The Frequency and Context of Snacking among Children: An Objective Analysis Using Wearable Cameras

Snacking is a common eating behaviour, but there is little objective data about children’s snacking. We aimed to determine the frequency and context of children’s snacking (n = 158; mean age = 12.6 years) by ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic deprivation and body mass index (BMI) children. Participants wore wearable cameras that passively captured images of their surroundings every seven seconds. Images (n = 739,162) were coded for snacking episodes, defined as eating occasions in between main meals. Contextual factors analysed included: snacking location, food source, timing, social contact and screen use. Rates of total, discretionary (not recommended for consumption) and healthful (recommended for consumption) snacking were calculated using negative binomial regression. On average, children consumed 8.2 (95%CI 7.4, 9.1) snacks per day, of which 5.2 (95%CI 4.6, 5.9) were discretionary foods/beverages. Children consumed more discretionary snacks than healthful snacks in each setting and at all times, including 15.0× more discretionary snacks in public spaces and 2.4× more discretionary snacks in schools. Most snacks (68.9%) were sourced from home. Girls consumed more total, discretionary and healthful snacks than boys, and Māori and Pacific consumed fewer healthful snacks than New Zealand (NZ) Europeans. Results show that children snack frequently, and that most snacking involves discretionary food items. Our findings suggest targeting home buying behaviour and environmental changes to support healthy snacking choices.     

Consumption of highly processed snacks,sugar‐sweetened beverages and child feeding practices in a rural area of Nicaragua

Appropriate feeding behaviours are important for child growth and development. In societies undergoing nutrition transition, new food items are introduced that may be unfavourable for child health. Set in rural Nicaragua, the aim of this study was to describe the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices as well as the consumption of highly processed snack foods (HP snacks) and sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSBs). All households with at least one child 0‐ to 35‐month‐old (n = 1371) were visited to collect information on current IYCF practices in the youngest child as well as consumption of SSBs and HP snacks. Breastfeeding was dominant (98%) among 0‐ to 1‐month‐olds and continued to be prevalent (60%) in the second year, while only 34% of the 0‐ to 5‐month‐olds were exclusively breastfed. Complementary feeding practices were deemed acceptable for only 59% of the 6‐ to 11‐month‐old infants, with low dietary diversity reported for 50% and inadequate meal frequency reported for 30%. Consumption of HP snacks and SSBs was frequent and started early; among 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds, 42% and 32% had consumed HP snacks and SSBs, respectively. The difference between the observed IYCF behaviours and World Health Organization recommendations raises concern of increased risk of infections and insufficient intake of micronutrients that may impair linear growth. The concurrent high consumption of SSBs and HP snacks may increase the risk of displacing the recommended feeding behaviours. To promote immediate and long‐term health, growth and development, there is a need to both promote recommended IYCF practices as well as discourage unfavourable feeding behaviours.     

The global obesity epidemic: snacking and obesity may start with free meals during infant feeding

Feeding is vital for survival. The brain has strong hunger and reward mechanisms that ensure optimal food intake for adequate nutrition. The drive for feeding is particularly strong in humans whose large brains require large energy support. This starts immediately after birth; the newborn child being able to taste sucrose and suck the sweet and fat from its mother's milk. At present, mothers are generally advised to breastfeed children as often as they like, which may be up to 15 times a day. At the same time, childhood obesity is rapidly developing. One reason for the rapidly increasing prevalence of childhood obesity may be overfeeding with snack food.

Conclusion: We hypothesize that non-rule breastfeeding favours the development of snacking throughout the day during childhood, a habit which in turn favours the development of obesity.     

Negative affective stress reactivity: The dampening effect of snacking

The present study sets out to further elucidate the complex relationship between daily hassles, snacking, and negative affect (NA). The aim of the present study was to examine whether or not moment‐to‐moment energy intake from snacks moderates the association between momentary stress and NA. And, if so, can this moderating effect be replicated by using the amount of macronutrient intake (i.e., carbohydrates, fat, and protein) as moderator on the association between momentary stress and NA? Adults (N = 269), aged 20–50 years, participated in this study. Stress, NA, and snack intake were assessed 10 times a day for 7 consecutive days in daily life with an experience sampling smartphone application. Multilevel regression analyses were performed to assess the hypothesized associations. Our study revealed a dampening effect of snacking on negative affective stress reactivity. However, this dampening effect could not be replicated by the amount of macronutrient intake from snacks. On the contrary, the amount of carbohydrates has an enhancing effect on negative affective stress reactivity. In the end, our study suggests that the critical question is which mechanisms are decisive in the dampening role of snacking on stress reactivity. A multidisciplinary approach may provide a full perspective.     

DETERMINING SNACKING PATTERNS AND SNACK NUTRIENT QUALITY

Combining existing methodologies, nature of snacking and the quality of food choices of New York state school children were assessed. Use of the technology in other population groups is discussed.     

Does Motivation for Exercise Influence Post-Exercise Snacking Behavior?

It is well established that regular exercise plays an important role in achieving a number of health and wellbeing outcomes. However, certain post-exercise behaviors, including the consumption of unhealthy high-calorie foods, can counteract some of the benefits of physical activity. There are at least three overlapping pathways through which exercise may increase the likelihood of consuming pleasurable but unhealthy foods: through impulsive cognitive processes, reflective cognitive processes, and/or physiological responses. It is argued in this paper that motivation toward exercise can influence each of these pathways. Drawing from literature from various domains, we postulate that controlled exercise motivation, as opposed to autonomous exercise motivation, is more likely to influence each of these pathways in a manner that leaves individuals susceptible to the post-exercise consumption of pleasurable but unhealthy foods.     

The accumulation of healthy lifestyle behaviors prevents the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in middle-aged and older males

Aim

This study was retrospectively designed to evaluate the influence of healthy lifestyle behaviors on the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) during a 5-year follow-up period in middle-aged and older males.

Methods

The subjects included 252 males without a history of cardiovascular disease, stroke, renal dysfunction and/or dialysis treatment who were not taking any medications. Their lifestyle behaviors were evaluated using a standardized self-administered questionnaire and defined as follows: (1) habitual moderate exercise, (2) daily physical activity, (3) fast walking speed, (4) slow eating speed, (5) no late-night dinner, (6) no bedtime snacking and (7) no skipping breakfast. The participants were divided into four categories, which were classified into quartile distributions according to the number of healthy lifestyle behaviors (7–6, 5, 4 and ≤3 groups).

Results

After 5 years, the incidence of CKD [estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min/1.73 m² and/or proteinuria] was observed in 23 subjects (9.1 %). The Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that the cumulative incidence of CKD significantly decreased according to an increase in the number of healthy lifestyle behaviors (log-rank test: p = 0.003). According to a multivariate analysis, habitual moderate exercise [hazard ratio (HR) 0.20, 95 % confidence of interval (CI) 0.06–0.69, p = 0.011] and no bedtime snacking (HR 0.19, 95 % CI 0.08–0.48, p = 0.004) were significantly associated with the incidence of CKD.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the accumulation of healthy lifestyle behaviors, especially those related to habitual moderate exercise and no bedtime snacking, is considered to be important to reduce the risk of CKD.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12199-016-0506-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.