Publications by authors named "Backholer K"

Addressing health inequities requires both national and local-level action. In the case of COVID-19, locally-led place-based programs were instrumental in addressing vaccination inequities that resulted from implementation gaps in national and state-level universal COVID-19 vaccination programs. To prepare for future pandemics, understanding which local strategies are effective and the conditions that enable their effectiveness is crucial.

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Objective: To understand the characteristics of food environments in the Pacific region, and the broader economic, policy, and sociocultural surroundings that influence food choices and interventions to improve food environments for Pacific communities.

Design: Systematic searches were conducted for articles related to food environments or factors influencing food choices from 1993-2024 in five academic databases, Google, Google Scholar, and relevant organizations' websites. Studies were included if they meet the eligibility criteria.

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Community-based interventions (CBIs) can be effective and feasible for the prevention of childhood obesity. The aim of this umbrella review is to determine if systematic reviews report sufficient information to guide replication or adaptation of CBIs to a variety of contexts and aid in further development of childhood obesity prevention CBIs. Six databases were searched for systematic reviews including obesity prevention CBIs involving 0-18 year olds and reporting weight-related outcomes.

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Context: The price and affordability of food are priorities for public health and health equity; however, Australia lacks a consistent method to evaluate healthy versus unhealthy diets, creating a gap in routine food price reporting.

Objective: This review aimed to identify and summarize recent methods used to assess and monitor the price and/or affordability of food and beverages in Australia using a health lens.

Data Sources: Four academic databases (MEDLINE Complete, Global Health, CINAHL Complete, and Business Source Complete) were searched in English from 2016 to 2022.

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Background: Local governments have a critical role to play in addressing health inequities. Health equity impact assessments are recommended to help governments apply an equity lens to the development and implementation of policies and programs. Despite evidence of equity-positive benefits of such tools, adoption remains limited, prompting calls for evaluations to assess their impact and identify factors that will promote uptake across various contexts.

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Breastfeeding rates in Vietnam, and globally, remain suboptimal. A major contributor to this is the aggressive marketing of commercial milk formulas (CMF), mainly through online media. The Vietnamese Government has implemented legal measures to limit CMF marketing, but these have been difficult to enforce, because of complex online environments.

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Unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing (UFM) adversely impacts children's selection and intake of foods and beverages, undermining parents' efforts to promote healthy eating. Parents' support for restrictions on children's exposure to food marketing can catalyse government action, yet research describing parent concerns is limited for media other than television. We examined parents' perceptions of UFM and their views on potential policies to address UFM in supermarkets and on digital devices - two settings where children are highly exposed to UFM and where little recent research exists.

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Aim: Online food delivery services (OFDS) are popular for purchasing meals prepared outside home, increasing access to energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods. This adversely impacts dietary choices and health outcomes. Our study examined trends in OFDS use in Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) from 2018 to 2021.

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Objective: To determine the extent and nature of news media coverage generated from press releases made by top-selling quick-service restaurants in Australia.

Methods: We conducted a content analysis of press releases made between July 2021 and June 2022 by the five largest quick-service restaurant brands in Australia by brand share, including coding their main subject. We then conducted a content analysis of news media coverage related to the press releases, including coding its slant towards the brand.

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Objective: To examine the strategies employed by opponents of the Queensland Government's policy to restrict unhealthy food and alcohol advertising on publicly owned assets and identify which of the opposing arguments appeared to influence the policy outcomes.

Methods: Retrospective qualitative policy analysis case study informed by the Policy Dystopia Model of corporate political activity. We used qualitative content analysis to examine data from stakeholder submissions to the 'Advertising content on Queensland Government advertising spaces' policies (v1 and 2), and Minister for Health's diaries.

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Objective: We aimed to understand what influences parents' purchasing behaviours when shopping for groceries online and potential ways to improve the healthiness of online grocery platforms.

Design: We conducted semi-structured interviews, guided by the Marketing Mix framework. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse data.

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Background: The commercial determinants of health is a rapidly expanding field of research; however Indigenous perspectives remain notably underrepresented. For Indigenous peoples the intersection of globalisation, colonialism and capitalism may amplify commercially-driven health inequities. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of Aboriginal leaders regarding the influence of commercial activities on Aboriginal health and wellbeing in Victoria, Australia.

