The common drivers of children and young people's health and wellbeing across 13 local government areas: a systems view.

Background: System dynamics approaches, including group model building (GMB) and causal loop diagrams (CLDs), can be used to document complex public health problems from a community perspective. This paper aims to apply Social Network Analysis (SNA) methods to combine multiple CLDs created by local communities into a summary CLD, to identify common drivers of the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

Methods: Thirteen community CLDs regarding children and young people health and wellbeing were merged into one diagram involving three steps: (1) combining variable names; (2) CLD merging, where multiple CLDs were combined into one CLD with a set of unique variables and connections; (3) paring, where the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to generate a cut-point to reduce the number of variables and connections and to rank the overall importance of each variable in the merged CLD.

The Food Environment of Primary School Learners in a Low-to-Middle-Income Area in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rapid changes in food environments, where less nutritious foods have become cheaper and more accessible, have led to the double burden of malnutrition (DBM). The role food environments have played in shaping the DBM has attained global interest. There is a paucity of food environment research in low-to-middle-income countries.

Adapting the SPOTLIGHT Virtual Audit Tool to assess food and activity environments relevant for adolescents: a validity and reliability study.

Background: Physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are key behavioral determinants underlying obesity. The neighborhood environment represents an important arena for modifying these behaviors, and hence reliable and valid tools to measure it are needed. Most existing virtual audit tools have been designed to assess either food or activity environments deemed relevant for adults.

Mediators of socioeconomic inequalities in dietary behaviours among youth: A systematic review.

Children and adolescents with a lower socioeconomic position have poorer dietary behaviours compared to their counterparts with a higher socioeconomic position. A better understanding of the mechanisms behind such socioeconomic inequalities is vital to identify targets for interventions aimed at tackling these inequalities. This systematic review aimed to summarize existing evidence regarding the mediators of socioeconomic differences in dietary behaviours among youth.

Sodium Content of Lunches and Snacks Provided in Australian Long Day Care Centres: A Cross-Sectional Study.

We determined the average amount of sodium provided in lunches and snacks and the average amount of sodium consumed at lunch in a convenience sample of Australian preschool children attending Long Day Care (LDC). Sodium content of lunches and snacks was determined from standardised recipes. Individual children's sodium intake was estimated by a validated visual plate waste scale method.

The provision of ultra-processed foods and their contribution to sodium availability in Australian long day care centres.

Objectives: To categorize and assess all foods, beverages and ingredients provided over one week at Australian long day care (LDC) centres according to four levels of food processing and to assess the contribution of Na from each level of processing.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Menus for lunch, morning and afternoon snacks were collected from LDC centres.

Dietary Intake and Sources of Potassium and the Relationship to Dietary Sodium in a Sample of Australian Pre-School Children.

The aim of this study was to determine the intake and food sources of potassium and the molar sodium:potassium (Na:K) ratio in a sample of Australian pre-school children. Mothers provided dietary recalls of their 3.5 years old children (previous participants of Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial).

Dietary sources and sodium intake in a sample of Australian preschool children.

Objectives: To assess dietary sodium intake and the food sources of sodium in a sample of Australian preschool children.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Mothers were followed up when children were approximately 3.