Frequency of Meals Prepared Away from Home and Nutrient Intakes among US Adolescents (NHANES 2011-2018)

Meal kit subscription services and opportunities to improve family vegetable consumption

Popular commercial meal kit subscription services (MKSSs) may support families to overcome barriers to cooking and eating at home, and facilitate improved vegetable consumption. The global meal kit market has expanded rapidly creating a gap in our understanding of the health-promoting potential of MKSSs. This paper describes the contemporary MKSS market in Australia and provides a vegetable-specific content analysis of a sample of recipes. A 1-week subscription was purchased for all Australian-based MKSSs (n = 9) and websites were systematically reviewed to document key characteristics and recipe features. Vegetable content of all available recipes within a 1-week period were analysed. Our findings highlight the rapid expansion and evolution of MKSS market offerings over the past decade and their potential to support family vegetable consumption. Across all analysed recipes (n = 179), MKSSs provided a median of 2.5 vegetable serves per person (range 0.7-7.5 serves) and a median of 3 different types of vegetables from 2 vegetable subgroups (i.e. dark green, red and orange, starchy, legumes and all other vegetables). This suggests that MKSSs may support family vegetable consumption if families select recipes with a greater number and variety of vegetables. However, an opportunity remains for MKSSs to improve both vegetable quantity and variety to positively influence population health. Further research is required to describe how families use meal kits promoting a greater understanding of their potential to improve family nutrition.

Mapping the behaviour change potential of meal kits to positively influence parental food literacy

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the theoretical potential of meal kit subscription services in Australia to promote parental food literacy using the retrospective application of behaviour change frameworks.

DESIGN

A one-week subscription was purchased for all Australian-based meal kit subscription services (n 9) to access content and features available to subscribers. Behaviour change techniques (BCTs) identified in the subscription and meal planning features, meal kit delivery (i.e. ingredients and recipes) and website were coded using the behaviour change technique taxonomy (BCTTv1) and associated behaviour change frameworks. Identified BCTs were mapped to the theoretical domains framework to identify potential mechanisms of action for influencing parental food literacy development.

SETTING

Australia.

RESULTS

Thirty-five BCTs were identified across the nine meal kit services reviewed, ranging from nineteen to twenty-nine BCTs per company. Sixteen BCTs were common to all meal kits services, from the hierarchical clusters of 'goals and planning', 'shaping knowledge', 'social support', 'natural consequences', 'comparison of behaviour', 'repetitions and substitution', 'associations', 'reward and threat', 'antecedents' and 'regulation'. Across the meal kit services, the most frequently identified mechanisms of action were motivation (n 27) and capability (n 19).

CONCLUSION

These findings support the applicability of behaviour change frameworks to commercial meal kit subscription services and provide a theory-informed process for identifying BCTs that may be relevant for promoting parental food literacy within this context. Further research is required to explore how families engage with meal kit subscription services to determine the exposure and delivery of identified BCT content and to evaluate the potential influence on food literacy development.

Dietary intake and occupational status among female youths of Thai Nguyen, Vietnam

Adolescence is a sensitive transition time that affects rights, roles, and responsibilities in food choice, yet limited evidence exists on dietary intakes during this critical period. This study assessed the food consumption pattern and the adequacy of energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intakes among female youth belonging to three occupational groups in Vietnam. Dietary intakes were measured for 1001 participants aged 16-22 years using INDDEX24's 24-h recall method. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine differences in diet outcomes among the three occupational groups. Dietary diversity was similar across groups but workers, compared to high school and college students, consumed less baked/grain-based sweets and fast foods, and more soft drinks, other sweets, and processed meat. Two-thirds of the sample showed energy intake lower than the estimated energy requirement, while a substantial percentage had insufficient or excessive intake of carbohydrate and fat. The mean probability of adequacy of nutrient intakes was low (0.33) and not different across all three occupational groups except for folate, which favored workers. Our study provides novel evidence supporting the development and implementation of interventions to achieve national targets, with emphasis on female youths who undergo special transitions in education, occupation, and lifestyle.