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Food and nonalcoholic beverage marketing is implicated in poor diet and obesity in children. The rapid growth and proliferation of digital marketing has resulted in dramatic changes to advertising practices and children's exposure. The constantly evolving and data-driven nature of digital food marketing presents substantial challenges for researchers seeking to quantify the impact on children and for policymakers tasked with designing and implementing restrictive policies.

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The regulatory Indian environment for advertising high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) foods and non-alcoholic beverages, on various media was reviewed. Identified national-level policies were categorised as mandatory or self-regulatory based on legal content. For each mandatory regulation, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was undertaken to determine how existing policies could be strengthened to safeguard children from unhealthy food advertisements.

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Objective: This systematic review aimed to assess the effect of life course body mass index (BMI) trajectories (childhood to adulthood) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and outcomes.

Methods: Prospective or retrospective cohort studies were identified that assessed the association of BMI trajectories with CVD risks and outcomes from databases published in English. The pooled effect sizes were estimated using a random-effects model.

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Background: Childhood obesity prevention initiatives are complex interventions that aim to improve children's obesity-related behaviors and provide health promoting environments. These interventions often impact individuals, communities, and outcomes not primarily targeted by the intervention or policy. To accurately capture the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention interventions, an understanding of the broader impacts (or spillover effects) is required.

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Introduction: The digital food retail environment (defined in this study as a digital platform, app or website where food can be purchased by individuals for personal consumption) is an emerging component of the wider food system. We aimed to systematically search and review the literature to understand the potential influence of the digital food retail environment on population diets and health.

Methods: Four databases (across health, business, and marketing) and grey literature were searched using terms relating to "food and beverages," "digital," and "purchasing.

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Foods high in fat, sugar or salt are important contributors to the rising burden of non-communicable diseases globally and in India. Health taxes (HTs) have been used by over 70 countries as an effective tool for reducing consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). However, the potential impacts of HTs on consumption and on revenues have not been estimated in India.

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Information on malnutrition for school-age children and adolescents (5-19 years) in South Asia is fragmented and inconsistent, which limits the prioritization of nutrition policies, programmes and research for this age group. This scoping review aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the burden of malnutrition for children and adolescents aged 5-19 years in South Asia, and on interventions to improve their nutritional status. Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Medline and Google Scholar were systematically searched for articles published between January 2016 and November 2022.

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Bold and comprehensive action is needed to prevent diet-related diseases in rural areas, which includes improving food environments to enable healthier dietary practices. Rural health services are integral to the health of rural populations, yet their role in community disease prevention is not swell understood. This study sought to understand health service, local government, and food outlet stakeholders' perspectives on (1) the drivers of unhealthy retail environments in a rural setting; (2) the role of rural health services in supporting changes in local food environments; and to (3) identify characteristics of potential interventions.

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This study aimed to examine the extent and nature of Australian news media coverage of commercial industry activities that explicitly speak to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts. We undertook content and framing analysis of Australian newspaper and online media articles published between January 2018 and March 2022 that included terms related to 'Indigenous', 'commercial' and 'health'. Analysis focused on the nature of coverage, framing of responsibility, patterns over time and stakeholder representation.

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Objective: To identify and quantify child- and caregiver-appeal on front-of-pack marketing on infant and toddler foods in the Australian food supply.

Methods: Content analysis of the presence and type of front-of-pack marketing techniques displayed on the front-of-pack of infant and toddler foods (for children aged up to 36 months) available in Australia's two major supermarkets' online stores.

Results: Infant and toddler foods are promoted by up to 15 unique marketing techniques on the front-of-pack with an average of eight unique features per pack.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Philippine government implemented a tax on sweetened beverages in 2018 to combat rising obesity rates, but the final tax design was influenced by the beverage industry, making it less effective than initially proposed.
  • A study used dietary and pricing data to estimate the health and economic effects of the proposed versus the implemented tax, finding that the implemented tax resulted in significantly lower reductions in beverage consumption, body mass index, health-adjusted life years, healthcare savings, and tax revenue.
  • Although both tax versions aim to improve public health and save costs, the implemented tax will likely provide fewer benefits compared to the originally proposed tax due to industry influence on policy.
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