Sporting facilities owned or managed by local governments (LGs) can promote health by selling healthy food and drinks. This study assessed the policies, attitudes and practices of LGs in Victoria, ...Australia, relating to obesity prevention and the provision of healthy food in their sporting facilities.
An online survey was e‐mailed to all Victorian LGs (n=79) in July 2018. Questions assessed LGs' healthy food policies relating to sport and recreation facilities and the priority LGs give to obesity prevention.
Forty‐nine LGs (62%) completed the survey from July to November 2018. Obesity prevention and promotion of healthy food and drink were a moderate to high priority for councils. The priority LGs give to healthy food promotion was reported to have increased over the previous year in 55% of LGs. Those LGs in areas of higher socioeconomic position and located in major cities had made more healthy changes at their facilities.
Obesity prevention is a priority for LGs, and they are making changes to improve the food environments in their sporting facilities. Greater support may be required for smaller LGs and those in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas to create healthier food environments.
Monitoring changes to healthy eating policies within council facilities is essential to understand how local government actions are contributing to obesity prevention.
ObjectiveTo assess the impact of a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction initiative on customer purchasing patterns, including volume sales of healthy and unhealthy packaged drinks and sales value ...of all packaged drinks, in a major Australian aquatic and recreation provider, YMCA Victoria.DesignProspectiveSetting16 aquatic and recreation centres in Victoria, Australia.InterventionsThe SSB-reduction initiative aimed to remove all SSBs (excluding sports drinks) and increase healthier drink availability over a 1-year period.Primary and secondary outcome measuresItemised monthly drink sales data were collected for 16 centres, over 4 years (2 years preimplementation, 1 year implementation and 1 year postimplementation). Drinks were classified as ‘green’ (best choice), ‘amber’ (choose carefully) or ‘red’ (limit). Interrupted time series analysis was conducted for each centre to determine the impact on volume sales of ‘red’ and ‘green’ drinks, and overall sales value. A novel meta-analysis approach was conducted to estimate the mean changes across centres.ResultsFollowing implementation, volume sales of ‘red’ drinks reduced by 46.2% across centres (95% CI: −53.2% to −39.2%), ‘green’ drink volume did not change (0.0%, 95% CI: −13.3% to 13.2%) and total drink sales value decreased by 24.3% (95% CI: −32.0% to −16.6%).ConclusionsThe reduction of SSBs in health-promoting settings such as recreation centres is a feasible, effective public health policy that is likely to be transferable to other high-income countries with similarly unhealthy beverage offerings. However, complementary strategies should be considered to encourage customers to switch to healthier alternatives, particularly when translating policies to organisations with less flexible income streams.
Controlling obesity has become one of the highest priorities for public health practitioners in developed countries. In the absence of safe, effective and widely accessible high-risk approaches (e.g. ...drugs and surgery) attention has focussed on community-based approaches and social marketing campaigns as the most appropriate form of intervention. However there is limited evidence in support of substantial effectiveness of such interventions.
To date there is little evidence that community-based interventions and social marketing campaigns specifically targeting obesity provide substantial or lasting benefit. Concerns have been raised about potential negative effects created by a focus of these interventions on body shape and size, and of the associated media targeting of obesity.
A more appropriate strategy would be to enact high-level policy and legislative changes to alter the obesogenic environments in which we live by providing incentives for healthy eating and increased levels of physical activity. Research is also needed to improve treatments available for individuals already obese.
Emerging evidence demonstrates that obesity is associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Excessive alcohol consumption and "comfort eating" as coping mechanisms during times ...of high stress have been shown to further exacerbate mental and physical ill-health. Global examples suggest that unhealthy food and alcohol brands and companies are using the COVID-19 pandemic to further market their products. However, there has been no systematic, in-depth analysis of how "Big Food" and "Big Alcohol" are capitalizing on the COVID-19 pandemic to market their products and brands.
We aimed to quantify the extent and nature of online marketing by alcohol and unhealthy food and beverage companies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
We conducted a content analysis of all COVID-19-related social media posts made by leading alcohol and unhealthy food and beverage brands (n=42) and their parent companies (n=12) over a 4-month period (February to May 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
Nearly 80% of included brands and all parent companies posted content related to COVID-19 during the 4-month period. Quick service restaurants (QSRs), food and alcohol delivery companies, alcohol brands, and bottle shops were the most active in posting COVID-19-related content. The most common themes for COVID-19-related marketing were isolation activities and community support. Promotion of hygiene and home delivery was also common, particularly for QSRs and alcohol and food delivery companies. Parent companies were more likely to post about corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as donations of money and products, and to offer health advice.
This is the first study to show that Big Food and Big Alcohol are incessantly marketing their products and brands on social media platforms using themes related to COVID-19, such as isolation activities and community support. Parent companies are frequently posting about CSR initiatives, such as donations of money and products, thereby creating a fertile environment to loosen current regulation or resist further industry regulation. "COVID-washing" by large alcohol brands, food and beverage brands, and their parent companies is both common and concerning. The need for comprehensive regulations to restrict unhealthy food and alcohol marketing, as recommended by the World Health Organization, is particularly acute in the COVID-19 context and is urgently required to "build back better" in a post-COVID-19 world.
