The interplay between social and food environments on UK adolescents' food choices: implications for policy.

Factors from social and food environments can influence the food choices of adolescents in ways not experienced during childhood. Evidence suggests these two environments influence adolescents' food choices independently, but there is limited knowledge of how the interplay between these environments influence adolescents' diets. An enhanced understanding of this interplay surrounding adolescent food choice could aid the development of more nuanced interventions and policies.

Inequalities in energy drink consumption among UK adolescents: a mixed-methods study.

Objective: To examine energy drink consumption among adolescents in the UK and associations with deprivation and dietary inequalities.

Design: Quantitative dietary and demographic data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) repeated cross-sectional survey were analysed using logistic regression models. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

"It is really just brilliant to get credits for something that is so important to you!" Skills for Life: University students' perceptions of a planned dietary life skills course.

Objective: Universities have a role in educating and empowering students to become healthy and literate citizens of the 21st century society. The aim of this study was to explore university students' perceptions regarding the relevance and utility of a planned dietary life skills course.

Design: Qualitative design including focus group discussions.

Young people's experiences of COVID-19 messaging at the start of the UK lockdown: lessons for positive engagement and information sharing.

Background: To reduce COVID-19 infection rates during the initial stages of the pandemic, the UK Government mandated a strict period of restriction on freedom of movement or 'lockdown'. For young people, closure of schools and higher education institutions and social distancing rules may have been particularly challenging, coming at a critical time in their lives for social and emotional development. This study explored young people's experiences of the UK Government's initial response to the pandemic and related government messaging.

Food choice in transition: adolescent autonomy, agency, and the food environment.

Dietary intake during adolescence sets the foundation for a healthy life, but adolescents are diverse in their dietary patterns and in factors that influence food choice. More evidence to understand the key diet-related issues and the meaning and context of food choices for adolescents is needed to increase the potential for impactful actions. The aim of this second Series paper is to elevate the importance given to adolescent dietary intake and food choice, bringing a developmental perspective to inform policy and programmatic actions to improve diets.

"It's More Than Just Exercise": Tailored Exercise at a Community-Based Activity Center as a along the Road to Mental Health Recovery and Citizenship.

Mental health care policies call for health-promoting and recovery-oriented interventions, as well as community-based programs supporting healthier habits. The purpose of this study was to explore how individuals facing mental health challenges experienced participating in tailored exercise at a community-based activity center, and what role tailored exercise could play in supporting an individual's process of recovery. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with nine adults experiencing poor mental health who engaged in exercise at the activity center.

Wow! They really like celeriac! Kindergarten teachers' experiences of an intervention to increase 1-year-olds' acceptance of vegetables.

Exposure to varied foods in early life is important for short- and long-term health and development. Strategically introducing toddlers to new vegetables is not a common practice in Norwegian kindergartens. Therefore, we developed, conducted, and evaluated a web-based cluster randomised kindergarten intervention, Pre-schoolers' Food Courage 2.

Exploring the diet and physical activity behaviours of adolescents living in India and sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative evidence synthesis.

Objective: To carry out a qualitative evidence synthesis to explore what influences the diet and physical activity of adolescents living in five countries that constitute the Transforming Adolescent Lives through Nutrition (TALENT) consortium (Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, India, South Africa and The Gambia).

Design: A search of electronic databases was conducted for qualitative articles published between 2000 and 2019.

Participants: Studies that explore influences on the diets and physical activity habits of adolescents aged 10-19 years.

How do we harness adolescent values in designing health behaviour change interventions? A qualitative study.

Objectives: Adolescent health behaviours do not support optimal development. Adolescents are reportedly difficult to engage in health behaviour improvement initiatives. Little is known about what adolescents value in relation to diet and physical activity or how best to target these in health interventions.

Parental perspectives on negotiations over diet and physical activity: how do we involve parents in adolescent health interventions?

Objective: To identify the ways in which parental involvement can be incorporated into interventions to support adolescent health behaviour change.

Design: Data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Setting: Southampton, Hampshire, UK.

Development of a short food frequency questionnaire to assess diet quality in UK adolescents using the National Diet and Nutrition Survey.

Background: UK adolescents consume fewer fruits and vegetables and more free sugars than any other age group. Established techniques to understand diet quality can be difficult to use with adolescents because of high participant burden. This study aimed to identify key foods that indicate variation in diet quality in UK adolescents for inclusion in a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and to investigate the associations between adolescent diet quality, nutritional biomarkers and socio-demographic factors.

