To assess and compare the favourability of healthy public policy options to promote healthy eating from the perspective of members of the general public and policy influencers in two Canadian provinces.

The Chronic Disease Prevention Survey, administered in 2016, required participants to rank their level of support for different evidence-based policy options to promote healthy eating at the population level. Pearson’s χ2 significance testing was used to compare support between groups for each policy option and results were interpreted using the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ intervention ladder framework.

Alberta and Québec, Canada.

Members of the general public (n 2400) and policy influencers (n 302) in Alberta and Québec.

General public and policy influencer survey respondents were more supportive of healthy eating policies if they were less intrusive on individual autonomy. However, in comparing levels of support between groups, we found policy influencers indicated significantly stronger support overall for healthy eating policy options. We also found that policy influencers in Québec tended to show more support for more restrictive policy options than their counterparts from Alberta.

These results suggest that additional knowledge brokering may be required to increase support for more intrusive yet impactful evidence-based policy interventions; and that the overall lower levels of support among members of the public may impede policy influencers from taking action on policies to promote healthy eating.

To investigate whether maternal/caregiver’s age, infant age (0–6 months) and discarding colostrum affects timely initiation of breast-feeding (TIBF) and exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) in Ethiopia.

A systematic search of PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, CINHAL, Web of Science and WHO Global Health Library electronic databases was done for all articles published in English from 2000 to January 2018. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted and graded the quality of studies using Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. A weighted inverse-variance random-effects model meta-analysis, cumulative meta-analysis and mixed-effects meta-regression analysis were done.

All observational studies conducted in Ethiopia.

Mothers of children aged less than 2 years.

A total of forty articles (fourteen studies on TIBF and twenty-six on EBF) were included. TIBF was associated with colostrum discarding (OR=0·38; 95 % CI 0·21, 0·68) but not with maternal/caregiver’s age (OR=0·98; 95 % CI 0·83, 1·15). In addition, colostrum discarding (OR=0·53; 95 % CI 0·36, 0·78) and infant age (OR=1·77; 95 % CI 1·38, 2·27) were significantly associated with EBF but not maternal/caregiver’s age (OR=1·09; 95 % CI 0·84, 1·41).

There was no association between maternal/caregiver’s age and breast-feeding practice (EBF and TIBF). Colostrum discarding was associated with both EBF and TIBF. This evidence could be helpful to counsel all mothers of reproductive age and who discard colostrum.

The Healthy Food and Drink Policy was implemented in Western Australian government schools in 2007. The aim of the present study was to assess the compliance of Western Australian school canteen menus with the policy a decade after its introduction.

The traffic-light system that underpins the Healthy Food and Drink Policy categorises foods and drinks into three groups: ‘green’ healthy items, ‘amber’ items that should be selected carefully and ‘red’ items that lack nutritional value. Canteen menus were collected online and each menu item was coded as a green, amber or red choice.

Western Australia.

Online canteen menus from 136 primary and secondary government schools.

The majority of audited school menus met policy requirements to include ≥60 % green items (84 %) and ≤40 % amber items (90 %), but only 52 % completely excluded red items. Overall, approximately half (48 %) of school canteen menus met all three traffic-light targets. On average, 70 % of the menu items were green, 28 % were amber and 2 % were red. Primary-school canteen menus were more likely than those from secondary schools to meet the requirements of the policy.

While the sampled Western Australian government school canteen menus were highly compliant with most of the requirements of the Healthy Food and Drink Policy, many offered red foods and/or drinks. Providing all schools with further education about identifying red items and offering additional services to secondary schools may help improve compliance rates.

To examine the impacts of a Solar Market Garden 1-year solar-powered drip irrigation (SMG) programme in Kalalé district of northern Benin on mothers’ nutritional status and micronutrient levels.

Using a quasi-experimental design, sixteen villages were assigned to four groups: (i) SMG women’s groups (WG); (ii) comparison WG; (iii) SMG non-WG (NWG); and (iv) comparison NWG. Difference-in-differences (DID) estimates were used to assess impacts on mothers’ food consumption, diversity, BMI, prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18·5 kg/m2) and anaemia, and deficiencies of iron (ID) and vitamin A (VAD).

Kalalé district, northern Benin.

Non-pregnant mothers aged 15–49 years (n 1737).

The SMG programme significantly increased mothers’ intake of vegetables (DID = 25·31 percentage points (pp); P < 0·01), dietary diversity (DID = 0·74; P < 0·01) and marginally increased their intake of flesh foods (DID = 10·14 pp; P < 0·1). Mean BMI was significantly increased among SMG WG compared with the other three groups (DID = 0·44 kg/m2; P < 0·05). The SMG programme also significantly decreased the prevalence of anaemia (DID = 12·86 pp; P < 0·01) but no impacts were found for the prevalence of underweight, ID and VAD.

