Diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and perceptions of the environment in young adults

The CIVISANO protocol: a mixed-method study about the role of objective and perceived environmental factors on physical activity and eating behavior among socioeconomically disadvantaged adults

BACKGROUND

Overweight and obesity have a strong socioeconomic profile. Unhealthy behaviors like insufficient physical activity and an unbalanced diet, which are causal factors of overweight and obesity, tend to be more pronounced in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in high income countries. The CIVISANO project aims to identify objective and perceived environmental factors among different socioeconomic population groups that impede or facilitate physical activity and healthy eating behavior in the local context of two peri-urban Flemish municipalities in Belgium. We also aim to identify and discuss possible local interventions and evaluate the participatory processes of the project.

METHODS

This study (2020-2023) will use community-based participatory tools, involving collaborative partnerships with civic and stakeholder members of the community and regular exchanges among all partners to bridge knowledge development and health promotion for socioeconomically disadvantaged citizens. Furthermore, a mixed-methods approach will be used. A population survey and geographic analysis will explore potential associations between the physical activity and eating behaviors of socioeconomically disadvantaged adults (25-65 years old) and both their perceived and objective physical, food and social environments. Profound perceptive context information will be gathered from socioeconomically disadvantaged adults by using participatory methods like photovoice, walk-along, individual map creation and group model building. An evaluation of the participatory process will be conducted simultaneously.

DISCUSSION

The CIVISANO project will identify factors in the local environment that might provoke inequities in adopting a healthy lifestyle. The combination of perceived and objective measures using validated strategies will provide a robust assessment of the municipality environment. Through this analysis, the project will investigate to what extent community engagement can be a useful strategy to reduce health inequities. The strong knowledge exchange and capacity-building in a local setting is expected to contribute to our understanding of how to maximize research impact in this field and generate evidence about potential linkages between a health enhancing lifestyle among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and their physical, food and social environments.

The impact of, and views on, school food intervention and policy in young people aged 11-18 years in Europe: A mixed methods systematic review

Understanding the social and environmental influencers of eating behaviours has the potential to improve health outcomes for young people. This review aims to explore the effectiveness of school nutrition interventions and the perceptions of young people experiencing a nutrition focused intervention or change in school food policy. A comprehensive systematic search identified studies published between 1 December 2007 to 20 February 2020. Twenty-seven studies were included: 22 quantitative studies of nutrition related outcomes and five qualitative studies reporting views and perceptions of young people (combined sample of 22,138 participants, mean ages 12-18 years). The primary outcome was nutrition knowledge/dietary behaviours, with secondary outcomes exploring body mass index (BMI) and wellbeing. Due to the heterogeneity of studies, a narrative results description is presented. The findings demonstrate that school nutrition programmes can be effective in reducing sugar, sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) and saturated fat and increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. The lived experiences of young people in a school context provide valuable insights that should be considered in the development of effective school food policy and interventions. This review affirms the significant role that schools can play in supporting good nutrition in all young people and provides opportunities to inform the school food agenda.

Body image concerns and intuitive eating in older women

Intuitive eating has been described as representing a positive relationship with food that can support health. However, to date, most of the extant research on intuitive eating has been conducted among young women, limiting our understanding of how intuitive eating can contribute to supporting health in aging women. This study aimed to bridge this gap by exploring body image and eating correlates of intuitive eating in older women. The hypotheses were that among older women, intuitive eating would be significantly associated with lower disordered eating, weight and shape concerns, and fewer depressive symptoms, and that an indirect relationship between BMI and intuitive eating via weight and shape concerns would exist. Community women aged 60-75 (N = 200) completed questionnaires assessing intuitive eating, disordered eating, body concern, depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI). Higher intuitive eating global scores were associated with lower restraint, lower eating concern, lower body concern, fewer depressive symptoms, and lower BMI. An indirect relationship between BMI and intuitive eating via weight and shape concern emerged, suggesting that being preoccupied by one's appearance hinder the ability to practice intuitive eating. These results suggest that intuitive eating is associated with positive outcomes among older women and might be a useful target for interventions designed to increase healthy aging.

