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Correlates of Lifestyle and Obesity

Association between home and school food environments and dietary patterns among 9–11-year-old children in 12 countries

International Journal of Obesity Supplements volume 5, pages S66–S73 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives:

We investigated the roles of home and school environments on dietary patterns among children from 12 countries differing widely in geographic region and levels of human and economic development.

Methods:

The sample included a total of 6685 (54% girls) 9–11-year-old children. Parents/guardians reported the availability of certain foods in the home, and trained researchers performed school audits recording the availability of foods for sale at schools. Foods were then divided into wholesome (nutrient-dense) and empty-calorie (nutrient-poor) foods and scored according to their availability. Children reported if their school provided school lunch and how many times during the last week they had eaten meals prepared away from home and school. Via principal components analysis, data-driven dietary pattern scores were calculated from food frequency questionnaires. Multilevel models were used to study the associations between home and school food environments (wholesome and empty-calorie foods) and dietary patterns (healthy and unhealthy diet pattern scores).

Results:

For low unhealthy diet pattern scores, low availability of empty-calorie foods at home was found to be more important than high availability of wholesome foods. More meals eaten outside home and school were associated with the higher unhealthy diet pattern scores. The availability of wholesome foods at home was positively associated with the healthy diet pattern scores. Food availability at school was not associated with the dietary patterns.

Conclusions:

In this sample, the home food environment was more significant than the school food environment in predicting the dietary patterns. The availability of empty-calorie foods was associated with the unhealthy dietary pattern even when the availability of wholesome foods at home was high. Meals prepared away from home contributed to the unhealthy dietary pattern. Therefore, parents should be encouraged to limit the availability of empty-calorie foods and eating outside the home.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ISCOLE External Advisory Board and the ISCOLE participants and their families who made this study possible. A membership list of the ISCOLE Research Group and External Advisory Board is included in Katzmarzyk et al. (this issue). ISCOLE was funded by The Coca-Cola Company.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Division of Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    H Vepsäläinen, V Mikkilä, M Erkkola & M Fogelholm

  2. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    S T Broyles, G Hu, C Tudor-Locke, T S Church & P T Katzmarzyk

  3. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,

    J-P Chaput & M S Tremblay

  4. St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    R Kuriyan & A Kurpad

  5. Department of Human Biology, Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    E V Lambert

  6. Alliance for Research In Exercise Nutrition and Acticity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C Maher & T Olds

  7. CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J Maia

  8. Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    V Matsudo

  9. Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    V Onywera

  10. School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    O L Sarmiento

  11. Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    M Standage

  12. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    C Tudor-Locke

  13. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    P Zhao

Authors
  1. H Vepsäläinen
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  2. V Mikkilä
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  3. M Erkkola
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  9. E V Lambert
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  10. C Maher
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  14. V Onywera
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  15. O L Sarmiento
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  16. M Standage
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  17. M S Tremblay
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  18. C Tudor-Locke
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  19. P Zhao
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  20. T S Church
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  21. P T Katzmarzyk
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  22. M Fogelholm
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H Vepsäläinen.

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Competing interests

MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland and has received an honorarium for speaking for Merck. AK has been a member of the Advisory Boards of Dupont and McCain Foods. RK has received a research grant from Abbott Nutrition Research and Development. VMa is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Actigraph and has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. TO has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Vepsäläinen, H., Mikkilä, V., Erkkola, M. et al. Association between home and school food environments and dietary patterns among 9–11-year-old children in 12 countries. Int J Obes Supp 5 (Suppl 2), S66–S73 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.22

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