Improving mothers’ dietary intake and anaemia prevalence supports the need to integrate gender-based agriculture to improve nutritional status. However, it may take more than a year, and additional nutrition and health programmes, to impact the prevalence of maternal underweight, ID and VAD.

To simulate effects of different scenarios of folic acid fortification of food on dietary folate equivalents (DFE) intake in an ethnically diverse sample of pregnant women.

A forty-four-item FFQ was used to evaluate dietary intake of the population. DFE intakes were estimated for different scenarios of food fortification with folic acid: (i) voluntary fortification; (ii) increased voluntary fortification; (iii) simulated bread mandatory fortification; and (iv) simulated grains-and-rice mandatory fortification.

Ethnically and socio-economically diverse cohort of pregnant women in New Zealand.

Pregnant women (n 5664) whose children were born in 2009–2010.

Participants identified their ethnicity as European (56·0 %), Asian (14·2 %), Māori (13·2 %), Pacific (12·8 %) or Others (3·8 %). Bread, breakfast cereals and yeast spread were main food sources of DFE in the two voluntary fortification scenarios. However, for Asian women, green leafy vegetables, bread and breakfast cereals were main contributors of DFE in these scenarios. In descending order, proportions of different ethnic groups in the lowest tertile of DFE intake for the four fortification scenarios were: Asian (39–60 %), Others (41–44 %), European (31–37 %), Pacific (23–26 %) and Māori (23–27 %). In comparisons within each ethnic group across scenarios of food fortification with folic acid, differences were observed only with DFE intake higher in the simulated grains-and-rice mandatory fortification v. other scenarios.

If grain and rice fortification with folic acid was mandatory in New Zealand, DFE intakes would be more evenly distributed among pregnant women of different ethnicities, potentially reducing ethnic group differences in risk of lower folate intakes.

The current review aimed to synthesise the literature on food literacy interventions among adolescents in secondary schools, the attitudes and perceptions of food literacy interventions in secondary schools, and their effects on dietary outcomes.

The systematic review searched five electronic databases from the earliest record to present.

The studies selected for the review were from sixteen countries: Australia (n 10), Canada (n 1), China (n 1), France (n 1), Greece (n 2), Iran (n 1), South Africa (n 1), South India (n 1), Kenya (n 1), Norway (n 2), Portugal (n 1), Denmark (n 1), Northern Ireland (n 1), USA (n 17), UK (n 1) and Sweden (n 2).

Adolescents aged 10–19 years.

Forty-four studies were eligible for inclusion. Adolescents with greater nutritional knowledge and food skills showed healthier dietary practices. Studies found a mixed association between food literacy and long-term healthy dietary behaviour. Two studies showed an improvement in adolescents’ cooking skills and food safety knowledge; six studies showed an improvement in overall food safety knowledge; six studies showed an improvement in overall food and nutritional knowledge; and two studies showed an improvement in short-term healthy dietary behaviour.

Food literacy interventions conducted in a secondary-school setting have demonstrated a positive impact on healthy food and nutritional knowledge. However, there appears to be limited evidence supporting food literacy interventions and long-term dietary behaviours in adolescents. More evidence-based research is required to adequately measure all domains of food literacy and more age-specific food literacy interventions.

To identify risk behaviour patterns for chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the Brazilian population and to investigate associated socio-economic and demographic factors.

Factor analysis was used to identify patterns considering the following risk behaviours: consumption of soft drinks/artificial juice, sweet foods, red meat with apparent fat, chicken skin; inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables; alcohol abuse; smoking; absence of physical activity during leisure time; and time spent watching television. The χ2 test was used to compare ratios. All analyses accounted for weighting factors and the study’s complex sampling design effect. The socio-economic and demographic variables evaluated were gender, age, schooling level and macro region of residence.

National Health Survey, a household survey with national representation, conducted in 2013 in Brazil.

Individuals (n 60202) aged 18 years or over.

Four risk behaviour patterns were identified: ‘Physical inactivity in leisure time and Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables’, ‘Saturated fat’, ‘Alcohol and Smoking’ and ‘Sedentary behaviour and Sugar’, explaining 52·01 % of the total variance. Overall, greater adherence to ‘Saturated fat’ and ‘Alcohol and Smoking’ patterns was observed among men and those with lower education level. The ‘Sedentary behaviour and Sugar’ and ‘Physical inactivity in leisure time and Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables’ patterns had greater adherence among younger individuals, and the first was associated with higher education whereas the second with less education among individuals residing in the North and Northeast regions.