On computing critical factors based healthy behavior index for behavior assessment

OBJECTIVE

Ubiquitous computing has supported personalized health through a vast variety of wellness and healthcare self-quantification applications over the last decade. These applications provide insights for daily life activities but unable to portray the comprehensive impact of personal habits on human health. Therefore, in order to facilitate the individuals, we have correlated the lifestyle habits in an appropriate proportion to determine the overall impact of influenced behavior on the well-being of humans.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To study the combined impact of personal behaviors, we have proposed a methodology to derive the comprehensive Healthy Behavior Index (HBI) consisting of two major processes: (1) Behaviors' Weight-age Identification (BWI), and (2) Healthy Behavior Quantification and Index (HBQI) modeling. The BWI process identifies the high ranked contributing behaviors through life-expectancy based weight-age, whereas HBQI derives a mathematical model based on quantification and indexing of behavior using wellness guidelines.

RESULTS

The contributing behaviors are identified through text mining technique and verified by seven experts with a Kappa agreement level of 0.379. A real-world user-centric statistical evaluation is applied through User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) method to evaluate the impact of HBI service. This HBI service is developed for the Mining Minds, a wellness management application. This study involves 103 registered participants (curious about the chronic disease) for a Korean wellness management organization. They used the HBI service over 12 weeks, the results for which were evaluated through UEQ and user feedback. The service reliability for the Cronbach's alpha coefficient greater than 0.7 was achieved using HBI service whereas the stimulation coefficient of the value 0.86 revealed significant effect. We observed an overall novelty of the value 0.88 showing the potential interest of participants.

CONCLUSIONS

The comprehensive HBI has demonstrated positive user experience concerning the stimulation for adapting the healthy behaviors. The HBI service is designed independently to work as a service, so any other wellness management service-enabled platform can consume it to evaluate the healthy behavior index of the person for recommendation generation, behavior indication, and behavior adaptation.

Objectively-Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Time are Differentially Related to Dietary Fat and Carbohydrate Intake in Children

Background: Research on the clustering of physical activity, sedentary, and dietary intake behaviors in children has relied on retrospective and parent-report measures, which may obscure true associations. The current study combined objectively-measured moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) data from waist-worn accelerometers, with multiple child-report 24-h dietary recalls to assess specific components of dietary intake (i.e., dietary fat, carbohydrates, protein; glycemic load, fruits and vegetables) in children.

Methods: Participants (n = 136, ages 8–12 years) wore an accelerometer for 7 days. On two of those days, children completed 24-h recall phone interviews to assess dietary intake.

Results: After adjusting for child age, sex, ethnicity, annual household income, and body mass index (BMI) percentile; ST was positively associated with percent dietary fat intake, and negatively associated with percent dietary carbohydrate intake and glycemic load (p's < 0.01). MVPA was positively associated with percent dietary carbohydrate intake and daily glycemic load, and negatively associated with percent dietary fat intake (p's < 0.05).

Conclusion: Despite its direct health benefits, physical activity may be associated with consuming greater proportion of total intake from carbohydrates, especially those with a higher glycemic index. Further research is needed to understand the differential implications of these unique behavioral interrelations for diabetes, cardiovascular, and obesity risk.

Cancer-related health behaviours of young people not in education, employment or training ('NEET'): a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Links between participating in unhealthy behaviours, e.g. smoking, and an increased risk of developing some cancers are well established. Unemployed adults are more likely to participate in cancer-related health behaviours than their employed counterparts. However, evidence of whether this is true in young adults not in education, employment or training (NEET) compared to their 'non-NEET' peers is either limited or inconclusive. Using cross-sectional health data from across the UK, this study aims to investigate whether participation in cancer-related health behaviours varies by NEET status.

METHODS

Data for 16-24 year olds were extracted from the 2010-12 Health Surveys for England (HSE) and Scottish Health Surveys (SHeS). Information on economic activity in the last week was used to determine NEET status. Data on whether respondents had been seeking employment within the last four weeks and availability to start within the next two weeks allowed NEETs to be further identified as unemployed (UE) or economically inactive (EI). Logistic regression modelled the effect of being NEET on odds of being a current smoker; heavy drinker; not participating in sport; having eaten less than five portions of fruit or vegetables the day before survey interview and having an unhealthy body mass index (BMI). Analyses were performed before and after exclusion of EI NEETs.

RESULTS

Data were extracted for 4272 individuals, of which 715 (17%) were defined as NEET with 371 (52%) and 342 (48%) further classified as UE and EI respectively. Two NEETs could not be further defined as UE or EI due to missing information. Relative to non-NEETs, NEETs were significantly more likely to be current smokers, not participate in sport and have an 'unhealthy' BMI. These results held after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics both before and after exclusion of EI NEETs. Before exclusion of EI NEETs, NEETs were significantly less likely to be heavy drinkers than non-NEETs. There was no significant difference in likelihood of heavy drinking between NEETs and non-NEETs when excluding EI NEETs.