The impact of diet during adolescence on the neonatal health of offspring: evidence on the importance of preconception diet. The HUNT study.

Emerging evidence suggests that parents' nutritional status before and at the time of conception influences the lifelong physical and mental health of their child. Yet little is known about the relationship between diet in adolescence and the health of the next generation at birth. This study examined data from Norwegian cohorts to assess the relationship between dietary patterns in adolescence and neonatal outcomes.

Engaging adolescents in changing behaviour (EACH-B): a study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to improve dietary quality and physical activity.

Background: Poor diet and lack of physical activity are strongly linked to non-communicable disease risk, but modifying them is challenging. There is increasing recognition that adolescence is an important time to intervene; habits formed during this period tend to last, and physical and psychological changes during adolescence make it an important time to help individuals form healthier habits. Improving adolescents' health behaviours is important not only for their own health now and in adulthood, but also for the health of any future children.

'I should be disease free, healthy and be happy in whatever I do': a cross-country analysis of drivers of adolescent diet and physical activity in different low- and middle-income contexts.

Objective: To explore perceptions of how context shapes adolescent diet and physical activity in eight low- and middle-income (LMIC) sites at different stages of societal and economic transition.

Design: Novel qualitative secondary analysis of eight data sets generated as part of the international Transforming Adolescent Lives through Nutrition (TALENT) collaboration.

Setting: Diverse sites in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Behaviour change interventions: getting in touch with individual differences, values and emotions.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses suggest that behaviour change interventions have modest effect sizes, struggle to demonstrate effect in the long term and that there is high heterogeneity between studies. Such interventions take huge effort to design and run for relatively small returns in terms of changes to behaviour.So why do behaviour change interventions not work and how can we make them more effective? This article offers some ideas about what may underpin the failure of behaviour change interventions.

How can we best use opportunities provided by routine maternity care to engage women in improving their diets and health?

Pregnancy provides motivation for women to improve their diets and increase their physical activity. Opportunistic brief interventions delivered as part of routine primary care have produced improvements in patients' health behaviour. Consequently, there have been calls for midwives to use contacts during pregnancy in this way.

How well do national and local policies in England relevant to maternal and child health meet the international standard for non-communicable disease prevention? A policy analysis.

Objectives: (1) To identify national policies for England and local policies for Southampton City that are relevant to maternal and child health. (2) To quantify the extent to which these policies meet the international standards for nutrition and physical activity initiatives set out in the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (WHO Action Plan).

Design: The policy appraisal process involved three steps: (1) identifying policy documents relevant to maternal and infant health, (2) developing a policy appraisal framework from the WHO Action Plan, and (3) analysing the policies using the framework.

Improving recruitment to clinical trials during pregnancy: A mixed methods investigation.

Objective: To identify reasons underlying women's refusal to participate in a pregnancy trial and to identify ways of increasing recruitment.

Design: Mixed methods study using a questionnaire and qualitative interviews.

Sample: A questionnaire asking them to indicate reasons for their decision was completed by 296 pregnant women who declined to participate in one of two trials of nutritional supplementation in a large teaching hospital in southern England.

A Systematic Review of Digital Interventions for Improving the Diet and Physical Activity Behaviors of Adolescents.

Many adolescents have poor diet and physical activity behaviors, which can lead to the development of noncommunicable diseases in later life. Digital platforms offer inexpensive means of delivering health interventions, but little is known about their effectiveness. This systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of digital interventions to improve diet quality and increase physical activity in adolescents, to effective intervention components and to assess the cost-effectiveness of these interventions.

Translating Developmental Origins: Improving the Health of Women and Their Children Using a Sustainable Approach to Behaviour Change.

Theories of the developmental origins of health and disease imply that optimising the growth and development of babies is an essential route to improving the health of populations. A key factor in the growth of babies is the nutritional status of their mothers. Since women from more disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer quality diets and the worst pregnancy outcomes, they need to be a particular focus.

Southampton PRegnancy Intervention for the Next Generation (SPRING): protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: The nutritional status and health of mothers influence the growth and development of infants during pregnancy and postnatal life. Interventions that focus on improving the nutritional status and lifestyle of mothers have the potential to optimise the development of the fetus as well as improve the health of mothers themselves. Improving the diets of women of childbearing age is likely to require complex interventions that are delivered in a socially and culturally appropriate context.