Adolescents' dietary behaviour: The interplay between home and school food environments

Re-Licious: Co-Design with Adolescents to Turn Leftovers into Delicious and Healthy Meals-A School-Based Pilot Intervention

One-third of the food produced globally is lost or wasted, and one cause is consumer leftovers. Re-licious was an eight-week pilot intervention aiming to increase awareness of food waste and healthy eating by building adolescents' ability to prepare and cook leftovers. Re-licious used a co-design approach and was piloted in a secondary school, half of which was during a COVID-19 lockdown period. Students watched videos on food waste and healthy eating during class. They identified leftover ingredients at home and repurposed ingredients to create recipes. Students co-created recipe criteria to ensure the personal relevance of the recipes. They completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires (n = 40) about food waste and motivation and interest in healthy eating. Four group interviews were conducted. The factors identified as important in the co-creation sessions were preparation time, cost, healthiness, and sustainability. Participants with low motivation and interest in healthy eating decreased, and participants with high interest increased (p < 0.001). The intention to reduce food waste increased (p = 0.007), as did resourcefulness (p < 0.001) and personal norms (p = 0.048). Interviews highlighted the students' increased awareness of food waste and enjoyment of the intervention. With improvements based on this pilot, Re-licious could be adapted and re-trialled in a face-to-face format to educate young people about food waste.

Factors that influence food choices in secondary school canteens: a qualitative study of pupil and staff perspectives

Background

Adolescence is recognised as a period of nutritional vulnerability, with evidence indicating that United Kingdom adolescents have suboptimal dietary intakes with many failing to meet dietary recommendations. Additionally, adolescence is a time of transition when they become more independent in their dietary choices and begin to develop their own sense of autonomy and are less reliant on their parent's guidance, which is reported to lead to less favourable dietary behaviours. Reducing the prevalence of poor dietary intakes and the associated negative health consequences among this population is a public health priority and schools represent an important setting to promote positive dietary behaviours. The aim of this school-based study was to explore the factors and barriers which influence food choices within the school canteen and to identify feasible strategies to promote positive dietary behaviours within this setting.

Methods

Thirteen focus groups with 86 pupils in Year 8 (n = 37; aged 11-12 years) and Year 9 (n = 49; aged 12-13 years) in six secondary schools across Northern Ireland, United Kingdom were conducted. Additionally, one-to-one virtual interviews were conducted with 29 school staff [principals/vice-principals (n = 4); teachers (n = 17); and caterers (n = 7)] across 17 secondary schools and an Education Authority (EA) senior staff member (n = 1). Focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed following an inductive thematic approach.

Results

Using the ecological framework, multiple factors were identified which influenced pupils' selection of food in the school canteen at the individual (e.g., time/convenience), social (e.g., peer influence), physical (e.g., food/beverage placement), and macro environment (e.g., food provision) level. Suggestions for improvement of food choices were also identified at each ecological level: individual (e.g., rewards), social (e.g., pupil-led initiatives), physical (e.g., labelling), and macro environment (e.g., whole-school approaches).

Conclusion

Low-cost and non-labour intensive practical strategies could be employed, including menu and labelling strategies, placement of foods, reviewing pricing policies and whole-school initiatives in developing future dietary interventions to positively enhance adolescents' food choices in secondary schools.

Improving adolescents' dietary behaviours in the school-setting: challenges and opportunities

Adolescence is a critical time of physical, psychological and social development, and thus, optimal nutritional intakes are required during this life stage. Despite this, adolescence is recognised as a period of nutritional vulnerability, with many reportedly failing to meet current dietary guidelines. The school-setting presents a favourable environment to intervene and promote positive dietary behaviours and is also inclusive regardless of socio-economic status. However, a lack of consensus exists on how best to utilise schools to facilitate improvements in dietary behaviours among this age group. Whilst previous research has focused on identifying the factors motivating dietary choices within the school-setting, less is known on the optimum strategies to enhance these dietary choices which could positively contribute to the design of future interventions. It is reported that adolescents have good nutritional knowledge, although this does not appear to be a central consideration when making their dietary choices. Alternative factors at the individual (taste, visual appeal, familiarity, food quality, price, portion size, value for money, time/ convenience), social (peer influence), physical (product placement) and macro environment (food availability) levels have been frequently cited as important influences on adolescents' dietary choices in school. Although school-based interventions have shown potential in achieving positive dietary change among adolescents, more research is needed to determine the most effective methods in improving dietary behaviours in schools. This review summarises the key factors which influence adolescents' school-based dietary choices and the effectiveness of previously conducted interventions, identifying promising components for consideration when developing future dietary interventions within the school-setting.

