Getting school-provided meals to the table: an international multiple-case study of school food service.

A school food service, which is the way children access food during the school day, is one of the many aspects in creating a health-promoting school environment. School-provided meal services differ greatly, depending on the country, region and school contexts, however, there is limited understanding of the diverse meal delivery within these settings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand different school-provided meal systems across different countries and contexts.

Increasing Children's Vegetable Consumption: Translating a Review of the Evidence Base to Develop Best Practice Guidelines.

Introduction: Dietary guidelines worldwide emphasize the importance of consuming vegetables as part of a healthy diet. Despite this, translating this information into messages for consumers that change behavior has been difficult. There have been population-level social marketing campaigns as well as several smaller campaigns directed specifically toward children, which have demonstrated small increases in consumption.

A great way to bring up health behaviour topics at playgroup: a qualitative evaluation of the Healthy Conversations @ Playgroup program.

Background: The early years is a critical stage to establish optimal nutrition and movement behaviours. Community playgroups are a relaxed environment for parents with a focus on social connection and supporting parents in their role as 'First Teachers'. Playgroups are therefore an opportunistic setting to promote health behaviours in the early years.

Evaluation of a long day care intervention targeting the mealtime environment and curriculum to increase children's vegetable intake: a cluster randomised controlled trial using the multiphase optimisation strategy framework.

Objective: To determine the reach, adoption, implementation and effectiveness of an intervention to increase children's vegetable intake in long day care (LDC).

Design: A 12-week pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial, informed by the multiphase optimisation strategy (MOST), targeting the mealtime environment and curriculum. Children's vegetable intake and variety was measured at follow-up using a modified Short Food Survey for early childhood education and care and analysed using a two-part mixed model for non-vegetable and vegetable consumers.

Predictors of Free Sugars Intake Trajectories across Early Childhood-Results from the SMILE Birth Cohort Study.

Foods and beverages high in free sugars can displace healthier choices and increase the risk of weight gain, dental caries, and noncommunicable diseases. Little is known about the intake of free sugars across early childhood. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal intake from 1 to 5 years of free sugars and identify the independent maternal and child-related predictors of intake in a cohort of Australian children participating in the Study of Mothers' and Infants' Life Events Affecting Oral Health (SMILE).

Unpacking the cost of the lunchbox for Australian families: a secondary analysis.

Ninety per cent of Australian school children bring a home-packed lunch to school, with 44% of the food consumed during school hours being unhealthy. Among other factors, cost is a key consideration for food provision; however, the costs to Australian families are not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine what families are currently paying for school lunchboxes in Australian primary schools and to examine associations between food costs and socio-demographic factors with dietary quality.

Screening tools used in primary health care settings to identify health behaviours in children (birth-16 years); A systematic review of their effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability.

Background: Child health behaviour screening tools have potential to enhance the effectiveness of health promotion and early intervention. This systematic review aimed to examine the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of child health behaviour screening tools used in primary health care settings.

Methods: A systematic review of studies published in English in five databases (CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, PsycINFO and Web of Science) prior to July 2022 was undertaken.

Development and internal validation of the SMILE-FSS: a Free Sugars Screener for Australian children aged 2 and 5 years.

Objective: To develop and internally validate a Free Sugars Screener (FSS) for Australian children aged 2 and 5 years.

Design: Using data collected from a ninety-nine-item (2-year-olds) and ninety-eight-item (5-year-olds) FFQ in the Study of Mothers' and Infants' Life Events affecting oral health (SMILE-FFQ), a regression-based prediction modelling approach was employed to identify a subset of items that accurately estimate total free sugars intake (FSI). The predictors were grams of free sugars (FSg) for individual items in the SMILE-FFQ and child's age and sex.

Barriers and enablers to the family meal across time; a grounded theory study comparing South Australian parents' perspectives.

Family meals are positively associated with numerous beneficial health and social outcomes. Current discourse however claims that parents are faced with numerous barriers when trying to bring the family together to share a meal. Solutions for overcoming barriers to a positive shared family meal are often individualistic and do not address the systemic pressures and burdens families have faced for decades.

Evaluation of a menu box delivery service for Australian long-day care services to improve food provision and child intake: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a menu box delivery service tailored to the long-day care (LDC) setting on improving menu compliance with recommendations, children's diet quality and dietary intake while in care.

Design: A cluster randomised controlled trial in LDC centres randomly assigned to an intervention (menu box delivery) or comparison (menu planning training) group. The primary outcome was child food provision and dietary intake.

The family meal, a ritual frozen in time; an Australian grounded theory study.

Family meals are recognized as an opportunity to promote the health of families. Popular discourse posits that changes to contemporary family life have made family meals harder to achieve and promotion of the 'traditional' family meal may be adding pressures to contemporary families. While research has been conducted on family meals over the last three decades, there is no explicit investigation of the experiences and practices of family meals over this time.

Development of an initiatives package to increase children's vegetable intake in long day care centres using the Multiphase Optimisation Strategy (MOST) randomised factorial experiment.

Objective: To inform a package of initiatives to increase children's vegetable intake while in long day care (LDC) by evaluating the independent and combined effects of three initiatives targeting food provision, the mealtime environment and the curriculum.

Design: Using the Multiphase Optimisation Strategy (MOST) framework, a 12-week, eight-condition ( 7 intervention, 1 control) randomised factorial experiment was conducted. Children's dietary intake data were measured pre- and post-initiative implementation using the weighed plate waste method (1× meal and 2× between-meal snacks).

