RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Current local food environments encourage poor diets, posing a significant threat to public and planetary health. Acknowledging and addressing its inherent complexity is vital to making meaningful improvements to the food environment. Using a participatory approach with local stakeholders, this study aims to gain insight into the factors and mechanisms underlying the local food environment and to identify leverage points and system-based actions to foster healthy and sustainable local food environments. METHODS: A systems-thinking approach was used in a Dutch municipality in 2022. Two group model building (GMB) workshops were held with community stakeholders (e.g. local policymakers, retailers and residents). During the first workshop (June 2022), factors and mechanisms influencing the local food environment were identified and visualized through a causal loop diagram (CLD). During the second workshop, leverage points and system-based actions to improve food environments were identified by the stakeholders. Four months after (October 2022), an action-implementation meeting was organized to stimulate the implementation of selected actions. Progress was monitored through brief telephone interviews 6 and 12 months after the second workshop. RESULTS: The CLD visualises the factors and mechanisms influencing the local food environment from the point of view of the community stakeholders. The CLD consists of 46 factors shaping the local food environment, which were categorized into four identified subsystems: societal factors, individual, socio-economic factors, commercial factors and political factors. Eight leverage points were identified within the CLD, for example, 'lobby from food industry', 'governmental food policies' and 'e-commerce and platform economy'. Stakeholders formulated 20 actions targeting the identified leverage points. During the action-implementation meeting, long-term plans were created for five actions. After 1 year, only one participant (policy advisory role) remained actively engaged in three of these actions. CONCLUSIONS: This study yields insight into the numerous factors and mechanisms underlying the local food environment and identified system-based actions as perceived by local stakeholders to improve this food environment locally. The CLD offers stakeholders valuable insights on employing a systems approach when enhancing food environments. More research is necessary, especially into the long-term processes and effects of implementing system-oriented actions to improve local food environments.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Objective: To gain insight into the food availability, the perceived food environment, and social norm perceptions in favour of healthy and vegetarian food consumption at a festival. Design: Two cross-sectional substudies were conducted to audit food and beverages at the festival, and to measure visitors' perceptions of the festival food environment (accessibility, affordability, availability, diversity, quality) and their social norms perceptions via a mobile survey. Setting: Public music festival, the Netherlands. Sample: 75 food stands and 153 adult festival visitors. Results: 75 food stands offered 627 food and beverage items, of which 92.4% were not supportive of a healthy diet. Of all food items, 46.6% were vegetarian (including 20% fries). Participants especially perceived the festival food environment as unsupportive of healthy choices. They also had weak descriptive and injunctive social norm perceptions in favour of healthy and vegetarian food consumption. However, they had stronger descriptive (t(152)=-5.5; p<0.001) and injunctive norm perceptions (t(152)=-4.5; p<0.001) of vegetarian food consumption (mean descriptive social norm perception=2.42; SD=0.82; mean injunctive social norm perception=3.14; SD=0.78), than healthy food consumption (mean descriptive social norm perception=2.10; SD=0.76; mean injunctive social norm perception=2.93; SD=0.78). Participants had stronger injunctive than descriptive social norm perceptions of healthy (t(152)=-12.4; p<0.001) and vegetarian (t(152)=-11.3; p<0.001) food consumption. Participants' perceived food environment and their perception of social norms were positively correlated. Conclusion: The festival's food environment appears unsupportive of healthy and vegetarian food consumption. The limited availability of healthy and vegetarian food coincided with weak social norm perceptions encouraging their consumption, particularly descriptive norms that arise from observing others. The food environment may stand in the way of developing descriptive norms for the consumption of healthy and vegetarian food, as people can only see others consume food that is available. Implementation of public event policies could support healthier, more sustainable festivals.