Adolescent Independent Eating Occasions, Dietary Intake, and Parenting Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Parents and Adolescents From Households With Low Income

OBJECTIVE

Examine how experiencing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influenced adolescent independent eating occasions (iEOs) and iEO-related parenting practices from the perspective of parents and adolescents METHODS: Cross-sectional remote interviews were conducted for this basic qualitative research study. Participants were a purposive sample of multiracial/ethnic adolescents aged 11-14 years and their parents from households with low income (n = 12 dyads) representing 9 US states. The main outcome measures were iEOs and iEO-related parenting practices. Data were analyzed using directed content analysis.

RESULTS

About half of the parents indicated that their adolescents had more iEOs during the COVID-19 pandemic and that there were changes in the types of foods consumed during iEOs. In contrast, most adolescents indicated their iEOs had not changed remarkably in frequency or foods consumed since the onset of the pandemic. Most parents reported no change in how they taught their adolescents about healthy food, the rules for foods/beverages permitted during iEOs, or how they monitored what their adolescents ate during iEOs; adolescent reports were in general agreement. Most parents indicated that family members were home together more often during the pandemic, which increased cooking frequency.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' iEOs varied, and the parenting practices used to influence iEOs remained stable during the pandemic. Families experienced having more time together and cooking at home more often.

Global Scientific Trends on Healthy Eating from 2002 to 2021: A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis

Diet has been recognized as a vital risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), climate changes, and increasing population, which has been reflected by a rapidly growing body of the literature related to healthy eating. To reveal a panorama of the topics related to healthy eating, this study aimed to characterize and visualize the knowledge structure, hotspots, and trends in this field over the past two decades through bibliometric analyses. Publications related to healthy eating between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2021 were retrieved and extracted from the Web of Science database. The characteristics of articles including publication years, journals, authors, institutions, countries/regions, references, and keywords were assessed. The analyses on co-authorship, co-occurrence, and co-citation were performed and network visualization maps were constructed by VOSviewer. Major subdomains identified by bibliometrics were further discussed and analyzed. A total of 12,442 articles on healthy eating were identified. Over the past two decades, the annual global publications increased from 71 to 1764, showing a nearly 25-fold growth. The journal Nutrients published the most articles and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition possessed the highest citations. The United States, Harvard University, and Hu, Frank B. were identified as the most productive and influential country, institution, and author, respectively. The co-occurrence cluster analysis of the top 100 keywords formed four clusters: (1) the food insecurity environment for youths highlighting the necessity and significance of implementing healthy eating in early life; (2) sustainable advantages of the Mediterranean diet; (3) the importance of an overall healthy lifestyle optimization leveraged by eHealth; (4) the challenges during the course of healthy eating against obesity, which are prominent in reflecting the knowledge structure, hotspots, and trends. Moreover, COVID-19, orthorexia nervosa, sustainability, microbiota, food insecurity, and e-health are identified keywords that represented the latest high-frequency keywords and indicated the emerging frontiers of healthy eating. This study indicates that the number of publications on healthy eating will increase in the future and that healthy dietary patterns and clinical applications of healthy eating will be the next hotspots in this research field.

Shiftwork Is Associated with Higher Food Insecurity in U.S. Workers: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study (NHANES)

The number of shift workers has increased substantially within the last decades to keep pace with the increasingly complex societal need for 24 h services. Shift work has been associated with unhealthy lifestyles and a lower overall diet quality. Little is known, however, with regard to food security and consumer behavior in shift workers. The present study sought to address this gap in the literature, exploring a sample of n = 4418 day workers and n = 1065 shift workers in the United States. Using cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES, 2007−2010), we found that shiftwork was associated with a lower amount of money spent on eating out and higher food insecurity issues. Compared to day workers, a higher proportion of shift workers reported receipt of food stamps (12.5% vs. 23.4%, p < 0.001) and worried about running out of food (3.95% vs. 8.05%, p < 0.001). These associations remained significant after adjustment for confounders when using multivariate logistic regression. The number of not-home-prepared meals did not differ between both groups. In light of the population health disparities and adverse health outcomes associated with food insecurity, novel strategies are urgently warranted to improve the situation of shift workers.