Variety Predicts Discretionary Food and Beverage Intake of Australian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of an Online Food Intake Survey.

Background: Variety has been used as a strategy for increasing intakes of healthy foods, but has not been well explored with respect to discretionary food/beverages. The diverse sensory properties of these foods suggests that variety could play an important role in total intake.

Objective: This study explored variety as a predictor of intake of discretionary food/beverages, and described the variety of these items consumed by Australian adults.

Trajectories of child free sugars intake and dental caries - a population-based birth cohort study.

Objectives: To investigate the association between trajectories of free sugars intake during the first five years of life and dental caries experience at five years.

Methods: Data from the SMILE population-based prospective birth cohort study, collected at one, two and five years old, were used. A 3-days dietary diary and food frequency questionnaire were used to estimate free sugars intake (FSI) in grams.

Effectiveness of a Multi-Strategy Behavioral Intervention to Increase Vegetable Sales in Primary School Canteens: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Children’s vegetable intake remains inadequate and school canteens may provide opportunities to address this public health concern. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of an 8-week multi-strategy behavioral intervention that included vegetable provisioning and online menu architecture on vegetable sales in primary school canteens. A randomized controlled trial was undertaken in 16 Australian primary schools (n = 4302 students).

Does Food Intake of Australian Toddlers 12-24 Months Align with Recommendations: Findings from the Australian Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (OzFITS) 2021.

(1) Background: Food-based dietary guidelines promote population health and well-being through dietary patterns that reduce chronic disease risk while providing adequate energy and nutrients. In Australia, recommended dietary patterns based on servings per day from the five food groups-fruits, vegetables, cereals and grains, meats and alternatives, and dairy-have been developed for toddlers 1-2 years of age. However, no study has assessed the intake of the five food groups in this age group nationally.

Pairwise approach for analysis and reporting of child's free sugars intake from a birth cohort study.

Objectives: The prospective cohort design is an important research design, but a common challenge is missing data. The purpose of this study is to compare three approaches to managing missing data, the pairwise (n = 1386 children), the partial or modified pairwise (n = 1019) and the listwise (n = 546), to characterize the trajectories of children's free sugars intake (FSI) across early childhood.

Methods: By applying the Group-based Trajectory Model Technique to three waves of data collected from a prospective cohort study of South Australian children, this study examined the three approaches in managing missing data to validate and discuss children's FSI trajectories.

The Family Meal Framework: A grounded theory study conceptualising the work that underpins the family meal.

The family meal has been recognised as an integral part of family life. With the positive health outcomes associated with the family meal, it has been proposed as a strategy for encouraging health-promoting behaviours. However, a detailed understanding of the physical and mental work required to execute the family meal is lacking.

Usual Nutrient Intake Distribution and Prevalence of Inadequacy among Australian Children 0-24 Months: Findings from the Australian Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (OzFITS) 2021.

(1) Background: Breastmilk provides all the nutrition an infant requires between 0−6 months. After that, complementary foods are needed to meet the child’s increasing energy and nutrient requirements. Inadequate energy and nutrient intake may lead to growth faltering, impaired neurodevelopment, and increased disease risk.

Group-based trajectories of maternal intake of sugar-sweetened beverage and offspring oral health from a prospective birth cohort study.

Objectives: To investigate the trajectory of maternal intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) during the first five years of their child's life and its effect on the child's dental caries at five years-of-age.

Methods: This is an ongoing prospective population-based birth cohort study in Adelaide, Australia. Mothers completed questionnaires on their SSB intake, socioeconomic factors and health behaviors at the birth of their child and at the ages of one, two and five years.

The Complex Quest of Preventing Obesity in Early Childhood: Describing Challenges and Solutions Through Collaboration and Innovation.

Childhood obesity remains a major public health issue and priority area for action. Promisingly, obesity prevention interventions in the first 2000 days of life have shown modest effectiveness in improving health behaviours and healthy weight status in children. Yet, researchers in this field face several challenges.

Parental work hours and household income as determinants of unhealthy food and beverage intake in young Australian children.

Objective: This study examined parental work hours and household income as determinants of discretionary (energy-dense, nutrient-poor) food and beverage intake in young children, including differences by eating occasion.

Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. Three hierarchical regression models were conducted with percentage of energy from discretionary food and beverages across the day, at main meals and at snack times being the outcomes.

Transforming Obesity Prevention for CHILDren (TOPCHILD) Collaboration: protocol for a systematic review with individual participant data meta-analysis of behavioural interventions for the prevention of early childhood obesity.

Introduction: Behavioural interventions in early life appear to show some effect in reducing childhood overweight and obesity. However, uncertainty remains regarding their overall effectiveness, and whether effectiveness differs among key subgroups. These evidence gaps have prompted an increase in very early childhood obesity prevention trials worldwide.

Unpacking the behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions in the TOPCHILD Collaboration: a systematic review and intervention coding protocol.

Introduction: Little is known about how early (eg, commencing antenatally or in the first 12 months after birth) obesity prevention interventions seek to change behaviour and which components are or are not effective. This study aims to (1) characterise early obesity prevention interventions in terms of target behaviours, delivery features and behaviour change techniques (BCTs), (2) explore similarities and differences in BCTs used to target behaviours and (3) explore effectiveness of intervention components in preventing childhood obesity.

Methods And Analysis: Annual comprehensive systematic searches will be performed in Epub Ahead of Print/MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane (CENTRAL), CINAHL, PsycINFO, as well as clinical trial registries.