CONCLUSIONS

NEETs were generally at an increased risk of participating in cancer-related health behaviours than non-NEETs. As the likelihood of becoming NEET is greater in socioeconomically-disadvantaged groups, interventions to discourage unhealthy behaviours in NEETs may contribute to a reduction in health inequalities.

'I'm not trusted in the kitchen': food environments and food behaviours of young people attending school and college

BACKGROUND

Food behaviours are important in the context of health and obesity. The aim was to explore the environments and food behaviours of a sample of young people in the North East of England to further understanding of the relationship between eating behaviours and environmental context.

METHODS

Focus groups were conducted with four groups of young people aged 16-20 years (n = 40; 28 male, 12 female) between November 2006 and June 2007. Analysis was informed by grounded theory methods and was an iterative process of identifying themes across the transcripts.

RESULTS

Topics explored included: their main environment, home food responsibility and cooking, food outside of the home, where food was purchased/obtained and where food was eaten and with whom. Emergent themes included: the value for money in food purchases, time convenience, the car as a means of accessing food and health perceptions.

CONCLUSIONS

The complexities of the food environment were illustrated. This work has highlighted the importance of the home food environment and parents, and indicated the importance of factors such as time and cost in this age group's food choices. The behavioural norms around food behaviours merit further exploration for this population in transition between adolescence and adulthood.

Racial differences in parental perceptions of the neighborhood as predictors of children's physical activity and sedentary behavior

Objective

Most U.S. children engage in insufficient physical activity (PA) and spend too much time in sedentary behaviors (SBs), leading to increased risk of obesity and chronic disease. Evidence remains inconsistent on relationships between parental perceptions of the neighborhood and children's PA and SB. This study examines parental neighborhood perceptions, stratified by race, as predictors of children's PA and SB.

Methods

Relationships were tested with regressions stratified by parental race. The sample included 196 parents, residing in St. Louis, Missouri with a child at home. Participants responded to a mailed survey in 2012. Parental neighborhood perceptions were examined by mean composite scores and individual items.

Results

For parents of all races, perceived barriers negatively predicted the number of days in a week children engaged in ≥ 60 min of PA. Examining parental neighborhood perceptions by individual item, the perception that drivers exceed neighborhood speed limits was a positive predictor of their children's SB only among white parents. Only among minority-race parents was perceived neighborhood crime rate a positive predictor of their children's SB.

Conclusions

While predictors of children's PA did not differ widely, several distinct predictors of children's SB by parental race lend support toward further examination of this topic.

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We examine parental neighborhood perceptions by race and children's behaviors.

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For all parents, perceived barriers negatively predict children's activity.

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For white parents, speeding cars positively predict children's sedentary behavior.

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For minority-race parents, crime positively predicts children's sedentary behavior.

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Results could inform tailored strategies for reducing children's sedentary behavior.

Development of the Adolescent and Young Adult Activity Card Sort

Emerging adulthood defines transition to employment, higher education, and domestic life. This study describes the development of an assessment of self-reported participation in a range of age-appropriate activities. Item selection was established from literature review, feedback from youth and professionals, the former Adolescent Activity Card Sort (AACS), and the original Activity Card Sort (ACS). Iterative item selection occurred with three separate samples of emerging adults and six professionals. Test–retest reliability was evaluated. The Adolescent and Young Adult Activity Card Sort (AYA-ACS) consists of chores (11 items), leisure (13), social (10), health and fitness (9), work (10), education (8), and parenting (9). Test–retest reliability showed significant moderate to substantial Kappa agreement (.48-.85) for all domains except parenting (κ = .15). This preliminary study describes the development of the AYA-ACS to be used with individuals who encounter challenges when transitioning to young adulthood.

Does increased exercise or physical activity alter ad-libitum daily energy intake or macronutrient composition in healthy adults? A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The magnitude of the negative energy balance induced by exercise may be reduced due to compensatory increases in energy intake.

OBJECTIVE

TO ADDRESS THE QUESTION: Does increased exercise or physical activity alter ad-libitum daily energy intake or macronutrient composition in healthy adults?

DATA SOURCES

PubMed and Embase were searched (January 1990-January 2013) for studies that presented data on energy and/or macronutrient intake by level of exercise, physical activity or change in response to exercise. Ninety-nine articles (103 studies) were included.

STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Primary source articles published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Articles that presented data on energy and/or macronutrient intake by level of exercise or physical activity or changes in energy or macronutrient intake in response to acute exercise or exercise training in healthy (non-athlete) adults (mean age 18-64 years).

STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS

Articles were grouped by study design: cross-sectional, acute/short term, non-randomized, and randomized trials. Considerable heterogeneity existed within study groups for several important study parameters, therefore a meta-analysis was considered inappropriate. Results were synthesized and presented by study design.

RESULTS

No effect of physical activity, exercise or exercise training on energy intake was shown in 59% of cross-sectional studies (n = 17), 69% of acute (n = 40), 50% of short-term (n = 10), 92% of non-randomized (n = 12) and 75% of randomized trials (n = 24). Ninety-four percent of acute, 57% of short-term, 100% of non-randomized and 74% of randomized trials found no effect of exercise on macronutrient intake. Forty-six percent of cross-sectional trials found lower fat intake with increased physical activity.

LIMITATIONS

The literature is limited by the lack of adequately powered trials of sufficient duration, which have prescribed and measured exercise energy expenditure, or employed adequate assessment methods for energy and macronutrient intake.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no consistent evidence that increased physical activity or exercise effects energy or macronutrient intake.

PACES: a Physical Activity Campus Environmental Supports Audit on university campuses

PURPOSE

This study evaluated the policy and built and recreation environmental supports for physical activity on 13 university campuses.

DESIGN

Environmental audit survey.

SETTING

Thirteen U.S. universities, 2009. Subjects. University policies, recreation programs and facilities, and at least five additional buildings per campus.

MEASURES

The Physical Activity Campus Environmental Supports Audit was developed for this study.

ANALYSIS

Analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey's B and χ(2) assessed differences by institution and building type.

RESULTS

The mean obesogenic policy score was significantly lower than the desired score, ≥7 (p = .002), with only one campus scoring 10. The mean built environment audit score (5.4 ± 1.7) was low, with significant differences between institutions (p < .001) and only three campuses scoring above the desired score, ≥7. Although generally stairwells were clean and well lighted, there was a lack of signage to encourage stair use (p < .001). Overall, recreation programs (7.1 ± .7) and facilities (7.1 ± 1.2) scored well, but amenities scores were lower for satellite (2.8 ± 1.6) versus main (4.1 ± 1.8) recreation facilities (p = .04).

CONCLUSION

On these 13 university campuses, recreation programs and facilities were supportive of healthful lifestyles for obesity prevention, but policies and the built environment were not. This physical activity environmental audit survey requires testing in a wider sample of postsecondary institutions to corroborate its utility and provide evidence to support initiatives to improve campus environments for physical activity.

Physical activity in the lifestyle of Czech university students: Meeting health recommendations

The decline of physical activity (PA) in adults as well as children and youth is a worldwide phenomenon. The aim of this study is to analyse the amount of PA in Czech university students’ daily lives. The research on university students was conducted as part of nationwide research on PA in the adult population of the Czech Republic. A total of 906 students at eight selected universities were asked to participate in this study. The response rate was 79.5%. We analysed data from 641 university students: 318 male [mean age 21.63 ± 1.73; mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 23.50 ± 1.91] and 323 female (mean age 21.08 ± 1.53; mean BMI 21.23 ± 2.20). The students wore Yamax SW-701 pedometers continuously for seven days. With respect to BMI, the recommendation of 10,000 steps per day on an average day was met by 76% of men and 68% of women of normal weight, 67% of male students who were overweight or obese and 85% of female students who were overweight or obese. Of all monitored days, in both females and males, the number of steps taken on Sunday was significantly lower (p < 0.0001) in comparison to other days of a week. No significant differences were found in the number of steps taken among students of normal weight, students who were overweight and students who were obese on any of the monitored days. The majority of Czech male university students are of normal weight. Only 9% of students meet the criterion of 10,000 steps every day. Approximately two-thirds of students meet the 10,000 steps daily criterion on four or more days per week. The lowest number of steps is taken on Sundays; this finding supports the need for intervention programmes to enhance PA on weekends.

Association between diet and physical activity and sedentary behaviours in 9-10-year-old British White children

OBJECTIVES

To examine the association between diet and physical activity and sedentary behaviours in 9-10-year-old children.

STUDY DESIGN

A cross-sectional study using data from the SPEEDY (Sport, Physical activity and Eating behaviour: Environmental Determinants in Young People) study undertaken in Norfolk, UK.

