Home environment variables and adolescent soft drink consumption

Soft-drink consumption is regarded as one of the important target behaviours for the prevention of excessive weight gain among adolescents. To be able to modify these behaviours in obesity prevention interventions, further understanding of the underlying factors and mediational pathways is required: why do adolescents drink soft drinks and what may help or motivate them to drink less? A study recently published online in Appetite journal  aimed to explore associations between home environment variables and adolescent soft drink consumption. The ENDORSE study data were used for this purpose and the study was a collaboration between researchers from the EMGO institute for Health and Care Research, the department of Public Health of Erasmus Medical Center and the Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research at Deakin University. We explored if  home environment variables such as home availability and accessibility of soft drinks, parental modeling, and parental rules regarding soft drink consumption of their adolescent children), as well as  the adolescents' intentions, attitudes, perceived behavior control, and perceived parental norm and habit strength regarding soft drinks were associated with their intake levels.  We found significant associations between the home environment variables and soft drink consumption and our results indicated that habit strength and intention were the strongest mediators. Intention and habit strength partly mediate the associations between home environment factors and soft drink consumption, suggesting that home environment variables influence soft drink consumption both indirectly and directly.

Two review studies provide systematic insights in what may promote exposure to internet delivered health promotion interventions

The Internet is considered to be a promising delivery channel of interventions aimed at promoting healthful behaviors. Exposure to these interventions, however, is generally low. A more extensive exploration of methods, strategies, and their effectiveness with regard to facilitating exposure is therefore important to improve the use of such interventions and promote healthful behavior changes. Two systematic reviews were conducted that I was involved in a s a co-author, one on studies among adolsecents, one among adults. The first study, with Dr. Rik Crutzen as firts author, is now e-published in the journal Health Education and Behavior. The review of studies among adults is available on-line, with Wendy Brouwer as first author, at the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

cycling in Patagnonia

The last four weeks + a few days my wife and I cycled part of the route 40 and the Carretera Austral in southern Patagonia. We peddaled through one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Please click here for some pictures.

Tailored health education messages increase attention

Tailored, i.e. personalized and individualized,  health education messages are generally found to be more effective in promoting health behavior change than generic health education messages. The evidence is most convincing for nutrition education messages. It has been argued that a higher attention for personalized messages causes such better effects. A recent study by Kessels et al.  published in the journal 'Appetite' used objective  assessments of attention to test if attention was indeed higher for tailored as compared to generic nutrition education messages. The amount of attention allocation was measured by recording event-related potentials, i.e. 'brain waves', and reaction times. Results revealed a main effect of tailoring, indicating that more attention resources were allocated to tailored vs. non-tailored messages. The study also tested the effects of low threat vs. high threat messages, and the results indicate that high threat messages, i.e. messages that may initiate more fear, get less attention. The findings confirm that tailoring is an effective means to draw attention to health messages, whereas high threat information seems to result in a loss in message attention. Nutrition education should thus be preferably personally tailored but should not present fear arousing messages.

Preparing a special series on epidemiological modelling to progress obesity research and inform obesity policy.

On Monday and Tuesday, November 15 and 16 a group of scientists got together in London at the Welcome Trust conference center, guided by the editors of the Lancet, and supported by the National Heart Forum, to prepare a special series in the Lancet journal on the progress in obesity epidemic and policy research enables by the development and use of epidemiological modelling. This special series will be similar to the one on chronic disease that was recently published in the journal.

The authors of the draft papers were there as well as invited reviewers, to present and comment upon the draft papers and discuss the further development of the special series. I was invited to review on of the four papers. Of course, because the papers are still in a preliminary state, no details on the content of the papers can be shared here. But the series will probably make an important contribution to informing clinicians, public health professionals, policy makers, as well as the general public about epidemiological modelling contributing to better evidence-based obesity policies.

Experiencing the new Nordic Diet at Noma restaurant

A few years ago, Dr. Elling Bere of Agder University in Kristiansand, Norway and myself published a paper in Public Health Nutrition, arguing in favour of regionally appropriate and sustainable health promoting diets ‘diets’.

We argued that because most of the key determinants of the world’s burden of disease are diet-related, the promotion of healthful diets is important for population health worldwide. Furthermore, we argued that changes in health promoting eating habits may also contribute to preservation of the environment. For that purpose, we believed that the translation of health-promoting dietary recommendations into practical recommendations for healthful eating should be more tailored to regional circumstances. This will promote population health as well as help preserve cultural diversity in eating habits and contribute to more environmentally friendly eating. We described a possible regional ‘Nordic’ diet, mimicking the Mediterranean diet to some extent, as an example of such regionally appropriate health promoting diets based on food stuffs readily available and culturally embedded in the Nordic countries of Europe.

The ‘Nordic Diet’ has received quite some attention in recent years and a Danish research project was started. Arguably the best advocate of Nordic eating is the famous Noma restaurant. Noma is a two Michelin star restaurant run by chef René Redzepi in Copenhagen, Denmark. The name is an acronym of the two Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food), and the restaurant is known for its reinvention and interpretation of the Nordic Cuisine. In 2010, it was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World.

Yesterday I was finally able to enjoy the Nordic diet in the very best possible way. With foods like fried reindeer moss, live shrimp (see picture!), goat butter, pine needle desert, wild duck, steamed oyster and much more, I had the best eating experience ever.

EMGO+ Midwifery researchers respond in BMJ to a paper in that journal questionning the Dutch maternity care system

Click here for the full rapid response

Dr. Ank de Jonge from the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and colleagues wrote a rapid response in the British Medical Journal to the paper by Evers et al. in the BMJ on perinatal mortality and morbidity in the Utrecht region. Evers et al.’s study is the first study in the Netherlands ever to show a higher mortality rate among births that started in primary care compared with secondary care. Ank de Jonge et al., argue that given the limitations of the study, the conclusion that labour starting in primary care carries a higher risk of delivery related perinatal death compared to labour starting in secondary care is premature from a scientific point of view.