Risk behaviour patterns for NCD were heterogeneous, reflecting the socio-economic and demographic differences in Brazil.

Dietary guidelines for food groups, types and portion sizes are common practice at the national level. As the relationship between nutrition and disease and the influence of cultural identity on individual behaviour become clearer, dietary guidelines necessarily evolve. Today, the Arabic-speaking region is experiencing a dual burden of undernutrition and increasing rates of overweight and obesity. Cultural congruency among dietary guidelines in the Arabic-speaking region and how they affect health education, health promotion, and nutrition programme planning or individual dietary behaviours have yet to be examined. The present work provides dietitians and public health professionals a narrative review of proposed food guidelines for the Arabic-speaking region.

The current review examined five established dietary guidelines within the Arabic-speaking region, namely the Arab Food Dome (Arab Gulf states), the Healthy Food Palm (Saudi Arabia), the Lebanese Dietary Guidelines, the Omani Guide to Healthy Eating and the Qatar Dietary Guidelines, and compared findings with the regional Eastern Mediterranean guidelines developed by the WHO. Individual guideline recommendations are tabled for comparative review.

The Arabic-speaking region.

Respective Arabic-speaking populations.

Health educators, community health practitioners and nutrition professionals can benefit from the cultural contexts associated with dietary guidelines in this region.

Community-level policy and individual behaviour change will benefit from cultural sensitivity; health communication and behaviour change programming require cultural competence provided in the present review; and programme evaluation efforts (prior to and after implementation) should include a detailed understanding of how culture shapes regional policy and individual nutrition behaviours.

To evaluate the secondary impact of a multilevel, child-focused, obesity intervention on food-related behaviours (acquisition, preparation, fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption) on youths’ primary caregivers.

B’More Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK) group-randomized controlled trial promoted access to healthy foods and food-related behaviours through wholesaler and small store strategies, peer mentor-led nutrition education aimed at youths, and social media and text messaging targeting their adult caregivers. Measures included caregivers’ (n 516) self-reported household food acquisition frequency for FV, snacks and grocery items over 30 d, and usual FV consumption in a sub-sample of 226 caregivers via the NCI FV Screener. Hierarchical models assessed average treatment effects (ATE). Treatment-on-the-treated-effect (TTE) analyses evaluated correlation between behavioural change and exposure to BHCK. Exposure scores at post-assessment were based on self-reported viewing of BHCK materials and participating in activities.

Thirty Baltimore City low-income neighbourhoods, USA.

Adult caregivers of youths aged 9–15 years.

Of caregivers, 90·89 % were female; mean age 39·31 (sd 9·31) years. Baseline mean (sd) intake (servings/d) was 1·30 (1·69) fruits and 1·35 (1·05) vegetables. In ATE, no significant intervention effect was found on caregivers’ food-related behaviours. In TTE, each point increase in BHCK exposure score (range: 0–6·9) increased caregivers’ daily fruit consumption by 0·2 servings (0·24 (se 0·11); 95 % CI 0·04, 0·47). Caregivers reporting greater social media exposure tripled their daily fruit intake (3·16 (se 0·92); 95 % CI 1·33, 4·99) and increased their frequency of unhealthy food purchasing v. baseline.

Child-focused community-based nutrition interventions may also benefit family members’ fruit intake. Child-focused interventions should involve adult caregivers and intervention effects on family members should be assessed. Future multilevel studies should consider using social media to improve reach and engage caregiver participants.

To estimate changes in taxed and untaxed beverages by volume of beverage purchased after a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax was introduced in 2014 in Mexico.

We used household purchase data from January 2012 to December 2015. We first classified the sample into four groups based on pre-tax purchases of beverages: (i) higher purchases of taxed beverages and lower purchases of untaxed beverages (HTLU-unhealthier); (ii) higher purchases of both types of beverages (HTHU); (iii) lower purchases of taxed and untaxed beverages (LTLU); and (iv) lower purchases of taxed beverages and higher purchases of untaxed beverages (LTHU-healthier). Next, we estimated differences in purchases after the tax was implemented for each group compared with a counterfactual based on pre-tax trends using a fixed-effects model.

Areas with more than 50 000 residents in Mexico.

Households (n 6089).

