Unhealthy Consumption Research Articles

Limited self-control and longevity.

This paper proposes a new framework to discuss self-control problems in the context of life-cycle health and longevity. Individual decisions are conceptualized as the partial control of impulsive desires of a short-run self by a rationally forward-looking long-run self. The short-run self strives for immediate gratification through consumption of health-neutral and unhealthy goods. The long-run self reflects the long-term consequences of unhealthy behavior on health outcomes and longevity and invests time and money to improve current and future health. The model is calibrated with data from the United Statesand used to provide an assessment of the impact of imperfect self-control on unhealthy consumption, health investments, lifetime health, and the age at death.

Unhealthy consumption behaviors and their intergenerational persistence: The role of education

As one of the countries sharing the world's largest population of smokers and drinkers, China has been facing serious health-related problems from smoking and drinking in recent decades. This paper attempts to investigate the impact of education on unhealthy consumption behaviors (smoking, binge drinking, and drinking) and their intergenerational persistence, using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) for the period from 1991 to 2011. Estimation results suggest that there exists significantly positive intergenerational persistence of unhealthy consumption behaviors in China, and this persistence seems to be higher from the mother than from the father. After introducing two institutional changes as instruments to address the endogeneity problem of education in unhealthy consumption equations, we find that education has a significantly negative impact on smoking and binge drinking according to the results from instrumental variable estimation. Specifically, an additional year of education decreases the probability of smoking and binge drinking by 4.1% and 3.4%, respectively. Although the health effect of drinking is ambiguous, we also find that the likelihood of drinking decreases by 1.6% with one additional schooling year. Interestingly, an additional year of education could counteract intergenerational persistence of smoking and binge drinking from the father, but it has no impact on intergenerational persistence from the mother. Our results suggest that education might be an efficient way to control unhealthy consumption behaviors in China, but it might not be an efficient way to prevent intergenerational persistence of unhealthy consumption behavior from the mother.

Communicative Predictors of Older Adults' Successful Aging, Mental Health, and Alcohol Use.

We examined how older adults' communication about age-related topics is related to aging efficacy, successful aging, and well-being. Guided by the communicative ecology model of successful aging, three profiles of "environmental chatter"-that is, patterns of accommodation and overaccommodation older adults received from relational partners-were identified: positive, mixed-positive, and negative. Four profiles of individuals' own age-related communication were identified, including a new profile: gloomy agers. Chatter profile membership and own age-related communication profile membership indirectly predicted successful aging, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and perceptions of unhealthy alcohol consumption via aging efficacy, but not self-reported alcoholic drinks consumed. Communication by both older adults and their relational partners may be consequential to experiences of successful aging and well-being.

Behavioural patterns in Mediterranean-style drinking: Generation Y preferences in alcoholic beverage consumption

The received wisdom is that patterns of alcohol consumption in Mediterranean countries are healthier than in northern European counterparts. However, recent surveys highlight the growing tendency by younger generations to change drinking-style. This increases the concern over adoption of unhealthy consumption behaviours that might be carried over in later age. What remains unexplored are the details of these emerging consumption patterns. The objective of this paper is to cast some light on these phenomena using stated choice data. This study quantitatively explores consumption contexts and links them to characteristics of young Italians. Data collected from a questionnaire completed by 556 respondents are used to estimate a Latent Class Model. Results reveal the existence of eight distinct consumption patterns, some of them far from the Mediterranean tradition. Socialization is the main motivation for alcohol consumption. Consumption of wine, the traditional Mediterranean drink, appears to be in the process of being re-discovered and re-appreciated.

Intake of fruit, vegetables and milk products and correlates among school boys in Saudi Arabia.