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the food environment of Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), encompassing physical, sociocultural, economic and policy features and to explore variations within SMEs according to company characteristics (number of employees, location of work and presence of worksite cafeteria). DESIGN: Online cross-sectional survey study of a representative Dutch SME sample by a panel agency. SETTING: Dutch SMEs. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred and fifteen employees of Dutch SMEs responsible for food and drink in their company. RESULTS: Most SMEs did not have a worksite cafeteria, no provision of fruits or vegetables, and did not offer discounts on food or drinks. The food environment of these SMEs varied significantly based on company characteristics. For example, SMEs with a worksite cafeteria were significantly more likely to have fruits (OR = 8·76, 95 % CI (4·50, 17·06)), vegetables (OR = 10·29, 95 % CI (5·49, 19·31)) and company food policies (OR = 5·04, 95 % CI (2·08, 12·20)) than SMEs without. Additionally, SMEs with ≥ 50 employees were more likely to have fruits (OR = 2·39, 95 % CI (1·42, 4·03)), vegetables (OR = 1·89, 95 % CI (1·04, 3·46)) and company food policies (OR = 2·82, 95 % CI (1·09, 7·29) than SMEs with < 50 employees. Moreover, having a worksite cafeteria (B = 0·23, 95 % CI (0·08, 0·38)) and employees working mostly on-site (B = 0·14, 95 % CI (0·01, 0·28)) were associated with stronger social norms of healthy and sustainable eating at work compared to SMEs without a worksite cafeteria and working mostly off-site. CONCLUSIONS: In SMEs, an overall comprehensive picture of the food environment points to its limited active encouragement of healthy food choices, particularly so in small SMEs without a worksite cafeteria. Company characteristics strongly influence SME food environments and should be considered when developing interventions improving SME workplace food environments.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: There is no tradition of serving school lunches in primary schools in the Netherlands. Most children tend to bring their own packed lunch, however these are often nutritionally suboptimal. While school lunch provision can aid healthy eating behavior amongst children, its introduction would constitute a profound change for children, parents and school staff. Therefore, this qualitative study aims to explore children's, parents and school staffs' perceptions of both the current lunch situation and the implementation of school lunch provision within primary schools in the Netherlands. METHODS: In this qualitative study we conducted nine interviews with school principals, 98 interviews with children, and held six focus groups with teachers and six with parents at primary schools in two Dutch cities. The data was analysed via iterative coding. RESULTS: The results showed that most children and parents are satisfied with the current lunch situation, although existing school food policies are not always put in place. Most teachers felt that children had insufficient time to consume their lunch in the current situation. The children were generally positive about the idea of a school lunch, and stressed that it was important to have the ability to choose. While both parents and school staff saw school lunch provision as an opportunity to educate families about healthy food options, they also expressed concern about who would be responsible, as well as the financial and organizational implications of its introduction. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptions of children, parents and school staff about a school provided lunch are mixed. A complex intervention such as a new school lunch program is difficult to envisage for all parties involved and more research is needed regarding the effects, organization, logistics and the costs of school lunch provision in the Netherlands.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the content of lunchboxes of primary school children and to examine children's support and preferences for alternative healthy school lunch concepts. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study among Dutch children from seven primary schools. The content of the lunchboxes was assessed by photographs. Support and preferences for alternative lunch concepts were examined via a self-reported questionnaire. Linear regression analyses were used to investigate the associations between children's support and preferences and sex, educational group and migration background. SETTING: The Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: Primary school children. RESULTS: A total of 660 children were included (average 9·9 years old). Most lunchboxes contained sandwiches and a drink. Few lunchboxes contained fruit or vegetables. The alternative school lunch concepts elicited mixed support among children. The lunch concepts 'Sandwiches prepared by the children themselves' and a 'hot lunch buffet' had the highest mean support, while the concept 'a healthy lunch brought from home' was the most preferred concept. Small significant differences were observed depending on sex, educational group and migration background. CONCLUSION: Lunchboxes of Dutch children contained sandwiches and a drink but rarely fruit and vegetables. Among different alternatives, children reported the highest support for the preparation of their own sandwiches in class or a hot lunch buffet. Future studies should investigate if these alternative lunch concepts improve the dietary intake of children.