Fundraising, celebrations and classroom rewards are substantial sources of unhealthy foods and beverages on public school campuses

The influence of Chile's food labeling and advertising law and other factors on dietary and physical activity behavior of elementary students in a peripheral region: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

In 2016, Chile implemented the Food Labeling and Advertising Law to fight childhood obesity through front-of-package food labelling, marketing restrictions and school activities and programs. Nevertheless, little is known on its influence on key stakeholders in vulnerable peripheral regions of the country. This study aimed at identifying important influencing factors including the Food Labeling and Advertising Law on dietary habits and physical activity patterns of second graders in Chile, as perceived by school representatives and the children themselves.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews with four school directors and 17 groups of three second graders, informal interviews with 9 key teachers and 4 food services staff complemented with documented observations were carried out in four primary schools of the Chilean city of Punta Arenas, in the Magallanes Punta Arenas region. The different sources allowed for triangulation of results.

RESULTS

FLAL seems to have a negligible influence on young children's diet and physical activity in the study region. Barriers are children's deeply rooted dietary habits, excessive screen-time, the parents' lacking problem awareness, limited time for parenting practices and bad role modeling. Environmental barriers are overloaded schools due to insufficient coordination between governmental entities, lacking funds for sound teacher training and unsafe neighborhoods limiting children's play.

CONCLUSIONS

Policy interventions aimed at reducing childhood obesity need to include and empower schools, families and local communities as active partners and consider their framework conditions for greater influence on dietary habits and physical activity.

Disparities in Local Wellness Policies Implementation Across Maryland Schools

BACKGROUND

School-level implementation of district-level local wellness policies (LWPs) is needed to create school environments that promote nutrition and physical activity (PA). Disparities in classroom-specific LWPs implementation were examined.

METHODS

An administrator survey (N = 756 schools; 24/24 districts) included 6 classrooms LWP best-practice items (fully/not fully implemented: restricting food celebrations or rewards, incorporating PA breaks or integrating PA in curricula, restricting withholding or using PA as punishment). A sum score (alpha = .71; elementary and middle/high examined separately) was used to examine associations with student body income (free-and-reduced priced meals (FARMS): ≤40%, 41-75%, ≥75%), race/ethnicity, and school location (rural/urban/suburban), accounting for district-level clustering, with moderation examined.

RESULTS

Classroom implementation scores were: elementary = 3.1 ± 1.8 (range: 0-6/6 items) and middle/high = 2.3 ± 1.6 (range:0-5/5 items). Among elementary and middle/high schools, 65% and 55% had >40% FARMS, 39% and 46% had ≥50% white student body, and 24% and 23% were urban, respectively. Elementary schools with >40% of FARMS-eligible students and middle/high schools with <25% white students reported implementing fewer items. Location was not associated with classroom practices nor was moderation observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Disparities in classroom-specific LWP best practices implementation were observed by income and race/ethnicity. Tailored support may be needed to improve classroom LWP implementation in schools serving low-income students.

Educator Perspectives: Selected Barriers to Implementation of School-Level Nutrition Policies

OBJECTIVE

To improve understanding about selected barriers to the implementation of 2 school food policies by examining the perceptions of those responsible for implementation.

DESIGN

Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted.

SETTING

Policies were implemented in an urban district in the northeastern US.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 67 educators, including principals, assistant principals, school wellness facilitators, teachers, and staff. The majority were female (n = 49; 73.13%) and white (n = 55; 82.09%).

INTERVENTIONS

Two school nutrition policies: Food as a Reward and In-School Celebrations.

PHENOMENON OF INTEREST

This study focused on educators' responses related to barriers to implementation.

ANALYSIS

Transcripts were uploaded to NVivo for organization and coding.

RESULTS

The following themes emerged: student hunger and cultural norms.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Understanding the challenges of those who are implementing school-level policies is necessary to advancing school nutrition reform effectively. Next steps for practice and research include addressing basic needs such as a sense of belonging and food insecurity, within school-family, adapting policies to meet those needs in schools, and including local educators as equal partners in developing policies to ensure that policies are acceptable and implemented as planned. By involving educators and ensuring that basic needs are met first, educators may feel more motivated to implement classroom policies.

Is it still a real treat? Adults' treat provision to children

Consumption of high-energy foods in the absence of hunger has been identified as a key target to address in the area of obesity. For children, such foods are often provided by adults as treats. There is limited understating of adults' treat giving. The present study aimed to understand adults' provision of treats to children on the Island of Ireland. A total of 1039 participants, including parents, grandparents, child minders and education practitioners completed a face-to-face survey in their home. Participants defined their treats for children primarily as 'something nice', 'deserved/earned' and 'something special'. The top three motivations for treat foods provision were 'to reward for good behaviour' (42.3%), 'because the child(ren) ask' (42.2%) and 'to make the child(ren) feel better' (29.4%). Almost all participants would provide treat foods at celebrations and 52.5% always did so. In addition, 68% participants had structured weekly and/or daily treat for children. Treats provided to children were dominated by energy-dense foods. The top three were sweets, chocolates and ice-creams, being used by 45.2%, 45.1% and 38.8% participants. Variations were observed across different adult groups, in terms of their treat giving behaviour. The main observation was that adults' treat foods provision has become habitual. The findings can help develop targeted strategies to encourage the reduction or replacement of food treats for children.

Perceived stress and high fat intake: A study in a sample of undergraduate students

Objectives

Different studies have reported the association between perceived stress and unhealthy diet choices. We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between perceived stress and fat intake among undergraduate medical students.

Methods/Principal findings

A cross-sectional study was performed including first-year medical students. The outcome of interest was the self-report of fat intake assessed using the Block Screening Questionnaire for Fat Intake (high vs. low intake), whereas the exposure was perceived stress (low/normal vs. high levels). The prevalence of high fat intake was estimated and the association of interest was determined using prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Models were created utilizing Poisson regression with robust standard errors.

Data from 523 students were analyzed, 52.0% female, mean age 19.0 (SD 1.7) years. The prevalence of high fat intake was 42.4% (CI: 38.2%–46.7%). In multivariate model and compared with those with lowest levels of stress, those in the middle (PR = 1.59; 95%CI: 1.20–2.12) and highest (PR = 1.92; 95%CI: 1.46–2.53) categories of perceived stress had greater prevalence of fat intake. Gender was an effect modifier of this association (p = 0.008).

Conclusions

Greater levels of perceived stress were associated with higher fat intake, and this association was stronger among males. More than 40% of students reported having high fat consumption. Our results suggest the need to implement strategies that promote decreased fat intake.