A Global Review of Food-Based Dietary Guidelines.

The objective of this review is to provide a concise, descriptive global review of current food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG), and to assess similarities and differences in key elements of a healthy diet articulated across countries. Information was sourced from the FBDG repository of the FAO, which catalogs FBDG for all countries where they are available, including a description of the food guide (the graphic representation of the dietary guidelines), a set of key messages, and downloadable documents provided by the countries. FBDG are currently available for 90 countries globally: 7 in Africa, 17 in Asia and the Pacific, 33 in Europe, 27 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4 in the Near East, and 2 in North America.

Linking agriculture and nutrition education to improve infant and young child feeding: Lessons for future programmes.

Agriculture and food systems play a central role in nutrition by supplying nutritious, healthy and affordable foods. When integrated with nutrition education for behaviour change, agricultural interventions that supply diverse affordable foods from all food groups have great scope for improving young child and family diets. In 2014, process reviews were conducted in Cambodia and Malawi of food security projects that provided agricultural support and community-based nutrition education on improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF).

A child feeding index is superior to WHO IYCF indicators in explaining length-for-age Z-scores of young children in rural Cambodia.

Background: Adequate young child feeding practices are influenced by a multitude of factors which affect growth and development. A combination of indicators is needed to explain the role of complementary feeding practices in growth retardation.

Methods: A cross-sectional nutrition baseline survey was conducted in rural Cambodia in September 2012.

Is the school food environment conducive to healthy eating in poorly resourced South African schools?

Objective: To assess the school food environment in terms of breakfast consumption, school meals, learners' lunch box, school vending and classroom activities related to nutrition.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Ninety purposively selected poorly resourced schools in South Africa.

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among schoolchildren: efforts in middle-income countries.

Background: To reverse the trend of rising child obesity rates in many middle-income countries, recommendations include increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. Schools can positively impact children's eating behavior, and multicomponent interventions that include the curriculum, school food environments, and parental involvement are most effective.

Objective: To find out how fruits and vegetables feature in the dietary guidelines provided to schools, what specific schemes are available for providing these foods, the extent to which nutrition education is included in the curriculum, and how vegetables and fruits are procured in primary schools.

Developing a nutrition and health education program for primary schools in Zambia.

School-based health and nutrition interventions in developing countries aim at improving children's nutrition and learning ability. In addition to the food and health inputs, children need access to education that is relevant to their lives, of good quality, and effective in its approach. Based on evidence from the Zambia Nutrition Education in Basic Schools (NEBS) project, this article examines whether and to what extent school-based health and nutrition education can contribute directly to improving the health and nutrition behaviors of school children.