The Food Environment of Primary School Learners in a Low-to-Middle-Income Area in Cape Town, South Africa

Do Food and Meal Organization Systems in Polish Primary Schools Reflect Students' Preferences and Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines? The Results of Qualitative Research for the Junior-Edu-Żywienie (JEŻ) Project

The school environment, together with that of the family, shapes students' eating behaviors, and is an important element of formal and informal nutrition education. The informal and practical dimensions can be realized through the food and meals offered/sold in school canteens, shops, and vending machines. As children and adolescents spend 6-10 h/day in schools and consume at least two meals there, the school food environment is important from a public health perspective. The aim of this study is to assess food and meal organization in primary schools in Poland. The study was conducted using individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) involving 24 school headmasters and 24 representatives of people employed in school canteens or catering companies involved in meal organization in schools. The nutritional food on offer at schools is important for shaping students' food preferences and choices, consequently influencing the development, functioning, and health of this subpopulation. The school environment can be an ideal place for hands-on nutrition education. In addition to the knowledge provided, there must be a consistent message concerning the provision of nutrition information to students between the teachings of parents, teachers, and, indirectly, the food and meals available at school. Our qualitative study is confirmed by the results of quantitative research to better understand the organization of nutrition and the problems and needs of primary schools in this area.

Citizen science approaches to crowdsourcing food environment data: A scoping review of the literature

Globally, the adoption and implementation of policies to improve the healthiness of food environments and prevent population weight gain have been inadequate. This is partly because of the complexity associated with monitoring dynamic food environments. Crowdsourcing is a citizen science approach that can increase the extent and nature of food environment data collection by engaging citizens as sensors or volunteered computing experts. There has been no literature synthesis to guide the application of crowdsourcing to food environment monitoring. We systematically conducted a scoping review to address this gap. Forty-two articles met our eligibility criteria. Photovoice techniques were the most employed methodological approaches (n = 25 studies), commonly used to understand overall access to healthy food. A small number of studies made purpose-built apps to collect price or nutritional composition data and were scaled to receive large amounts of data points. Twenty-nine studies crowdsourced food environment data by engaging priority populations (e.g., households receiving low incomes). There is growing potential to develop scalable crowdsourcing platforms to understand food environments through the eyes of everyday people. Such crowdsourced data may improve public and policy engagement with equitable food policy actions.

Dietary Patterns, Socio-Demographic Predictors Thereof, and Associations of Dietary Patterns with Stunting and Overweight/Obesity in 1-<10-Year-Old Children in Two Economically Active Provinces in South Africa

A review of the literature showed that there were only a few studies that reported on the dietary patterns of children in South Africa. The aim of the present study was to characterise the dietary patterns of children aged 1-<10 years who were studied during the Provincial Dietary Intake Survey (PDIS) in 2018 and to investigate the socio-demographic predictors thereof, as well as the associations with stunting and overweight/obesity. Dietary pattern analysis was conducted within three age groups, namely 1-<3-year-olds, 3-<6-year-olds, and 6-<10-year-olds using iterated principal factor analysis with varimax rotation and 24 h recall data from the PDIS. The dietary patterns that emerged seem to be far from ideal. Energy-dense, nutrient-poor patterns were included in the top three strongest patterns in all three age groupings that were investigated. Few of the dietary patterns included vegetables other than starchy vegetables, fruit, dairy, quality proteins, and unrefined carbohydrates. There were no associations between any of the dietary patterns and stunting or overweight/obesity in the children. Key predictors of greater adherence to the mostly unhealthy patterns included indicators of a higher socio-economic status in all three age groups, as well as having an obese mother in the 6-<10-year-old group. Key predictors of greater adherence to the mostly healthy patterns were a higher wealth index and having an obese mother in the two younger groups, with no predictors in the 6-<10-year-old group. We conclude that the dietary patterns of children in the Western Cape contain strong elements of the energy-dense, nutrient-poor dietary patterns. Interventions to improve the dietary intake of children should be directed at both poorer and higher income communities.

Associations among Food Systems, Food Environments, Food Choices, Food Security, and Nutrition Transition in Limpopo Province, South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study

A cross-sectional study was applied to investigate the influence of food systems and food environments on food choices and nutrition transition of households in Limpopo province, South Africa. A sample of 429 households was systematically selected using a paper selection draw from three districts. This paper determines the association among food systems, food environments, food choices, and nutritional measurements of the respondents. A validated questionnaire was used. Most of the respondents responsible for food procurement were females (80.4%). There was a significant association (p < 0.001) between proximity to food stores and dietary diversity of the households. Staple foods such as bread, maize, rice, samp, and mealie rice were available in almost all surveyed households (95.6%). More than half of the households (59.8%) had home gardens in their yards. Almost half of the households (48.4%) had a low Dietary Diversity Score. The study further revealed that 46.0% of households were food secure. Over a third (36.2%) of the respondents were obese, and 32.5% were diabetic. The mean total blood cholesterol was 3.69 ± 0.74 mmol/L. A high percentage of both females (89.6%) and males (91.5%) had normal hemoglobin levels. Almost half of the respondents had normal systolic blood pressure levels (45.6%), and nearly a quarter had high diastolic levels (21.4%). The 25 coping strategies were applied during food shortage periods. Even though the food environments provided both obesogenic and protective foods, the consumption of unhealthy foods was high.