Healthy dietary behaviors have a significant impact on children's health and development. Diets high in fruit and vegetables demonstrate a strong and consistent pattern for decreasing the risk of and providing benefits against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and many cancers. Yet, little is known about the pattern of fruit, vegetables and dairy products consumption among children in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study was to investigate the consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk products and their dietary correlates among school boys in Saudi Arabia. A multistage stratified cluster cross-sectional survey, using a pre-tested questionnaire was conducted among school-children. The study sample comprised of 725 school students from ten randomly selected schools in Saudi Arabia. All surveyed schools (100%) neither provide nor sell fruit, fresh juices or vegetables on their premises. During regular weekdays, the majority of the children did not consume fruit (69%) and vegetables (71.4%) on daily basis. More than one third (32.4%) of the children did not consume dairy products daily. The daily consumption of fruit and dairy products were associated with young age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.5, confidence interval (CI): 1.1-2.2, p = 0.040] and (OR = 2.4, CI: 1.6-3.7, p = 0.001), respectively. Daily consumption of fruit was positively associated with daily consumption of vegetables (OR = 6.6, CI: 4.5-9.5, p = 0.001). Also, daily consumption of vegetables was positively associated with daily consumption of dairy products (OR = 1.5, CI: 1.1-2.2, p = 0.040) and inversely correlated with daily consumption of sweets (OR = 0.6, C.I: 0.4-0.9, p = 0.012). Moreover, the daily consumption of dairy products was associated with consuming high fat food daily (OR = 1.7, CI: 1.2-2.4, p = 0.002). The findings indicated that a high percentage of children in Saudi Arabia had an unhealthy low consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk products. Thus, an intervention program to promote healthy dietary patterns is highly recommended. Improving school environments and establishing school-based nutrition programs are extremely needed to promote healthy dietary behaviors among this age group.

Retraining of automatic action tendencies in individuals with obesity: A randomized controlled trial

Obesity is a major health concern, characterized by an automatically activated tendency to (over)-eat. Recent research suggests that an effective way to counteract automatic approach tendencies in unhealthy consumption behavior might be approach bias modification. Therefore, we investigated an approach-avoidance training for unhealthy food cues in 189 patients with obesity of a psychosomatic inpatient clinic who were participating in a nutrition advice program. Patients in the active training group were trained to make avoidance movements (pushing a joystick) in response to unhealthy food pictures and approach movements (pulling the joystick) in response to positive pictures, while the control group received sham training (approaching and avoiding both picture types). Approach-avoidance bias, body mass index, eating pathology and food-specific implicit associations were assessed before and after the training. In line with our hypothesis, approach-avoidance bias improved in the active training group after the training, in comparison to the sham training group. Moreover, this effect generalized to new, untrained stimuli. However, no effects of the training were found in a food-specific Single-Target Implicit Association Test, or on eating pathology questionnaires or body mass index. While the training results are promising, the effect of approach-avoidance bias modification on relevant behavior in obesity has yet to be established before it may be implemented as an add-on treatment.

Framing norm-based messages differently: The role of self-control on fruit and unhealthy snack consumption

Framing norm-based messages differently: The role of self-control on fruit and unhealthy snack consumption

School environment assessment tools to address behavioural risk factors of non-communicable diseases: A scoping review.

We aimed to identify, describe and analyse school environment assessment (SEA) tools that address behavioural risk factors (unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco and alcohol consumption) for non-communicable diseases (NCD). We searched in MEDLINE and Web of Science, hand-searched reference lists and contacted experts. Basic characteristics, measures assessed and measurement properties (validity, reliability, usability) of identified tools were extracted. We narratively synthesized the data and used content analysis to develop a list of measures used in the SEA tools.Twenty-four SEA tools were identified, mostly from developed countries. Out of these, 15 were questionnaire based, 8 were checklists or observation based tools and one tool used a combined checklist/observation based and telephonic questionnaire approach. Only 1 SEA tool had components related to all the four NCD risk factors, 2 SEA tools has assessed three NCD risk factors (diet/nutrition, physical activity, tobacco), 10 SEA tools has assessed two NCD risk factors (diet/nutrition and physical activity) and 11 SEA tools has assessed only one of the NCD risk factor. Several measures were used in the tools to assess the four NCD risk factors, but tobacco and alcohol was sparingly included. Measurement properties were reported for 14 tools.The review provides a comprehensive list of measures used in SEA tools which could be a valuable resource to guide future development of such tools. A valid and reliable SEA tool which could simultaneously evaluate all NCD risk factors, that has been tested in different settings with varying resource availability is needed.

Alcohol Use and HIV Disease Progression in an Antiretroviral Naive Cohort.