METHODS

Data from 4-day food diaries and 7 days of accelerometery were matched on concurrent days. Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), time spent in sedentary behaviour and various measures of dietary intake were collected. Covariates included age, sex, weight status, family socio-economic status, and energy intake reporting quality. Multivariable regression models, adjusted for clustering of children by school and stratified by sex, were fitted to examine the associations between dietary measures and physical activity and sedentary outcomes.

RESULTS

In total, 1317 children (584 boys and 733 girls) provided concurrent data. Boys in the highest quartile of energy percentage from protein spent approximately 6 min [95% confidence interval (CI) 0-12] less in MVPA compared with boys in the lowest quartile. Those in the highest quartiles of fruit and vegetable intake and fruit juice intake had respective average activity counts per minute that were 56 above (95% CI 8-105) and 48 below (95% CI 2-95) those in the lowest quartiles, whilst those in the highest quartile of fizzy drink consumption spent approximately 7 min (95% CI 2-13) more in MVPA and approximately 14 min (95% CI 5-24 min) less in sedentary behaviour. Boys in the highest quartile of savoury snack consumption spent approximately 8 min (95% CI 2-13 min) more in MVPA per day, and approximately 12 min (95% CI 2-23) less in sedentary behaviour. No significant associations were apparent among girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Few associations were detected, and the directions of those that were apparent were mainly counterintuitive. The extent to which this reflects a true lack of association or is associated with the measurement methods used for diet and physical activity needs further investigation.

Youth, alcohol and place-based leisure behaviours: a study of two locations in England

Excessive alcohol consumption among young people in England regularly features in national media and has been a focus of recent academic research and government policy. Though the majority of young people do not regularly drink excessively, heavy sessional drinking - 'binge' drinking - is associated with negative health and social consequences for those who do. Alcohol-related health problems in young people are not spread consistently across England, however, and while there are significant intra-regional differences, northern regions fare worse overall than those in the south. This paper draws on an 18-month project which explored differences in the physical, social and regulatory environments (highlighted by previous research as influential) in two locations with contrasting alcohol harm profiles. The paper focuses on the lives of 15-16 year olds and examines potential differences that influence behaviour at this crucial age; and in particular issues that might presage risky and/or harmful drinking in young adulthood. The study examines evidence from young people themselves (activity diaries and interviews); stakeholder interviews; and observation analysis. The study finds social practices in the two areas to be largely similar; moreover, the collectivised and social nature of alcohol consumption suggests sources of influence from a wider context, beyond immediate family and friendship groups. However these social practices were acted out in locations with very different physical characteristics, in particular these related to the availability of non-alcohol focused leisure activities and the spatial arrangement/visibility of adult drinking culture.

Sedentary behavior and dietary intake in children, adolescents, and adults. A systematic review

CONTEXT

Sedentary behavior is implicated in youth and adult overweight and obesity. However, the relationship between sedentary behavior and weight status is often small or inconsistent, with few studies controlling for confounding factors such as diet and physical activity. Diet has been hypothesized to covary with some sedentary behaviors. It is opportune, therefore, to review whether dietary intake is associated with sedentary behavior in young people and adults. This may allow for better interpretation of the diversity of findings concerning sedentary behavior and weight status.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Published English-language studies were located from computerized and manual searches in early 2010. Included studies were observational studies assessing an association between at least one sedentary behavior and at least one aspect of dietary intake in children (aged <11 years), adolescents (aged 12-18 years), or adults (aged >18 years).

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Fifty-three studies, totaling 111 independent samples, were eligible for this review. Sedentary behavior in children (n=19, independent samples=24), adolescents (n=26, independent samples=72), and adults (n=11, independent samples=14) appears to be clearly associated with elements of a less healthy diet including lower fruit and vegetable consumption; higher consumption of energy-dense snacks, drinks, and fast foods; and higher total energy intake. Strengths of association were mainly in the small-to-moderate range.

CONCLUSIONS

The association drawn mainly from cross-sectional studies is that sedentary behavior, usually assessed as screen time and predominantly TV viewing, is associated with unhealthy dietary behaviors in children, adolescents, and adults. Interventions need to be developed that target reductions in sedentary time to test whether diet also changes.

Health indicators among unemployed and employed young adults

OBJECTIVE

Research on the prevalence of health indicators by employment status among young US adults is limited.

METHODS

We analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of young adults aged 18 to 24 years to document the prevalence of five health behaviors (cigarette smoking, risky drinking, leisure-time physical activity, and fruit and French fries consumption) by employment status.

