Factors Correlated With Ultra-Processed Food (UPF) Intake in Preschool-Aged Children and Association With Weight.

Objective: Understand the correlates of ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and examine the association of UPF on body mass index in children aged 3-5 years.

Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of 3-5-year-olds/parent, followed 1-year between March 2014 and October 2016. Usual UPF intake from 2 3-day food records completed 1 year apart, a standardized nutrient database customized with child-specific foods, and a NOVA food classification system was used.

How Food Marketing on Instagram Shapes Adolescents' Food Preferences: Online Randomized Trial.

Background: Worldwide obesity rates have prompted 16 countries to enact policies to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing, but few policies address online advertising practices or protect adolescents from being targeted. Given adolescents spend so much time online, it is critical to understand how persuasive Instagram food advertisements (ads) are compared with traditional food ads. To strengthen online food marketing policies, more evidence is needed on whether social media ads are more persuasive than other types of ads in shaping adolescents' preferences.

Associations between advertisement-supported media exposure and dietary quality among preschool-age children.

Foods of low nutritional quality are heavily marketed to children, and exposure to food ads shapes children's preferences and intake towards advertised foods. Whether food ad exposure independently relates to an overall lower diet quality among children remains unclear. We examined the association between ad-supported media use, a proxy for food ad exposure, and diet quality using the baseline data (2014-2015) from 535 3-5-year-olds in a community-based cohort study.

Understanding the Extent of Adolescents' Willingness to Engage With Food and Beverage Companies' Instagram Accounts: Experimental Survey Study.

Background: Social media platforms have created a new advertising frontier, yet little is known about the extent to which this interactive form of advertising shapes adolescents' online relationships with unhealthy food brands.

Objective: We aimed to understand the extent to which adolescents' preferences for Instagram food ads are shaped by the presence of comments and varying numbers of "likes." We hypothesized that adolescents would show the highest preferences for ads with more "likes" and comments.

Fast food intake and excess weight gain over a 1-year period among preschool-age children.

Background: Fast food is cross-sectionally associated with having overweight and obesity in young children.

Objectives: To examine whether fast food intake independently contributes to the development of overweight and obesity among preschool-age children.

Methods: Prospective cohort of 3- to 5-year-old children (n = 541) followed for 1 year.

Influence of child-targeted fast food TV advertising exposure on fast food intake: A longitudinal study of preschool-age children.

Introduction: Fast food (FF) advertising is a potential risk factor for FF consumption among children, yet the impact of such advertising on children's FF intake has not been assessed in a longitudinal, naturalistic study. Whether parents' FF consumption mitigates advertising effects is also unknown.

Methods: One-year, longitudinal study among 624 preschool-age children, 3-5 years old, and one parent each recruited from New Hampshire, 2014-2015.

Exposure to Child-Directed TV Advertising and Preschoolers' Intake of Advertised Cereals.

Introduction: Child-directed TV advertising is believed to influence children's diets, yet prospective studies in naturalistic settings are absent. This study examined if child-directed TV advertisement exposure for ten brands of high-sugar breakfast cereals was associated with children's intake of those brands prospectively.

Methods: Observational study of 624 preschool-age children and their parents conducted in New Hampshire, 2014-2015.

Child-targeted fast-food television advertising exposure is linked with fast-food intake among pre-school children.

Objective: To determine whether exposure to child-targeted fast-food (FF) television (TV) advertising is associated with children's FF intake in a non-experimental setting.

Design: Cross-sectional survey conducted April-December 2013. Parents reported their pre-school child's TV viewing time, channels watched and past-week FF consumption.

Child-targeted TV advertising and preschoolers' consumption of high-sugar breakfast cereals.

Breakfast cereals represent the most highly advertised packaged food on child-targeted television, and most ads are for cereals high in sugar. This study examined whether children's TV exposure to child-targeted, high-sugar breakfast cereal (SBC) ads was associated with their consumption of those SBC brands. Parents of 3- to 5-year-old children were recruited from pediatric and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in Southern New Hampshire, USA, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April-December 2013.

A toy story: Association between young children's knowledge of fast food toy premiums and their fast food consumption.

Fast food restaurants spend millions of dollars annually on child-targeted marketing, a substantial portion of which is allocated to toy premiums for kids' meals. The objectives of this study were to describe fast food toy premiums, and examine whether young children's knowledge of fast food toy premiums was associated with their fast food consumption. Parents of 3- to 5-year old children were recruited from pediatric and WIC clinics in Southern New Hampshire, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April 2013-March 2014.

School food reduces household income disparities in adolescents' frequency of fruit and vegetable intake.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine whether school food attenuates household income-related disparities in adolescents' frequency of fruit and vegetable intake (FVI).

Method: Telephone surveys were conducted between 2007 and 2008 with adolescent-parent dyads from Northern New England; participants were randomly assigned to be surveyed at different times throughout the year. The main analysis comprised 1542 adolescents who typically obtained breakfast/lunch at school at least once/week.

