The case for investment in nutritional interventions to prevent and reduce childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity in Peru: a modelling study.

Background: Between 2006 and 2016 the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 years in Peru increased from 22.7 to 27.0%.

Prevention of childhood overweight and obesity in Mongolia, the Philippines and Vietnam: identifying priority actions.

Low- and middle-income countries are increasingly faced with a triple burden of malnutrition: endemic underweight, micronutrient deficiencies and rising prevalence of overweight. This study aimed to address existing knowledge gaps and to identify priority policy options in Mongolia, the Philippines and Vietnam. A landscape analysis approach was adopted using methods set out in a UNICEF global toolkit.

The development of a method for the global health community to assess the proportion of food and beverage companies' sales that are derived from unhealthy foods.

Context: Corporate engagement with food and beverage companies who produce food associated with health harms is a divisive topic in the global nutrition community, with high-profile cases of conflict of interest increasingly coming under scrutiny. There is a need for an agreed method to support health organizations in deciding whether and how to engage with large food and beverage manufacturers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to develop a method to quantify the proportion of sales from food and beverage companies that are derived from unhealthy foods to support organizations in determining which companies might be considered high-risk for engagement.

Investment case for the prevention and reduction of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity in Mexico.

Despite efforts to curb the rise in Mexico's child and adolescent overweight and obesity rates, prevalence in Mexico has grown by 120% since 1990 to 43.3% in 2022. This investment case identifies policies that will produce the largest returns for Mexico.

Estimating the health impacts of sugar-sweetened beverage tax for informing policy decisions about the obesity burden in Vietnam.

Background: Taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been adopted in more than 40 countries but remained under discussion in Vietnam. This study aimed to estimate the health impacts of different SSBs tax plans currently under discussion to provide an evidence base to inform decision-making about a SSBs tax policy in Vietnam.

Method & Findings: Five tax scenarios were modelled, representing three levels of price increase: 5%, 11% and 19-20%.

Children's exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages across four countries of WHO European Region.

Objective: To compare the frequency and healthfulness of foods being advertised to children and adolescents in four countries of WHO European region.

Design: Cross-sectional quantitative study, guided by an adapted version of the WHO protocol. All recorded food advertisements were categorised by categories and as either 'permitted' or 'not permitted' for advertising to children in accordance with WHO Regional Office for Europe Nutrient Profile Model.

Weight stigma among adolescents in three low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Overweight (OW) and obesity affect millions of adolescents worldwide. Evidence from high-income countries indicates widespread weight stigma that adversely affects young people's mental and physical health. However, evidence relating to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is sparse.

The European Food Regulatory Environment Index: a tool to monitor progress in implementing food environment policies.

Background: Evidence based health policy, such as that put forward in the European Food and Nutrition Action Plan 2015-2020 and the WHO Global Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, has a role in curbing the consumption of unhealthful foods and drink. We ask how countries are performing in the adoption of these policies and how the comprehensiveness of their food environment policies explains variations in consumption of unhealthful products across Europe.

Methods: In order to assess the state of policy adoption, we developed a composite indicator-the Food Regulatory Environment Index (FREI) for which we calculated unweighted and weighted formulations according to the strength of the evidence base.

What is a "high" prevalence of obesity? Two rapid reviews and a proposed set of thresholds for classifying prevalence levels.

Categories such as "low" and "high" have been used for several decades to describe the prevalence of stunting and wasting in populations of children aged under 5 years. They provide support for public health risk assessment and policy-making, including alerting health departments and aid agencies to national trends and local needs. In the light of the need for monitoring progress to meet globally agreed targets for overweight and obesity, the classification of their prevalence will be a valuable to aid in policy development, to target resources, and to promote public health interventions.

Rising to the challenge: Introducing protocols to monitor food marketing to children from the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

Unhealthy marketing has been unequivocally linked to children's food preferences, requests, purchases and eating behaviors and hence to childhood obesity. Regulating children's exposure to such marketing has been identified as a key challenge to which States must rise. Regulation mandates the need for monitoring and hence for credible data that are comparable between countries, regions and across time.

National Recommendations for Infant and Young Child Feeding in the World Health Organization European Region.

Objectives: Complementary feeding should provide a healthy diet with critical nutrients for growth and development. Information is limited on child and infant feeding recommendations within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region.

Methods: The WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) performed a survey of national recommendations on infant and young child nutrition aimed at national government departments of health and national paediatric experts.

High sugar content of European commercial baby foods and proposed updates to existing recommendations.

The aim was to determine whether commercial baby foods marketed within Europe (up to 36 months of age) have inappropriate formulation and high sugar content and to provide suggestions to update European regulations and recommendations as part of a nutrient profile model developed for this age group. The latter was produced following recommended World Health Organization (WHO) steps, including undertaking a rapid literature review. Packaging information from countries across the WHO European region was used to determine mean energy from total sugar by food category.