Alcohol use has been shown to accelerate disease progression in experimental studies of simian immunodeficiency virus in macaques, but the results in observational studies of HIV have been conflicting. We conducted a prospective cohort study of the impact of unhealthy alcohol use on CD4 cell count among HIV-infected persons in southwestern Uganda not yet eligible for antiretroviral treatment (ART). Unhealthy alcohol consumption was 3-month Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption positive (≥3 for women, ≥4 for men) and/or phosphatidylethanol (PEth-an alcohol biomarker) ≥50 ng/mL, modeled as a time-dependent variable in a linear mixed effects model of CD4 count. At baseline, 43% of the 446 participants were drinking at unhealthy levels and the median CD4 cell count was 550 cells/mm (interquartile range 416-685). The estimated CD4 cell count decline per year was -14.5 cells/mm (95% confidence interval: -38.6 to 9.5) for unhealthy drinking vs. -24.0 cells/mm (95% confidence interval: -43.6 to -4.5) for refraining from unhealthy drinking, with no significant difference in decline by unhealthy alcohol use (P value 0.54), adjusting for age, sex, religion, time since HIV diagnosis, and HIV viral load. Additional analyses exploring alternative alcohol measures, participant subgroups, and time-dependent confounding yielded similar findings. Unhealthy alcohol use had no apparent impact on the short-term rate of CD4 count decline among HIV-infected ART naive individuals in Uganda, using biological markers to augment self-report and examining disease progression before ART initiation to avoid unmeasured confounding because of misclassification of ART adherence.

Hyperbolic Discounting Can Be Good for Your Health

It has been argued that hyperbolic discounting of future gains and losses leads to time-inconsistent behavior and thereby, in the context of health economics, not enough investment in health and too much indulgence of unhealthy consumption. Here, we challenge this view. We set up a life-cycle model of human aging and longevity in which individuals discount the future hyperbolically and make time-consistent decisions. This allows us to disentangle the role of discounting from the time consistency issue. We show that hyperbolically discounting individuals, under a reasonable normalization, invest more in their health than they would if they had a constant rate of time preference. Using a calibrated life-cycle model of human aging, we predict that the average U.S. American lives about 4 years longer with hyperbolic discounting than he would if he had applied a constant discount rate. The reason is that, under hyperbolic discounting, experiences in old age receive a relatively high weight in life time utility. In an extension we show that the introduction of health-dependent survival probability motivates an increasing discount rate for the elderly and, in the aggregate, a u-shaped pattern of the discount rate with respect to age.

An Analysis of the Factors that Influence the Implementation of the Policy for Monitoring Schoolchildren Meals Monitoring at Batam City

Schoolchildren are assets for the development of the nation. Therefore, healthy meals at schools are very important, because for them, it covers about 25-36% of the daily energy requirements. Unhealthy eating habits or consumption of nutrition deficient meals may cause stunting, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis. In the short term it may also cause dental caries, anemia, overweight children and obesity. Around 40-44% of meals at schools do not satisfy the food safety requirements. To increase the quality of the meals at the schools, the community should be empowered to perform independent monitoring of school meals. This is inscribed in the national action policy for safe, good-quality, and nutritious meals for schoolchildren. The aim of this research was to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the national action policy for the snacks of schoolchildren and the factors that influences it. This was a qualitative research. The data was gathered from in-depth interviews and documentary studies and then analyzed using the policy implementation analysis of Mazmanian and Sabatier. From this research we discovered that the policy did not perform effectively in Batam City. There were no Procedure Standard Norms NSPK on the roles, tasks, and responsibilities of the implementers, there was no implementation structure, and no support from the Government and the Parliament of Batam City for the monitoring.

Using Smartphone-Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: ARandomised Trial.

Although many people intend to eat healthily, they often fail to do so. We report the first randomised trial testing whether smartphone-based support groups can enhance healthy eating. Adults (N = 203) were randomised to the support or control condition (information), and to one of two eating goals (increasing fruit and vegetable/decreasing unhealthy snack consumption). After baseline, participants received information on their assigned eating goal, and completed a 13-day electronic diary. During Days 4-10, support participants were asked to support each other in achieving their eating goal in smartphone-based groups. The primary outcome was daily servings of fruit/vegetables or unhealthy snacks. Maintenance of intervention effects was assessed on Days 11-13, and at 1-month and 2-month follow-ups. Support participants showed a gradual increase in healthy eating over time, and ate 1.4 fruits and vegetables more, 95% CI [0.3, 2.6], or 0.8 unhealthy snacks less, 95% CI [-1.4, -0.2] than controls on Day 10. Most effects were not maintained at follow-ups. Smartphone-based groups can promote fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease unhealthy snack intake. This study extends previous findings of the benefits of support groups, and sheds light on the temporal dynamics of behavior change.