Abstract Purpose We analyzed the changes in the body mass index (BMI) distribution for urban Australian adults between 1980 and 2007. Methods We used data from participants of six consecutive ...Australian nation-wide surveys with measured weight and height between 1980 and 2007. We used quantile regression to estimate mean BMI (for percentiles of BMI) and prevalence of severe obesity, modeled by natural splines in age, date of birth, and survey date. Results Since 1980, the right skew in the BMI distribution for Australian adults has increased greatly for men and women, driven by increases in skew associated with age and birth cohort/period. Between 1980 and 2007, the average 5-year increase in BMI was 1 kg/m2 (0.8) for the 95th percentile of BMI in women (men). The increase in the median was about a third of this, and for the 10th percentile, a fifth of this. We estimated that for the cohort born in 1960 around 31% of men and women were obese by age 50 years compared with 11% of the 1930 birth cohort. Conclusions There have been large increases in the right skew of the BMI distribution for urban Australian adults between 1980 and 2007, and birth cohort effects suggests similar increases are likely to continue.
Abstract Objective Through a causal framework, we aim to assess the association between weight change and daytime sleepiness, and the role of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in this relationship. ...Methods From the Sleep Heart Health Study, we selected individuals who were: (1) 40–64 years old, with (2) body mass index (BMI) ≥18.5 kg/m2 , (3) no history of stroke, treatment for OSA, and tracheostomy at baseline. We used multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between 5-year weight change and daytime sleepiness (assessed through Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)) at 5 years, adjusting for daytime sleepiness, demographics, diabetes, subjective sleep duration, sleep disturbance, smoking status, weight, and use of antidepressants and benzodiazepines at baseline, in those with complete data ( N =1468). We further assessed the potential mediating role of OSA in this relationship. Results At baseline, the study participants were on average 55 years old, 46% males, with mean BMI 28 kg/m2 ; and 25% had ESS>10. ESS at 5 years worsened by 0.36 units (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12–0.61, p =0.004) with every 10-kg weight gain. When stratified by sex, this relationship was only found in women (0.55, 95% CI 0.25–0.86, p <0.001; p -interaction = 0.02). Approximately one-fifth of the relationship between weight change and daytime sleepiness was mediated by severity of OSA at 5 years. Conclusion Weight gain has a detrimental effect on daytime sleepiness, mostly through pathways other than OSA. This study provides further evidence and understanding of the relationship between obesity and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to determine the association between dietary patterns and cognitive function and to examine how classification systems based on food groups and food items ...affect levels of association between diet and cognitive function. The present study focuses on the older segment of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) sample (age 60+) that completed the food frequency questionnaire at Wave 1 (1999/2000) and the mini-mental state examination and tests of memory, verbal ability and processing speed at Wave 3 (2012). Three methods were used in order to classify these foods before applying PCA. In the first instance, the 101 individual food items asked about in the questionnaire were used (no categorisation). In the second and third instances, foods were combined and reduced to 32 and 20 food groups, respectively, based on nutrient content and culinary usage-a method employed in several other published studies for PCA. Logistic regression analysis and generalized linear modelling was used to analyse the relationship between PCA-derived dietary patterns and cognitive outcome. Broader food group classifications resulted in a greater proportion of food use variance in the sample being explained (use of 101 individual foods explained 23.22% of total food use, while use of 32 and 20 food groups explained 29.74% and 30.74% of total variance in food use in the sample, respectively). Three dietary patterns were found to be associated with decreased odds of cognitive impairment (CI). Dietary patterns derived from 101 individual food items showed that for every one unit increase in ((Fruit and Vegetable Pattern: p=0.030, OR 1.061, confidence interval: 1.006-1.118); (Fish, Legumes and Vegetable Pattern: p=0.040, OR 1.032, confidence interval: 1.001-1.064); (Dairy, Cereal and Eggs Pattern: p=0.003, OR 1.020, confidence interval: 1.007-1.033)), the odds of cognitive impairment decreased. Different results were observed when the effect of dietary patterns on memory, processing speed and vocabulary were examined. Complex patterns of associations between dietary factors and cognition were evident, with the most consistent finding being the protective effects of high vegetable and plant-based food item consumption and negative effects of 'Western' patterns on cognition. Further long-term studies and investigation of the best methods for dietary measurement are needed to better understand diet-disease relationships in this age group.
Comparing Trends in BMI and Waist Circumference Walls, Helen L.; Stevenson, Christopher E.; Mannan, Haider R. ...
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.),
January 2011, Volume:
19, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The nature of excess body weight may be changing over time to one of greater central adiposity. The aim of this study is to determine whether BMI and waist circumference (WC) are increasing ...proportionately among population subgroups and the range of bodyweight, and to examine the public health implications of the findings. Our data are from two cross‐sectional surveys (the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Studies (NHANES) in 1988–1994 (NHANES III) and 2005–2006), from which we have used samples of 15,349 and 4,176 participants aged ≥20 years. Between 1988–1994 and 2005–2006 BMI increased by an average of 1.8 kg/m2 and WC by 4.7 cm (adjusted for sex, age, race‐ethnicity, and education). The increase in WC was more than could be attributed simply to increases in BMI. This independent increase in WC (of on average, 0.9 cm) was consistent across the different BMI categories, sexes, education levels, and race‐ethnicity groups. It occurred in younger but not older age groups. Overall in each BMI category, the prevalence of low‐risk WC decreased and the prevalence of increased‐risk or substantially increased‐risk WC increased. These results suggest that the adverse health consequences associated with obesity may be increasingly underestimated by trends in BMI alone. Since WC is closely linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes, it is important to know the prevailing trends in both of these parameters.
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