Sodium and potassium intakes in the Kazakhstan population estimated using 24-h urinary excretion: evidence for national action.

Purpose: There is strong scientific evidence for reducing sodium and increasing potassium intake to the recommended levels to lower blood pressure and cardiovascular risk, but consumption levels in Kazakhstan are unknown. This study sought to estimate mean sodium and potassium intake using 24-h urine samples and describe dietary knowledge and behavior among adults in Kazakhstan.

Methods: In two cross-sectional surveys, the same multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to randomly select participants aged 25-64 years from Almaty City in 2015 and Kyzylorda in 2016.

Assessing diet in European populations using national dietary surveys.

The WHO encourages countries to conduct national dietary surveys (NDS) to inform preventative policies targeting malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases. Previous reviews have found inadequate nutrient intakes and survey provision across Europe. This research is the first to provide an updated review of NDS provision within the whole WHO European Region, across the lifecourse, with reference to disadvantaged groups, obesity and nutrients of concern.

Sodium, Potassium and Iodine Intake, in A National Adult Population Sample of the Republic of Moldova.

In the Republic of Moldova, more than half of all deaths due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Excess salt (sodium) and inadequate potassium intakes are associated with high CVD. Moreover, salt iodisation is the preferred policy to prevent iodine deficiency and associated disorders.

Regional Overview on Maternal and Child Nutrition and Examples of Nutrition Governance and Policy Responses: Europe, Central Asia and Eastern Mediterranean Regions.

The Eastern Mediterranean Regions and Europe and Central Asia Regions are facing an epidemiological and nutrition transition, especially among vulnerable groups including mothers, children and adolescents. This has led to a double burden of malnutrition (DBM). Poor infant and young child feeding (IYCF), poor dietary diversity, excessive consumption of energy dense unhealthy foods, a growing obesogenic environment for children, including aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods for children, and reduced physical activity are among the main causes.

Street food in Dushanbe, Tajikistan: availability and nutritional value.

Street food is part of the culture in central Asia. Although nourishing food can be found, unhealthier options are becoming increasingly popular - a marker of nutrition transition. The nutritional composition of street food in urban settings is, however, unknown.

Overweight and Obesity in the Russian Population: Prevalence in Adults and Association with Socioeconomic Parameters and Cardiovascular Risk Factors.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and geographic distribution of overweight and obesity in Russian adults aged 25-64 years as well as the association between chronic risk factors and obesity.

Methods: Data were obtained from the survey "Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases and Its Risk Factors in Some Regions of the Russian Federation" (ESSE-RF). This is a large cross-sectional multicenter population-based study that included interviews and medical examination (anthropometry, blood pressure [BP] measurement, and laboratory analysis) applied in 2012-2014.

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling in the European region: identifying what works for governments and consumers.

Objective: The present commentary introduces a Health Evidence Network (HEN) report that synthesises evidence of front-of-pack food labelling (FOPL) policy development and implementation across the European Region.

Design: Countries were identified as having policies on interpretive FOPL from the WHO databases of Member State policies and online repositories of global food policies. For each identified country, evidence published from 1 January 1980 to 31 March 2018 was retrieved from peer-reviewed and grey literature.

Sodium and Potassium Intake, Knowledge Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Salt Consumption Amongst Adults in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Excess salt and inadequate potassium intakes are associated with high cardiovascular disease (CVD). In Montenegro, CVD is the leading cause of death and disability. There is no survey that has directly measured salt and potassium consumption in Montenegro.

Comparison of consumed portion sizes and on-pack serving sizes of UK energy dense foods.

Studies indicate a 'portion size effect' association between increased portion size and energy intake, but direct links with obesity remain unproven. UK portion size guidance is outdated and evidence suggests that on-pack serving-sizes have increased in some energy-dense foods. Serving-sizes are compared with consumed portion sizes in popular energy, fat and sugar-dense foods, and patterns explored.

Portion Size of Energy-Dense Foods among French and UK Adults by BMI Status.

Evidence links consumed food portion size (FPS) and excess weight via increased energy intake. Policies to regulate on-pack serving sizes may be needed; determining consumed FPS of popular energy-dense foods for normal weight and overweight or obese (OWOB) adults, as reported here, may provide evidence to assist this. Data were analysed from national cross-sectional surveys, the French Étude Individuelle Nationale des Consommations Alimentaires2 2005⁻2007 ( = 2117), and UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008⁻2014 ( = 3413).

Child and adolescent nutrient intakes from current national dietary surveys of European populations.

The WHO encourages national diet survey (NDS) implementation to obtain relevant data to inform policies addressing all forms of malnutrition, which remains a pressing issue throughout Europe. This paper provides an up-to-date review on energy, macro- and selected micronutrient intakes in children across WHO Europe using the latest available NDS intakes. It assesses these against WHO recommended nutrient intakes (RNI) to highlight vulnerable groups and areas of concern.