Exploring the understanding of how parenting influences the children's nutritional status, physical activity, and BMI

Aim

Parental behaviors and the home environment are two of the most effective ways to adopt healthy eating and active lifestyles. For this reason, it is crucial to understand children's nutritional habits, analyze the dynamics related to parental factors, diagnose and treat childhood obesity in the early period, and prevent adulthood obesity. This study aimed to explore how parenting influences children's nutritional status, physical activity, and BMI.

Methods

The study involved 596 children with their parents. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews using the survey method. The survey consists of descriptive information (age, gender, educational status), anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits, Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Scale (FNPA), International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and 24-h dietary recall. The Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) was applied to assess dietary adequacy.

Results

Most mothers and fathers were overweight or obese (61.6 and 68.7%, respectively). 38.6% of boys and 23.1% of girls were overweight or obese. The FNPA score was positively correlated with MAR (p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that children's BMI was negatively correlated with FNPA score, while maternal BMI and father's BMI were positively correlated (p < 0.05). Furthermore, dietary energy was not associated with the child's BMI but with dietary adequacy (p < 0.05). There was no evidence that family impacted children's physical activity.

Conclusion

This study supports that parenting influences children's dietary intake and BMI. Adequate and balanced nutrition, regardless of dietary energy, may affect children's body weight. Family plays a significant role in influencing and forming children's lifestyle-related behaviors. Children's healthy eating and physical exercise habits can be encouraged through school-based programs involving families.

Hedonic response sensitivity to variations in the evaluation task and culinary preparation in a natural consumption context

Hedonic measurements in the frame of consumer tests of foods are prone to many different biases and the validity of test designs has been subject to much research with special emphasis on the role of context. While bringing elements of natural consumption context to the testing conditions is generally seen as an improvement, other aspects of the test design such as the task format have received little attention. In particular, the influence of analytical questions on hedonic responses has been studied in standardized contexts only. This study aimed to assess whether synthetic and analytical evaluation tasks result in different hedonic responses when the test is conducted in a natural consumption context. Bread and pizzas with different degrees of culinary preparation (homemade, readymade, and a combination of the two) were tested on three separate days in a university cafeteria. Overall liking scores of the bread and the three different pizzas were obtained either with a synthetic (hedonic question only) or with an analytical task (hedonic question plus intensity attributes). Care was taken to avoid any other changes to normal eating conditions, notably by recruiting on the spot only those customers who had spontaneously chosen pizza as part of their lunch. Liking scores of the homemade pizza were lower with the analytical task while the scores of the other two pizzas did not change significantly. Moreover, different rankings of the pizzas were obtained when the data were analyzed separately for each evaluation task format. The synthetic evaluation task would have led to the conclusion that the homemade pizza was the best liked and the readymade being the least liked, while the analytical evaluation task would have led to the conclusion that the “mixed” pizza would be liked significantly more than the other two. The effect of the task format (i.e., lower scores with the analytical task) was more pronounced when participants reported they had spent more time in the queue. These results strengthen the view that the task is part of the evaluation context and must be carefully considered when one wishes to design ecologically valid consumer tests.

Acceptability Analysis of 3D-Printed Food in the Area of the Czech Republic Based on Survey

The aim of the research was to observe consumer perceptions of 3D food printing and to highlight possible applications of this production. The questionnaire survey took place in the Czech Republic and was attended by 1156 respondents. The questionnaire was divided into six sections: (1) Socio-Demographic Data; (2) 3D Common Printing Awareness; (3) 3D Food Printing Awareness; (4) 3D Food Printing, Worries and Understanding; (5) Application; (6) Investments. Although awareness of 3D food printing is increasing, a very small fraction of respondents had encountered printed food in person (1.5%; n = 17). Respondents expressed concerns about the health benefits and the reduced prices of novel foods, and they perceived printed foods as ultra-processed foods (56.0%; n = 647). Concerns have also been raised about job losses due to the introduction of new technology. On the contrary, they perceived that quality raw materials would be used to prepare printed foods (52.4%; n = 606). Most respondents believed that printed foods would be visually appealing and would find application in several food industry sectors. Most respondents believed that 3D food printing is the future of the food sector (83.8%; n = 969). The gained results can be helpful for 3D food printer producers, as well as for future experiments dealing with 3D food printing issues.