Betting on the fastest horse: Using computer simulation to design a combination HIV intervention for future projects in Maharashtra, India.

ObjectiveTo inform the design of a combination intervention strategy targeting HIV-infected unhealthy alcohol users in Maharashtra, India, that could be tested in future randomized control trials.MethodsUsing probabilistic compartmental simulation modeling we compared intervention strategies targeting HIV-infected unhealthy alcohol users on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Maharashtra, India. We tested interventions targeting four behaviors (unhealthy alcohol consumption, risky sexual behavior, depression and antiretroviral adherence), in three formats (individual, group based, community) and two durations (shorter versus longer). A total of 5,386 possible intervention combinations were tested across the population for a 20-year time horizon and intervention bundles were narrowed down based on incremental cost-effectiveness analysis using a two-step probabilistic uncertainty analysis approach.ResultsTaking into account uncertainty in transmission variables and intervention cost and effectiveness values, we were able to reduce the number of possible intervention combinations to be used in a randomized control trial from over 5,000 to less than 5. The most robust intervention bundle identified was a combination of three interventions: long individual alcohol counseling; weekly Short Message Service (SMS) adherence counseling; and brief sex risk group counseling.ConclusionsIn addition to guiding policy design, simulation modeling of HIV transmission can be used as a preparatory step to trial design, offering a method for intervention pre-selection at a reduced cost.

How does health policy affect practice at a sport mega event? A study of policy, food and drink at Euro 2016

ABSTRACTFrom a public health perspective, there are growing concerns about the commercial arrangements between sports events and companies which sell ultra-processed food and drink. In particular, companies are accused of connecting products that are perceived as unhealthy with sport and physical activity that is perceived as healthy. This study examined the tensions and conflicts between health promotion policy and the marketing and consumption reality at the 2016 European Championship football tournament in France. This study is informed theoretically by a critical, political economy lens. Discourse analysis, semiotic analysis, venue analysis and participant observation were employed to gather data from relevant policy and event management plans, sponsor advertisements, site architecture, food and drink offerings and displays at stadia and fan zones. These sources were assessed for the way they encouraged healthy or unhealthy consumption behaviours. The analysis found that the health advice promoted by the French government and the tournament owners (Union of European Football Associations) differed markedly from the reality at the points of consumption. Unhealthy products dominated inside the stadia and fan zones sampled. In many instances, there were little or no healthy foods on display for customers. Despite a self-proclaimed status as having ‘healthy stadia’, a limited vision of health at Euro 2016 was promoted, which was largely restricted to the attempted provision of smoke-free spaces. This raises questions for sport mega events which are in receipt of public funding and which claim to promote health. This study encourages policy-makers, sports funders and consumers to critically evaluate health claims made by sport events and sponsors.

Violence exposure and adolescents' same-day obesogenic behaviors: New findings and a replication

ObjectiveTo test whether exposure to violence is associated with same-day increases in obesogenic behaviors among young adolescents, including unhealthy food and beverage consumption, poor quality sleep, and lack of physical activity. MethodsYoung at-risk adolescents between 12 and 15 years of age were recruited via telephone screening from low-income neighborhoods. Adolescents and their parents completed in-person assessments, followed by Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) delivered to 151 adolescents' mobile phones three times a day for 30 days (4329 person days). Three obesogenic behaviors – unhealthy food consumption, poor sleep quality, and lack of physical activity – and violence exposure were assessed daily. Adolescents’ body mass index (BMI) was assessed prior to the EMA and 18 months later. A replication was performed among 395 adolescents from a population-representative sample (with 5276 EMA person days). ResultsOn days that at-risk adolescents were exposed versus not exposed to violence, they were more likely to consume unhealthy foods and beverages (b = 0.12, p = 0.01), report feeling tired the next morning (OR = 1.58, p < 0.01), and to be active (OR = 1.61, p < 0.01). At-risk adolescents who reported higher consumption of soda and caffeinated beverages during the 30-day EMA were more likely to experience increases in BMI in later adolescence. Findings related to sleep and activity were supported in the population-based replication sample; however, no significant same-day associations were found between violence exposure and unhealthy dietary consumption. ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that exposure to violence is associated with same-day unhealthy dietary consumption among at-risk adolescents and next-day tiredness related to sleep quality among adolescents from both at-risk and normative populations. Findings also point to unhealthy soda consumption during early adolescence as an important predictor of weight gain among at-risk adolescents.

