Development and reproducibility of a tool to assess school food-purchasing practices and lifestyle habits of Australian primary school-aged children

Objective: To describe the development and reproducibility of a self‐report instrument, for use with children in years 4–6, to identify sources of food eaten during the day, and type and frequency of food purchases at school. Design: Tool development stages included formulation of content and format, expert review, piloting and a test–retest study. Subjects/setting: The pilot study included school students (n = 20) in years 4 and 5 (seven girls, mean age 9.7 ± 0.7 years) attending an Australian public primary school. The test–retest study was performed in a large metropolitan public primary school (n = 245 children, 52% female, mean age 10.7 ± 0.91 years) including children from years 4 (n = 88), 5 (n = 84) and 6 (n = 73). Statistical analysis: A Kappa statistic was used to assess level of agreement between the two time periods separated by 1 week. The results were analysed using SAS version 8.2 with each question compared at time 1 and 2. Results: The mean kappa was 0.529 using pairings from 17 questions. Values ranged from 0.18 to 0.71 (CI 0.46–0.60). Conclusions and applications: The School Eating Habits and Lifestyle Survey has been developed and pilot‐tested in primary school‐aged children and shown to have moderate stability over time. The results show that each phase of development, particularly those spent in consultation and testing, led to progressive improvement of this instrument. This process improved the quality of information produced and gave insights to self‐report of dietary intake and behaviours among children.     

Diet and disadvantage: observations on infant feeding from an inner city

Background: There are few detailed nutritional studies analysing dietary intakes and weaning practices of inner city infants aged 0–12 months. Pasteurized cow's milk (PCM) is not recommended as a main drink until after 1 year of age, although early usage is still common. Premature introduction of pasteurized cow's milk is associated with increased risk of iron deficiency anaemia. Methods: We therefore prospectively examined the dietary effect of early introduction of pasteurized cow's milk on the nutritional intake of 100 infants (mean age at recruitment 7.8 months), whose mothers had already elected to introduce cow's milk before the recommended age of 12 months in a deprived inner city area. In addition, a retrospective questionnaire on feeding practices and food choices was administered and information on parental education and employment was collected, together with a 3-day dietary diary of weighed intakes at recruitment. Results: The results indicate that weaning practices are handed down from family and friends and are intuitive rather than informed. Over 80% of the infants had intakes of iron, zinc and vitamin D below the reference nutrient intake (RNI) and a further 41% had low vitamin C intakes. Prior to introduction of PCM, there was also misuse of infant formula. Twenty per cent added an extra scoop of powder to the feeds, 10% added milk powder to the bottle before addition of water and 30% used microwave ovens to heat the infant bottle. Conclusion: Feeding practices in a deprived inner city area differed substantially from guidelines and infants were at risk of developing nutrient deficiencies as well as poor feeding practices.     

Cardiovascular malformations, work attendance, and occupational exposures during pregnancy in Finland

To explore for associations between occupational factors and cardiovascular malformations, information on the parents of 160 infants with cardiovascular malformations and 160 control parents was studied. The case infants had been reported consecutively to the Finnish Register of Congenital Malformations. All mothers were interviewed identically after delivery, using both open and pro forma questions about detailed work tasks, exposures, and leisure activities during pregnancy. The interview information was evaluated blindly. Neither parental occupational titles nor maternal working per se gave new clues to the teratogenic risk; nor did shift working, wearing of personal protective equipment, or the mother's own opinion on exposures during pregnancy. Identified occupational exposures, as categorized by an industrial hygienist, showed no remarkable associations to cardiovascular malformations. Few mothers were exposed substantially to specific occupational hazards. Comparing mothers who used medications in the first trimester with those who did not showed an odds ratio of 2.2 (95% confidence interval 1.3-3.9) when adjusted for potential confounding by multivariate logistic methods.     

Nutritional considerations in intravenous drug misusers: a review of the literature and current issues for dietitians

Poor nutritional status and inadequate dietary intake in intravenous drug misusers (IVDMs) is a well-recognized problem among those involved in their care. However, there are very few published studies to substantiate these observations. This paper provides a review of the current literature and outlines the aims of dietary advice for IVDMs.     

