Evaluation of an experiment to increase availability of healthier snack foods in vending machines situated within English sports facilities.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of increased availability of healthier options on purchasing of different types of vending snack products sold in English leisure (sports) centres.

Design: An evaluation of an intervention using pre-post methods and interrupted time series analysis. Products within the vending machines were altered over three phases to increase the availability of healthier options, using agreed nutrition criteria - Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF) for England - as a guide, as well as product availability.

Development and validation of a quality assessment tool to assess online nutrition information.

Setting: The internet is an important source of health information but is unregulated. Little research has focused on the assessment of digital information related to nutrition.

Aim: To develop and validate a novel online quality assessment tool (OQAT) for quality assessment of online nutrition information.

Promoting and disseminating consistent and effective nutrition messages: challenges and opportunities.

Nutrition messages are a central part of policy making as well as communication via product information, advertising, healthcare advice and lifestyle campaigns. However, with amplified information (and misinformation) from a growing number of sources, inconsistent and conflicting food landscapes, and limited engagement from the public, nutrition messaging tensions have become more accentuated than previously. In this review, we focus on the challenges facing those wishing to effect dietary change through communication; and identify opportunities and future research questions Beginning with a new working definition and taxonomy for the term ‘nutrition message’, we consider the evolution of public health nutrition messages from the past century and discuss which types of messages may be more effective.

The effectiveness of a social media intervention for reducing portion sizes in young adults and adolescents.

Objective: Adolescents and young adults select larger portions of energy-dense food than recommended. The majority of young people have a social media profile, and peer influence on social media may moderate the size of portions selected.

Methods: Two pilot interventions examined whether exposure to images of peers' portions of high-energy-dense (HED) snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on social media (Instagram) would influence reported desired portions selected on a survey.

The cross-sectional relationships between consumption of takeaway food, eating meals outside the home and diet quality in British adolescents.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the association of frequency of consuming takeaway meals and meals out with diet quality of UK adolescents.

Design: The Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A) tool was used to assess diet quality, where adolescents' food intake was based on 4d diary records obtained from the UK cross-sectional National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme Years 1-6. Models included confounders.

Understanding the science of portion control and the art of downsizing.

Offering large portions of high-energy-dense (HED) foods increases overall intake in children and adults. This is known as the portion size effect (PSE). It is robust, reliable and enduring.

Glycemic index, glycemic load, and blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

High blood pressure is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to determine the associations of dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in healthy individuals. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was carried out.

A cross-sectional assessment of food- and nutrient-based standards applied to British schoolchildren's packed lunches.

Objective: In England, standards for school meals included both foods and nutrients until 2015. School policies for packed lunches are generally food based; research is needed to determine whether these are adequate or whether a small number of nutrients would potentially improve their quality.

Design: From dietary data obtained using a weighed dietary assessment tool, a diet quality score (DQS) for packed lunches was calculated using the number of standards met out of twenty-one (eight foods and thirteen nutrients).

Agreement between an online dietary assessment tool (myfood24) and an interviewer-administered 24-h dietary recall in British adolescents aged 11-18 years.

myfood24 Is an online 24-h dietary assessment tool developed for use among British adolescents and adults. Limited information is available regarding the validity of using new technology in assessing nutritional intake among adolescents. Thus, a relative validation of myfood24 against a face-to-face interviewer-administered 24-h multiple-pass recall (MPR) was conducted among seventy-five British adolescents aged 11-18 years.

School-Based Interventions to Reduce Obesity Risk in Children in High- and Middle-Income Countries.

School-based interventions are relatively new and were first introduced in the United States in the 1990s. Early programs were mainly education based with many of the findings now embedded in school policy in the form of a healthy eating curriculum. More recent school programs have taken education outside the classroom and attempted to engage parents as well as teachers.

Development of a UK Online 24-h Dietary Assessment Tool: myfood24.

Assessment of diet in large epidemiological studies can be costly and time consuming. An automated dietary assessment system could potentially reduce researcher burden by automatically coding food records. myfood24 (Measure Your Food on One Day) an online 24-h dietary assessment tool (with the flexibility to be used for multiple 24 h-dietary recalls or as a food diary), has been developed for use in the UK population.

