morten.me

Nutrition and Physical Activity Blog

Archive for category Environment

I changed my blog

May 27

Posted by Morten in Environment, Food marketing, Food service, Fruits and vegetables, Nutrition and obesity, Physical Activity, Playgrounds, Policy, School nutrition, Whole grains | Comments off

Dear subscriber,

I just wanted to let you know that I over the past weekend made some major changes to my email and  RSS news feeds. From now on all stories are made as posts on my blog at morten.me.  Searching and navigating my blog is now much easier. Hope you will enjoy it. Each heading will take you to my blog and from there you can click on ‘Read me” for access to the original information.

Sorry that many old stories will be repeat posted in feeds and mails today. We will soon be back to normal.

All the best
Morten

Active Living Research – call for proposals

May 17

Posted by Morten in Environment, Nutrition and obesity | Comments off

The RWJF Active Living Research is calling for research proposals to investigate policies and environments to support active communities. RWJF supports research to identify promising policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity, decreasing sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity among children and adolescents. They place special emphasis on strategies with the potential to reach racial/ethnic populations and children living in lower-income communities who are at highest risk for obesity. Please note only US researchers can apply.

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National Bike To Work Day in the US

May 17

Posted by Morten in Environment, Physical Activity | Comments off

Riders across the country will take to the streets on Friday, May 15 in celebration of National Bike to Work Day. In support of their efforts and enthusiasm, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) offers tips for reducing the risk of bicycle-related injury through proper bike fit. See rge tips here.

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Solutions to the obesity epidemic: Physical activity and food environments

Apr 17

Posted by Morten in Environment, Nutrition and obesity, Policy | Comments off

Environment, policy, and multilevel strategies for improving diet, physical activity, and obesity control are recommended based on a rapidly growing body of research and the collective wisdom of leading expert organizations. A public health imperative to identify and implement solutions to the obesity epidemic warrants the use of the most promising strategies while continuing to build the evidence base.

Enjoy this paper by Sallis and Glanz.

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Lessons from Los Angeles on PA and Public Health Policy

Apr 16

Posted by Morten in Environment, Physical Activity, Playgrounds, Policy | Comments off

This paper presents a case study on using research and law to change public health policy. The City Project (a legal and policy advocacy organization), working with teachers and school officials, is using social science and legal research to promote changes in public policy to ensure physical education in public schools in Los Angeles, California.

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Children Living Near Green Spaces Are More Active

Apr 16

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

For every additional park located within a half mile of their home, the likelihood of walking to school more than doubled among girls and leisure walking by boys increased by 60 percent.

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Amsterdam Edging Ahead of Copenhagen as Most Bike-Loving Euro-Capital?

Apr 15

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

Both Copenhagen and Amsterdam can be proud of their impressive cycling statistics and ongoing investment in infrastructure. Copenhagen claims 36 percent of its commuters bike to work every morning. The Danes want to increase their bike commuters to 50 percent by 2015.

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Attitudes and obstacles to walking and biking to work

Apr 13

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

According to researchers at Kansas State University active commuting — walking or biking to school or work — can be an easy, effective and efficient way to integrate physical activity into the daily routine. They did two surveys, administered in 2008, which looked at demographics, psychosocial factors and environmental characteristics related to active commuting. A survey of more than 800 individuals at K-State was conducted, followed by another survey of 400 Manhattan area residents.

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Childhood obesity prevention study

Apr 13

Posted by Morten in Environment, Nutrition and obesity, School nutrition, Whole grains | Comments off

3135 boys and girls in grades 1-4 were included in this new Swedish study. Low-fat dairy products and whole-grain bread were promoted and all sweets and sweetened drinks were eliminated in intervention schools. Physical activity (PA) was aimed to increase by 30 min per day during school time and sedentary behaviour restricted during after school care time. PA was measured by accelerometry. No weight difference between intervention and controls was found after cluster adjustment. However, a larger proportion of the children who were initially overweight reached normal weight in the intervention group (14%) compared with the control group (7.5%). PA did not differ between intervention and control schools after cluster adjustment.

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Environmental interventions for eating and physical activity in middle schools

Apr 13

Posted by Morten in Environment, Nutrition and obesity, School nutrition | Comments off

Environmental and policy interventions were effective in increasing physical activity at school among boys but not girls. The interventions were not effective in reducing fat intake at school. School environmental and policy interventions have the potential to improve health behavior of the student population, but barriers to full implementation need to be better understood and overcome.

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