Two-method measurement for adolescent obesity epidemiology: reducing the bias in self-report of height and weight.

Background: Despite validation studies demonstrating substantial bias, epidemiologic studies typically use self-reported height and weight as primary measures of body mass index because of feasibility and resource limitations.

Purpose: To demonstrate a method for calculating accurate and precise estimates that use body mass index when objectively measuring height and weight in a full sample is not feasible.

Methods: As part of a longitudinal study of adolescent health, 1,840 adolescents (ages 12-18) self-reported their height and weight during telephone surveys.

Parental efficacy and child behavior in a community sample of children with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Most studies of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) youth have obtained data from the perspective of either children or parents, but not both simultaneously. The purpose of this study was to examine child and parent perspectives on parenting in a large community-based sample of children with and without ADHD. We identified children in grades 4-6 and their parents through surveys administered to a random sample of public schools.

Influence of sports, physical education, and active commuting to school on adolescent weight status.

Objective: To compare the associations between weight status and different forms of physical activity among adolescents.

Methods: We conducted telephone surveys with 1718 New Hampshire and Vermont high school students and their parents as part of a longitudinal study of adolescent health. We surveyed adolescents about their team sports participation, other extracurricular physical activity, active commuting, physical education, recreational activity for fun, screen time, diet quality, and demographics.

Fast-food environments and family fast-food intake in nonmetropolitan areas.

Background: Little is known about the influence of in-town fast-food availability on family-level fast-food intake in nonmetropolitan areas.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the presence of chain fast-food outlets was associated with fast-food intake among adolescents and parents, and to assess whether this relationship was moderated by family access to motor vehicles.

Methods: Telephone surveys were conducted with 1547 adolescent-parent dyads in 32 New Hampshire and Vermont communities between 2007 and 2008.

Association of established smoking among adolescents with timing of exposure to smoking depicted in movies.

Background: It is not known whether exposure to smoking depicted in movies carries greater influence during early or late adolescence. We aimed to quantify the independent relative contribution to established smoking of exposure to smoking depicted in movies during both early and late adolescence.

Methods: We prospectively assessed 2049 nonsmoking students recruited from 14 randomly selected public schools in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Adolescent weight status and receptivity to food TV advertisements.

Objective: This study examined the relationship between adolescent weight status and food advertisement receptivity.

Design: Survey-based evaluation with data collected at baseline (initial and at 2 months), and at follow-up (11 months).

Setting: New Hampshire and Vermont.

Public directory data sources do not accurately characterize the food environment in two predominantly rural states.

Communities are being encouraged to develop locally based interventions to address environmental risk factors for obesity. Online public directories represent an affordable and easily accessible mechanism for mapping community food environments, but may have limited utility in rural areas. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of public directories vs rigorous onsite field verification to characterize the community food environment in 32 geographically dispersed towns from two rural states covering 1,237.

Built environment predictors of active travel to school among rural adolescents.

Background: Most studies of active travel to school (ATS) have been conducted in urban or suburban areas and focused on young children. Little is known about ATS among rural adolescents.

Purpose: To describe adolescent ATS in two predominantly rural states and determine if school neighborhood built environment characteristics (BECs) predict ATS after adjusting for school and individual characteristics.

Perceived intrinsic barriers to physical activity among rural mothers.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the influence of perceived intrinsic barriers to physical activity among mothers living in rural areas.

Methods: Mothers were identified through a study of child-parent dyads in the predominantly rural states of New Hampshire and Vermont. Using a telephone interview, we asked mothers (n = 1691) about their level of physical activity and assessed eight potential barriers to physical activity.

Smart density: A more accurate method of measuring rural residential density for health-related research.

Background: Studies involving the built environment have typically relied on US Census data to measure residential density. However, census geographic units are often unsuited to health-related research, especially in rural areas where development is clustered and discontinuous.

Objective: We evaluated the accuracy of both standard census methods and alternative GIS-based methods to measure rural density.

Prevalence of food and beverage brands in movies: 1996-2005.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe food and beverage brand placements in a large representative sample of popular movies.

Methods: We identified and coded brand placements for foods, beverages, and food retail establishments in the top 20 US box office movie hits for each year from 1996 to 2005. We also coded general movie characteristics (Motion Picture Association of America rating, run time, genre, and information about major characters).

Tobacco, alcohol, and other risk behaviors in film: how well do MPAA ratings distinguish content?

To evaluate the usefulness of Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings for parental selection of appropriate films for children, the 100 top grossing movies each year from 1996 through 2004 (N = 900) were content analyzed to measure risk behaviors in each film. More restrictive MPAA ratings (R and PG-13) were associated with increased mean seconds of portrayals of tobacco use, alcohol use, and sexual content; increased frequency of violent content; and increased salience of drug use. MPAA ratings, however, did not clearly distinguish films based on tobacco or alcohol use.