Expression of Fos in rat brain in relation to sodium appetite: furosemide and cerebroventricular renin

Two experiments were performed to investigate the relationship between the expression of sodium appetite and the appearance of Fos-like immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) in the brain of rats. In the first experiment, rats were depleted of sodium by treatment with furosemide 24 h prior to sacrifice and without access to either food or sodium solution. Some rats had access to distilled water, and others had no fluids available during the 24 h. All of the furosemide-treated rats showed Fos-IR in both the subfornical organ (SFO) and around the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis (OVLT). Rats with access to distilled water during the depletion period showed no Fos-IR in the supraoptic (SON) or paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei (PVN) and, in parallel behavioral studies, comparably-treated rats consumed only 0.3 M NaCl solution at the end of the 24 h. In rats that had no fluids during the deprivation period, only about one half showed Fos-IR in SON and PVN and, in parallel behavioral studies, comparably treated rats consumed both water and 0.3 M NaCI solution at the end of 24 h. In a second experiment, cerebroventricular administration of renin stimulated short latency intake of 0.3 M NaCI and water. The relative intakes of water and NaCl were comparable at a low dose of renin, but intake of water exceeded that of NaCl after higher doses. Renin induced Fos-IR in SFO, MnPO, peri-OVLT region, SON and PVN. Both Fos-IR and fluid intake were antagonized by administration of losartan, an angiotensin 11 type 1 receptor antagonist. Thus, only the circumventricular organs of the lamina terminalis showed Fos-IR during each natriorexigenic regimen in these studies. These data support the view that Ang 11 of both central and peripheral origin activates the SFO and/or peri-OVLT region and contributes to sodium appetite.     

MANIPULATION OF CHILDREN'S EATING PREFERENCES

Giving foods as rewards can enhance consumption of those foods, while giving rewards to induce consumption of foods can decrease subsequent consumption of those foods.     

Food and health at work–a review. The costs and benefits of a policy approach

The workplace is an important setting for health promotion and provides an ideal opportunity for shaping healthy eating patterns in occupational groups for whom inequalities have been identified (DHSS, 1980). Workplace food/health policies provide an intermediate and pragmatic step towards achieving the dietary targets set out in the Government's white paper Health of the Nation and the most recent COMA report (DoH, 1991,1992). Food/health policies have been widely adopted in the NHS (Gibson & Kallevik, 1990) and preliminary research suggests that they are an effective means of intervention (Wallis & Poulter, 1988; Frost et al., 1991). Industry has been slower to link food and health promotion to a policy making process. Surveys imply that action on healthy eating in companies often originates in the occupational health department and is based on individualistic approaches with little energy being put into preventive activities which would originate in the canteen (Mclnerney & Cooper, 1989; Poulter, 1990). Policies provide a means of balancing the environmental and educational paradigms of health promotion. If food/health policies are to grow in the private sector then industry has to be convinced that the benefits Justify the costs. Some philanthropic employers are motivated by interests other than financial gain, but others are commercially led. There is little hard evidence to demonstrate that any type of employer-sponsored healthy eating initiative provides a favourable return for investment. It has been ‘guesstimates’ and extrapolation from other situations which have provided the justification for UK companies to allocate any resources towards addressing food/health issues. In April 1990 the National Grid Company adopted a comprehensive food/health policy. This paper draws on the experiences in developing and implementing the policy document to discuss the issues around evaluative activity in a commercial setting. Views are expressed on the feasibility of measurement and the value of the informaton collected. One aim of the future should be to research this under-examined area to establish a solid body of information. This would raise the level of debate from one which is currently based on anecdotal evidence to a sounder scientific footing and, therefore, ensure the future growth of such policies in the corporate sector.     

Elevated hypothalamic neuropeptide Y levels in rats with dorsomedial hindbrain lesions

Lesions centered on the area postrema (AP) and adjacent nucleus of the solitary tract (AP/mNTS-lesions) are reported to result in increased consumption of highly palatable diets. Recent studies suggest that neuropeptide Y (NPY) may cause a preference for carbohydrate-rich diets. Thus, it is possible that NPY may play a role in the enhanced intake of highly palatable diets by AP/mNTS-lesioned rats. In the studies reported here, we found that lesions centered on the AP result in increased levels of NPY-immunoreactivity in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Additionally, steady-state NPY mRNA in the basomedial hypothalamus including the arcuate nucleus was elevated. Enhanced NPY was not found throughout the hypothalamus however, as NPY-immunoreactivity was not elevated in the lateral hypothalamus or the tissue bordering the anteroventral third ventricle. These data suggest the possibility that elevated hypothalamic NPY, particularly in the arcuate and paraventricular nuclei, may contribute to the altered food intake and energy balance observed in rats with lesions centered on the AP.     

薄层扫描法测定食物中胆固醇的含量

本文探讨食物中胆固醇的薄层光密度法的测定。用硅胶Ｇ与０．３％ＣＭＣ－Ｎａ按１：２．２比例制成薄层板，石油醚－乙醚－－冰醋酸（７：３：０．１）为展开剂，５％磷钼酸乙醇溶液显色，日本岛津ＣＳ－９１０型薄层扫描仪定量扫描，测得精神异系数（ＲＤＳ％）为２．９２。稳定性变异系数（ＲＳＤ％）为２．３５，加嘏率在８７．９５－９４．２９％范围内。与气相色谱法（其回收率在９２－１０３％范围）比较，结果相接近，该法简