelated across individuals, using the seemingly unrelated regression method. Our findings indicate that the socioeconomic factors (e.g. income and education) associated with sources of healthy eating differ. While increasing household purchasing power may be more effective for increasing consumption of healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables, more knowledge and information about healthy eating may be more effective for cutting down on consumption of less healthy foods (e.g. preserves and savoury foods). An understanding of these different healthy eating contexts is essential for the development of effective targeted food based policies aimed at reducing the risk of obesity. Link to Appendix

A Study of the Importance of Education and Cost Incentives on Individual Food Choices at the Harvard School of Public Health Cafeteria

Objectives: To investigate the importance of cost and awareness of health- or disease-promoting properties of foods and meals for choices by customers of a cafeteria. Design: A non-randomized intervention study. Setting: A medium size cafeteria in the Harvard School of Public Health. Participants: Customers of the cafeteria mainly consisting of public health students, faculty, and school staff and workers from the medical campus. Intervention: The purchase of healthy foods and dishes was subsidized and their prices reduced by 20%. This promotion was accompanied by the distribution of educational material. Main Outcome Measures: Change in consumption of healthy and less healthy foods. Analysis: The geometric mean was used to calculate the change in consumption. Results: During the intervention, we observed a 6% increase in the consumption of healthy foods (95% confidence interval [CI]; 5% to 8%), and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; −1% to −4%). After the prices returned to their original levels, the consumption of healthy foods increased further to 17% (95% CI; 13% to 20%) and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; % 1 to −5%) persisted. Conclusions: Subsidizing healthful meals and educating consumers about the importance of a healthy diet can result in a modest increase in the selection of healthy foods and meals that can be maintained beyond the periods of subsidy and promotion.