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Since there is a shift from eating lunch at home to eating lunch at primary schools in the Netherlands, providing a school lunch may be an important opportunity to improve the diet quality of Dutch children. Therefore, the aim of this Healthy School Lunch project is to encourage healthy eating behavior of children at primary schools by offering a healthy school lunch, based on the guidelines for a healthy diet. In this study, two research questions will be addressed. The first research question is: What and how much do children consume from a self-served school lunch and how do they evaluate the lunch? The second research question is: Do children compensate healthier school lunches by eating less healthy outside school hours? The purpose of this paper is to report the rationale and study design of this study. METHODS: In the Healthy School Lunch project children in grades 5-8 (aged 8-12 years) of three primary schools in the Netherlands will receive a healthy school lunch for a 6-month period. To answer research question 1, lunch consumption data will be collected at baseline and again at 3- and 6-months. This will be measured with lunch photos and questionnaires among children. To answer the second research question, a quasi-experimental, pre-test post-test intervention-comparison group design (3 intervention schools and 3 comparison schools) will be carried out. Potential compensation effects will be measured with a single brief questionnaire among parents at the three intervention and three comparison schools at month 6 of the lunch period. The school lunch will also be evaluated by parents (discussion groups) and teachers and support staff (brief questionnaires). DISCUSSION: Results of this study will provide valuable information to influence future school lunch interventions and policies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered at the Netherlands trial register (NTR): trialregister.nl, Trial NL7402 (NTR7618), registered retrospectively at 2018-11-13.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Lunch is an important part of a healthy diet, which is essential for the development, growth and academic performance of school-aged children. Currently there is an increasing number of Dutch primary schoolchildren who are transitioning from eating lunch at home to school. There is limited knowledge about the current quality of the lunches consumed by primary schoolchildren in the Netherlands and whether there are any differences between lunches consumed at home or at school. To investigate differences in content and quality of lunches consumed by Dutch primary schoolchildren at home and at school. METHODS: Cross-sectional study among 363 Dutch primary schoolchildren aged 4-12 years based on the first two years of the 2012-2016 Dutch National Food Consumption Survey. Demographic characteristics were obtained through a questionnaire. Diet was assessed with two non-consecutive 24-h dietary recalls. Quality of lunches was assessed on their nutritional quality whether they fitted the nutritional guidelines. 'Nonparametric tests were used to examine the content and quality of the lunches between place of consumption and parental educational position. RESULTS: The most consumed lunch products among primary schoolchildren were bread, dairy products and sugar-sweetened beverages. Fruit and vegetable consumption was very low. Consumption of milk and other dairy products was higher among children who eat lunch at home than children who eat lunch at school (p < 0.01). Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was higher among children who eat lunch at school than children who eat lunch at home (p < 0.01), and at school a higher proportion of the drinks did not fit within the Dutch dietary recommendations (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The current content of the lunches consumed by Dutch primary schoolchildren leaves room for improvement, especially regarding fruit and vegetables. The statistically significantly higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and lower consumption of milk and dairy products at school vs. home is worrisome, as currently more children in the Netherlands are transitioning to having lunch at school.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The SMARTsize intervention embeds an evidence-based portion control intervention in regular dietetic care. This intervention was evaluated to explore (1) which patients participated, (2) the implementation process, and (3) the outcomes of the intervention. The intervention was evaluated with an observational study design including measures at baseline, and three, six, and nine months after the start of the program. Data concerning the process (participation, dose delivered, dose received, satisfaction) and the outcomes (self-efficacy, intention, portion control strategies, and Body Mass Index (BMI) were collected with forms and questionnaires filled out by dietitians and patients. Descriptive analyses, comparison analyses, and cluster analyses were performed. Patients were mainly obese, moderately to highly educated women of Dutch ethnicity. Use of the intervention components varied from 50% to 100% and satisfaction with the SMARTsize intervention was sufficient to good (grades 7.2⁻8.0). Statistically significant (p < 0.001) improvements were observed for self-efficacy (+0.5), portion control strategies (+0.7), and BMI (-2.2 kg/m²), with no significant differences between patients with or without counselling. Three clusters of patients with different levels of success were identified. To conclude, implementing an evidence-based portion control intervention in real-life dietetic practice is feasible and likely to result in weight loss.

Asunto(s)