The HTLU-unhealthier and HTHU groups had the largest absolute and relative reductions in taxed beverages and increased their purchases of untaxed beverages. Households with lower purchases of untaxed beverages (HTLU-unhealthier and LTLU) had the largest absolute and relative increases in untaxed beverages. We also found that among households with higher purchases of taxed beverages, the group with lowest socio-economic status had the greatest reduction in purchases of taxed beverages.

Evidence associating the SSB tax with larger reductions among high purchasers of taxed beverages prior to the tax is relevant, as higher SSB purchasers have a greater risk of obesity, diabetes and other cardiometabolic outcomes.

Assess the effectiveness of iron-fortified flour on iron status.

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Mongolia, Morocco, Norway, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, UK, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia.

Fifty-two articles (ninety-four trials) were examined. The main target groups were women, children, and infants/toddlers. The effects of different types of iron-fortified flour (wheat, maize, rice, soy, and beans) on iron status were examined.

A random effects analysis of before–after studies showed that iron-fortified flour led to significant increases of mean haemoglobin level (3·360 g/l; 95 % CI: 0·980, 5·730) and mean serum ferritin level (4·518 µg/l; 95 % CI: 2·367, 6·669); significant decreases of anaemia (−6·7 %; 95 % CI: −9·8 %, −3·6 %) and iron deficiency (ID) (−10·4 %; 95 % CI: −14·3 %, −6·5 %); but had no significant effect on iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). A random effects analysis of controlled trials indicated that iron-fortified flour led to significant increases of mean haemoglobin level (2·630 g/l; 95 % CI: 1·310, 3·950) and mean ferritin level (8·544 µg/l; 95 % CI: 6·767, 10·320); and significant decreases of anaemia (−8·1 %; 95 % CI: −11·7 %, −4·4 %), ID (−12·0 %; 95 % CI: −18·9 %, −5·1 %), and IDA (−20·9 %; 95 % CI: −38·4 %, −3·4 %).

Flour fortification with iron is an effective public health strategy that improves iron status of populations worldwide.

To establish high intake of free sugars and its related disease burden as a significant public health challenge in Australia.

We discuss five key actions to reduce intake of free sugars tailored to the Australian context. These strategies are informed by reviewing the global scientific evidence on the effectiveness of a range of policy responses to reduce intake of free sugars at the population level.

Australia.

Australian population.

The five key actions to reduce population levels for intake of free sugars tailored to the Australian context include prioritising health in trade agreements and policy; introducing a fiscal policy supporting health and promoting food reformulation; regulating advertising and improving labelling; strengthening the current dietary guidelines; and encouraging healthy choices.

The adoption and implementation of the strategies discussed in the current commentary would aid in tackling the rising health burden from the intake of free sugars in Australia.

National public health organizations recommend that local governments improve access to healthy foods. One way is by offering incentives for food retailer development and operation, but little is known about incentive use nationwide. We aimed to describe the national prevalence of local government reported incentives to increase access to healthy food options in three major food retail settings (farmers’ markets, supermarkets, and convenience or corner (smaller) stores) overall and by municipality characteristics.

Cross-sectional study using data from the 2014 National Survey of Community-Based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living.

USA, nationally representative survey of 2029 municipalities.

Municipal officials (e.g. city/town managers or planners; n 1853).

Overall, 67 % of municipalities reported incentives to support farmers’ markets, 34 % reported incentives to encourage opening new supermarkets, and 14 % reported incentives to help existing convenience or corner stores. Municipality characteristics significantly associated with incentive use were larger population size (all settings), location in Midwest v. West (supermarkets, smaller stores), higher poverty level (farmers’ markets) and ≤50 % of the population non-Hispanic White (supermarkets, smaller stores). The most commonly reported individual incentives were permission of sales on city property for farmers’ markets, tax credits for supermarkets and linkage to revitalization projects for smaller stores.

Most municipalities offered food retail incentives for farmers’ markets, but fewer used incentives to open new supermarkets or assist existing smaller stores. National data can set benchmarks, provide relative comparisons for communities and identify areas for improvement.

The present review aimed to quantify the association of dietary intake and circulating concentration of major dietary antioxidants with risk of total CVD mortality.

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Systematic search in PubMed and Scopus, up to October 2017.

Prospective observational studies reporting risk estimates of CVD mortality across three or more categories of dietary intakes and/or circulating concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E and β-carotene were included. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted.

