Background: School food standards are a legal requirement for state-funded schools in England and are designed to promote healthy eating in pupils. However, state-funded academies/free schools established between 2010 and 2014 are exempt from this legislation. To complement the school food standards, the government launched the School Food Plan in 2013, which outlines voluntary actions that schools can take to support healthy eating and increase school meal uptake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many countries have introduced school food standards to improve the dietary intakes of school-aged children. England has school food standards (SFS) legislation in place but little is known about how well secondary schools comply with this. We aimed to assess compliance with the SFS legislation in English secondary schools and explore the impact of the SFS on pupils' nutritional intake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe earlier in life that a child can begin mastering fundamental movement skills (FMS), the more positive their physical activity (PA) trajectories and health outcomes are. To achieve sufficient development in FMS, children must be guided with tuition and practice opportunities. Schools and educators provide an opportunity for interventions that improve health behaviours and outcomes for children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study cross-validated various cut-points to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviour in preschoolers, using hip- and wrist-worn accelerometers and both vertical axis and vector magnitude data. Secondly, we examined the influence of epoch length on time estimates of physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Sixty-four preschoolers (34 girls) wore two accelerometers, on their right hip and dominant wrist, during 1 hour of free play.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a lack of information available for physical education (PE) provision in the early years foundation stage (EYFS), prompting concern about what is currently delivered in schools and the values behind the approaches taken. Using semi-structured interviews, this study investigated educators' perspectives on the value of PE and physical activity (PA) for EYFS children across England in relation to opportunities for, barriers to, and benefits of PA and PE. This study collected important stakeholder views and can help shape the impact and implementation of fundamental movement skills (FMS) and PA interventions at the EYFS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly childhood is a key period for children to begin developing and practicing fundamental movement skills (FMS), while aiming to perform sufficient physical activity (PA). This study reviews the current evidence for the levels of achievement in FMS and PA measured using accelerometers among 4-5-year-old children and examines differences by gender. This review was conducted using the PRISMA framework.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: This study sought to calibrate triaxial accelerometery, worn on both wrists, waist and both ankles, during children's physical activity (PA), with particular attention to object control motor skills performed at a fast and slow cadence, and to cross-validate the accelerometer cut-points derived from the calibration using an independent dataset. (2) Methods: Twenty boys (10.1 ±1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To cross-validate previously calibrated Actigraph cut-points in children.
Methods: Twenty-eight children (50% boys) aged between 8 and 11 years of age (9.4 ± 1.
The present study examined the efficacy of accelerometers for the assessment of free play physical activity (PA) in pre-school-aged children with consideration of epoch length and wear location. Following ethics approval, parental informed consent, and child assent, 66 pre-schoolers aged 3-4 years (30 females and 36 males) wore an accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X; sampling at 100 Hz) on their non-dominant wrist and their right hip during 1 hour of free play. Concurrently, direct observation, using the OSRAC-P, was used to determine sedentary behavior (SB), light (LPA), or moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) intensity PA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current study examined the effect of acute caffeine ingestion on mean and peak power production during upper body Wingate test (WANT) performance, rating of perceived exertion, readiness to invest effort and cognitive performance. Using a double-blind design, 12 males undertook upper body WANTs, following ingestion of caffeine (5 mg*kg) or placebo. Pre-substance ingestion, 60 mins post substance ingestion and post exercise participants completed measures of readiness to invest physical and mental effort and cognitive performance.
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