RESULTS

Unemployed young adults reported higher levels of risky drinking and nonengagement in leisure-time physical activity, while employed young adults had higher levels of smoking, French fries consumption, and low fruit/vegetable consumption. Transportation/material-moving young adult workers reported the highest level of risky drinking (13.5%), and precision production/craft/repair workers reported the highest smoking rates (39.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

We found an elevated prevalence of risk factors, which places young workers at increased risk for the development of chronic conditions later in life.

Serum glucose and lipid levels in adult congenital heart disease patients

Atherosclerosis has been correlated with known cardiovascular risk factors such as serum glucose or lipid levels. Because congenital heart disease patients tend to survive until adulthood, atherosclerosis has also become a matter of concern in these patients. One hundred fifty-eight congenital heart disease patients and 152 patients selected at random from the population were studied and compared to determine serum glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides levels. Both groups had similar socioeconomic status levels and the same environmental influences. Significant differences were seen between congenital heart disease patients and the control group, after sex, age, and body mass index adjustment, in fasting plasma glucose (97.7 [94.2-101.2] vs 86.9 [83.2-90.7], P < .001), total cholesterol (171.5 [165.7-177.3] vs 199.8 [90.7-206.0], P < .001), LDL cholesterol (103.9 [98.8-108.8] vs 123.8 [118.5-129.1], P < .001), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (48.1 [46.2-50.0] vs 54.2 [52.1-56.2], P < .001) levels. Nonsignificant differences were seen in triglycerides concentrations. Those patients with ventricular septal defect, coarctation of the aorta, and cyanosis had the lowest total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations. Congenital heart disease patients have lower plasma cholesterol concentrations and higher serum glucose levels than noncongenital ones.

Neighborhood walkability and sedentary time in Belgian adults

BACKGROUND

Sedentary behavior (too much sitting) has deleterious health consequences that are distinct from lack of physical activity (too little exercise).

PURPOSE

This study aimed to examine the associations of neighborhood walkability and sociodemographic factors with adults' self-reported and objectively assessed sedentary time.

METHODS

This Belgian cross-sectional study was conducted between May 2007 and September 2008. Twenty-four neighborhoods were stratified on GIS-based walkability and neighborhood SES. In all, 1200 adults (aged 20-65 years; 50 per neighborhood; 42.7 [SD=12.6] years; 47.9% men) completed a sociodemographic survey and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. They also wore an accelerometer for 7 days: Sedentary time was identified as accelerometer counts of less than 100 per minute. Statistical analyses were performed in 2009, using multilevel regression models, adjusted for physical activity levels and individual SES.

RESULTS

Residents of high-walkable neighborhoods reported more sitting time than those of low-walkable neighborhoods (439.8 vs 403.4 minutes/day of daily sitting time, p<0.05). Living in high-walkable versus low-walkable neighborhoods was also associated with 2.9% more accelerometer-measured overall sedentary time (p<0.001). Being male, younger, unemployed, more highly educated, having a white-collar job (analysis for employed adults only), and living without children were all significantly associated with more sitting time.

CONCLUSIONS

Contrary to expectations, living in a high-walkable neighborhood was associated with higher levels of sedentary time. If future studies in other contexts confirm these associations, environmental and policy innovations aiming to promote physical activity may need to address the potential negative health impact of sedentary behavior.

Tracking of dietary intake and factors associated with dietary change from early adolescence to adulthood: the ASH30 study

OBJECTIVE

This paper describes the tracking of food intake from adolescence to adulthood according to location as an adult (at the time of the follow-up study) and gender. Additionally this paper explores factors associated with change in food intake.

METHOD

Two 3-day food diaries, demographic and socio-economic information were collected in 1980 and 2000 from the same 198 participants (81 male, 117 female). Foods consumed were assigned to the five categories in The Balance of Good Health (BGH) food model. The tracking of food intake was assessed using Pearson correlation analyses. In 2000 two questionnaires were completed. Demographic and key attributional factors, derived from closed and open-ended responses to the questionnaire, were compared with measured change using regression analysis.

RESULTS

There was significant tracking of intake by food group from adolescence to adulthood according to location as an adult and gender. Eight combinations of descriptive variables and questionnaire factors were associated with change in intake of four of the five BGH food groups.

CONCLUSION

Between adolescence and adulthood, dietary tracking is influenced by variables including gender and location. Attributions for change in food intake were associated with measured changes in food intake. In order to support healthier eating habits, it is important to be aware of factors contributing to changes in food intake, such as parental influences and perceived influences of time and work.