Parents of 800 Australian kids completed a questionnaire regarding the frequency per week their child usually ate takeaway or fast foods. Access to outlets where takeaway or fast food could be purchased did not predict frequency of consumption of takeaway or fast food in the expected direction. Such relationships appear to be complex and may not be adequately captured by the measures of access included in the current study.
For more than 25 years, Quebec has had one of the world’s toughest policies on the marketing of products to children. According to 2004 StatsCan data, the prevalence of obese and overweight children in Quebec is lower than in the rest of Canada. Children in Quebec also eat more fruits and vegetables and less fast food than children in provinces where industry essentially polices itself when it comes to advertising to children.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in March announced tthat Temple University in Philadelphia will manage a new $19 million program called Public Health Law Research. The new program will fund research that explores legal and regulatory solutions to pressing health challenges such as chronic diseases and more. Research funded through the new program will answer fundamental questions such as: How do laws influence health and health behavior? Which laws have the greatest impact? Can current laws be made more effective through better implementation or revision? It will also support efforts to improve scientific methods for studying the impact of laws on health.
The Environmental Working Group just issued a guide to consumers on how to cope with pesticides on fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s handy shopping card identifies the Dirty Dozen (highest in pesticides) and the Clean Fifteen (lowest). Organics, it says, are still the best choices! Here is how they arrived at the 12 and 15 products: http://www.foodnews.org/methodology.php
The author of the best-seller ‘œIn Defense of Food is gathering rules for eating well. In recent years the voices of science and industry has served us poorly. Many ethnic traditions have their own memorable expressions like: ‘œI always like to leave the table a little bit hungry’ and ‘œIt’s not food if it comes to you through the window of a car’ or ‘œIf a bug won’t eat it, why would you?’. More than 1776 suggestions from readers already arrived. Amazing.
People who put off regular exercise until they hit the age of 50 can still benefit from physical activity but it appears to take 10 years for the effects to kick in, Swedish researchers said Friday.
This paper explores how ‘green’ school grounds, which contain a greater diversity of landscaping and design features, affect the quantity and quality of physical activity among elementary school children. Of particular significance is the potential to encourage moderate and light levels of physical activity by increasing the range of enjoyable, non-competitive, open-ended forms of play at school. Seen in this light, green school grounds stand to be an important intervention to be included in school health promotion initiatives.
A prospective study was carried out with 130 undergraduate and graduate students. Environmental, cognitive and socio-demographic variables were evaluated at baseline by questionnaire. Two weeks later, active commuting (walking/bicycling) to get to and from work or school was self-reported by questionnaire. The results showed that cognitive variables play a more important role than environmental variables in predicting and explaining active commuting. When environmental variables were significant, they were mediated by cognitive variables. Therefore, individual cognitions should remain one of the main focuses of interventions promoting active commuting among undergraduate and graduate students.
Researchers from Maine Medical Center Research Institute examined the feasibility of a dance video game, in participants’ homes, to increase physical activity and to decrease sedentary screen time. The pilot study suggests that the Dance Dance Revolution game reduces sedentary screen time and may facilitate slight increases in vigorous PA.
The authors surveyed 1,145 residents recruited from 120 neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. They examined neighborhood built environment characteristics (fast-food restaurant density, walkability) and individual eating-out and physical activity behaviors in relation to 1-year change in body weight among adults 50–75 years of age at baseline. Findings point to the negative influences of the availability of neighborhood fast-food outlets and individual unhealthy eating behaviors that jointly affect weight gain; however, better neighborhood walkability and increased levels of physical activity are likely to be associated with maintaining a healthy weight over time. See also: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090303161431.htm