Differences in Risk Factor of Cardiovascular Disease Risk on Rural and Urban Population

Cardiovascular disease is a global threat. This study aimed to obtain a description of cardiovascular disease pattern among rural and urban population in Ponorogo. Two locations were chosen to represent rural and urban area through cluster sampling. Cross sectional study design was chosen with a sample size of 350 respondents. The research instrument was adopted from WHO STEPS. Difference in prevalence between the two clusters were analyzed with ?2 test, with ?=0.05. The result showed that the prevalence smoking and alcohol consumption among males were higher in rural than urban population (p= 0.04 and p=0.012 respectively). The prevalence of unhealthy fruit consumption was higher in both sexes from rural population (p =0.025 and p=0.012). Hypertension was higher among rural female compared to female living in urban area (p=0.024).

Smoking Kills: An Economic Theory of Addiction, Health Deficit Accumulation, and Longevity

In this paper I unify the economic theories of addiction and health deficit accumulation and develop a life cycle theory in which individuals take into account the fact that the consumption of addictive goods reduces their health and longevity. I distinguish two types of addiction: perfect and common. Individuals with perfect addiction perfectly control their addiction. Individuals with common addiction, though otherwise rational and forward looking, fail to fully understand how their addiction develops. I argue that the life cycle consumption pattern predicted for common addiction is more suitable for motivating empirically observable patterns of addictive goods consumption. I take the case of smoking as unhealthy behavior, calibrate the model with U.S. data, and apply it in order to investigate the life cycle patterns of smoking and quitting smoking and the socioeconomic gradients of unhealthy consumption and longevity.

Feeding styles, parenting styles and snacking behaviour in children attending primary schools in multiethnic neighbourhoods: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to investigate whether feeding styles and parenting styles are associated with children’s unhealthy snacking behaviour and whether the associations differ according to children’s...

“I deserve a treat”: Exercise motivation as a predictor of post-exercise dietary licensing beliefs and implicit associations toward unhealthy snacks

ObjectiveTo explore whether exercise motivation predicted two of the potential mechanisms that may explain why individuals engage in unhealthy compensatory snack consumption following exercise; specifically (a) post-exercise conscious licensing beliefs, and (b) post-exercise implicit attitudes toward unhealthy snacks. DesignObservational study. MethodOne hundred and nineteen healthy participants completed a 40-min session of moderate intensity stationary cycling, and subsequently completed measures of explicit licensing and implicit associations toward unhealthy snack foods and drinks. ResultsIndividuals driven by more controlled (relative to autonomous) forms of exercise motivation reported greater compensatory licensing beliefs (Est = −0.08, p < 0.001) even after accounting for a number of relevant covariates. No significant relationship emerged between exercise motivation and implicit associations toward unhealthy snacks (Est = 0.12, p = 0.81). ConclusionThe findings demonstrate that exercise motivation may predict conscious licensing beliefs toward unhealthy snack foods and drinks post-exercise. Understanding the modifiable factors – such as exercise motivation – that predict post-exercise dietary beliefs is important for supporting individuals’ weight loss and health goals.

Evaluating the performance of unhealthy junk food consumption based on health belief model in elementary school girls

Abstract Background and objective: Nowadays, due to changes in eating patterns, the worthless junk foods are replaced useful food among children. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of unhealthy junk food consumption based on health belief model in elementary school girls Methods: Cross-sectional study Descriptive-analytic type of multi-stage sampling (208 samples) was carried out in 2016. The survey instrument was a questionnaire valid and reliable based on the Health Belief Model (70 items). Data was analyzed by SPSS software according to statistical tests of significance level of 0.05. Results: Results showed that students of sensitivity (49) and relatively high efficacy (53/8), perceived benefits (73/1) and better social protection (68/3) had. The results showed that among all the health belief model structures with yield (junk food intake) significantly correlated. Also significant differences in parental education and sensitivity, perceived severity, self-efficacy, social support and yield (p<0/05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that students from relatively favorable sensitivity and self-efficacy, perceived benefits and social protection in the field of unhealthy snacks were good. Also a significant relationship between structural and non-use study results showed unhealthy snacks but because of the importance of unhealthy snacks and unhealthy snack consumption among school children and the complications of the health belief model in predicting nutritional behaviors suggest that this model used as a framework for school feeding programs. Paper Type: Research Article.