Evaluation of the impact of school gardening interventions on children's knowledge of and attitudes towards fruit and vegetables. A cluster randomised controlled trial.

Involvement of children in gardening has the potential to increase liking of fruit and vegetables (FV) and consequently, intake, but research results are mixed. School gardening led by external specialists such as the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) could have more impact than teacher-led gardening on children's knowledge of, and attitudes towards, FV. Data from a cluster randomised controlled trial were used to compare a RHS-led school gardening intervention with a teacher-led gardening intervention amongst 7-10 year olds in 21 London schools.

Impact of school lunch type on nutritional quality of English children's diets.

Objective: Nutrient and food standards exist for school lunches in English primary schools although packed lunches brought from home are not regulated. The aim of the present study was to determine nutritional and dietary differences by lunch type.

Design: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2007 assessing diet using the Child and Diet Evaluation Tool (CADET), a validated 24 h estimated food diary.

Effects of dietary fibre type on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of healthy individuals.

Objective: To determine the effect of different types of dietary fibre on SBP and DBP.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials using random-effects models. Eligibility criteria for studies included randomized controlled trials of at least 6 weeks duration, testing a fibre isolate or fibre-rich diet against a control or placebo published between 1 January 1990 and 1 December 2013.

Evaluation of the impact of a school gardening intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Current academic literature suggests that school gardening programmes can provide an interactive environment with the potential to change children's fruit and vegetable intake. This is the first cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate whether a school gardening programme can have an effect on children's fruit and vegetable intake.

Methods: The trial included children from 23 schools; these schools were randomised into two groups, one to receive the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)-led intervention and the other to receive the less involved Teacher-led intervention.

Is there an association between food portion size and BMI among British adolescents?

The prevalence of obesity has increased simultaneously with the increase in the consumption of large food portion sizes (FPS). Studies investigating this association among adolescents are limited; fewer have addressed energy-dense foods as a potential risk factor. In the present study, the association between the portion size of the most energy-dense foods and BMI was investigated.

Dietary fibre intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To investigate dietary fibre intake and any potential dose-response association with coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease.

Design: Systematic review of available literature and dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies using random effects models.

Data Sources: The Cochrane Library, Medline, Medline in-process, Embase, CAB Abstracts, ISI Web of Science, BIOSIS, and hand searching.

Glycemic index, glycemic load, carbohydrates, and type 2 diabetes: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies.

Objective: Diets with high glycemic index (GI), with high glycemic load (GL), or high in all carbohydrates may predispose to higher blood glucose and insulin concentrations, glucose intolerance, and risk of type 2 diabetes. We aimed to conduct a systematic literature review and dose-response meta-analysis of evidence from prospective cohorts.

Research Design And Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, MEDLINE in-process, Embase, CAB Abstracts, ISI Web of Science, and BIOSIS for prospective studies of GI, GL, and total carbohydrates in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes up to 17 July 2012.

Dietary fiber intake and risk of first stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background And Purpose: Fiber intake is associated with reduced stroke risk in prospective studies, but no meta-analysis has been published to date.

Methods: Multiple electronic databases were searched for healthy participant studies reporting fiber intake and incidence of first hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, published between January 1990 and May 2012.

Results: Eight cohort studies from the United States, northern Europe, Australia, and Japan met inclusion criteria.

Family meals can help children reach their 5 a day: a cross-sectional survey of children's dietary intake from London primary schools.

Background: This study aims to explore how the home food environment and parental attitudes and values affect children's fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake.

Methods: The sample consists of 2383 children with a mean age of 8.3 years (95% CI 8.

A cluster-randomised controlled trial of a school-based fruit and vegetable intervention: Project Tomato.

Objective: The present study aimed to determine whether a multi-component school-based intervention can maintain children's fruit and vegetable intake post eligibility for free school fruit and vegetables.

Design: A random sample of fifty-four English primary schools was randomised to receive the 10-month intervention Project Tomato, a multi-component theory-based intervention, or the control. Each group consisted of twenty-seven schools.