A total of fifteen prospective cohort studies and three prospective evaluations within interventional studies (320 548 participants and 16 974 cases) were analysed. The relative risks of CVD mortality for the highest v. the lowest category of antioxidant intakes were as follows: vitamin C, 0·79 (95 % CI 0·68, 0·89; I2=46 %, n 10); vitamin E, 0·91 (95 % CI 0·79, 1·03; I2=51 %, n 8); β-carotene, 0·89 (95 % CI 0·73, 1·05; I2=34 %, n 4). The relative risks for circulating concentrations were: vitamin C, 0·60 (95 % CI 0·42, 0·78; I2=65 %, n 6); α-tocopherol, 0·82 (95 % CI 0·76, 0·88; I2=0 %, n 5); β-carotene, 0·68 (95 % CI 0·52, 0·83; I2=50 %, n 6). Dose–response meta-analyses demonstrated that the circulating biomarkers of antioxidants were more strongly associated with risk of CVD mortality than dietary intakes.

The present meta-analysis demonstrates that higher vitamin C intake and higher circulating concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E and β-carotene are associated with a lower risk of CVD mortality.

The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of family-related determinants on the effects of the ToyBox-intervention on pre-school children’s consumption of healthy and unhealthy snacks.

The ToyBox-intervention was a kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention with a cluster-randomized design, aiming to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours to prevent obesity at pre-school age.

Kindergartens (n 309) in six European countries.

A total of 6290 pre-schoolers and their families participated in the ToyBox-intervention in 2012–2013 and data from 5212 pre-schoolers/families were included in the current analyses.

Even though the total effect of the ToyBox-intervention on healthy and unhealthy snacking was not significant, the ToyBox-intervention significantly improved parental rule setting on children’s unhealthy snack consumption (i.e. restriction of snacking while watching television and permission only at certain occasions) and parental consumption of unhealthy snacks, while it increased parental knowledge on snacking recommendations. Regarding healthy snacking, the ToyBox-intervention improved children’s attitude towards fruit and vegetables (F&V). All previously mentioned family-related determinants mediated the intervention effects on pre-schoolers’ consumption of healthy and unhealthy snacks. Almost all family-related determinants examined in the study were independently associated with pre-schoolers’ consumption of healthy and unhealthy snacks.

The intervention was effective in improving relevant family-related determinants. Interventions aiming to promote F&V consumption and limit the consumption of unhealthy snacks in pre-schoolers should target on these mediators, but also identify new family-, school- or peer-related determinants, to enhance their effectiveness.

Food pantries play a critical role in combating food insecurity. The objective of the present work was to systematically review and synthesize scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of food pantry-based interventions in the USA.

Keyword/reference search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library and CINAHL for peer-reviewed articles published until May 2018 that met the following criteria. Setting: food pantry and/or food bank in the USA; study design: randomized controlled trial (RCT) or pre–post study; outcomes: diet-related outcomes (e.g. nutrition knowledge, food choice, food security, diet quality); study subjects: food pantry/bank clients.

Fourteen articles evaluating twelve distinct interventions identified from the keyword/reference search met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Five were RCT and the remaining seven were pre–post studies. All studies found that food pantry-based interventions were effective in improving participants’ diet-related outcomes. In particular, the nutrition education interventions and the client-choice intervention enhanced participants’ nutrition knowledge, cooking skills, food security status and fresh produce intake. The food display intervention helped pantry clients select healthier food items. The diabetes management intervention reduced participants’ glycaemic level.

Food pantry-based interventions were found to be effective in improving participants’ diet-related outcomes. Interventions were modest in scale and usually short in follow-up duration. Future studies are warranted to address the challenges of conducting interventions in food pantries, such as shortage in personnel and resources, to ensure intervention sustainability and long-term effectiveness.

To model dietary changes required to shift the UK population to diets that meet dietary recommendations for health, have lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and are affordable for different income groups.

Linear programming was used to create diets that meet dietary requirements for health and reduced GHGE (57 and 80 % targets) by income quintile, taking account of food budgets and foods currently purchased, thereby keeping dietary change to a minimum.

Nutrient composition, GHGE and price data were mapped to 101 food groups in household food purchase data (UK Living Cost and Food Survey (2013), 5144 households).

Current diets of all income quintiles had similar total GHGE, but the source of GHGE differed by types of meat and amount of fruit and vegetables. It was possible to create diets with a 57 % reduction in GHGE that met dietary and cost restraints in all income groups. In the optimised diets, the food sources of GHGE differed by income group due to the cost and keeping the level of deviation from current diets to a minimum. Broadly, the changes needed were similar across all groups; reducing animal-based products and increasing plant-based foods but varied by specific foods.

Healthy and lower-GHGE diets could be created in all income quintiles but tailoring changes to income groups to minimise deviation may make dietary changes more achievable. Specific attention must be given to make interventions and policies appropriate for all income groups.