Associations among evening snacking, screen time, weight status, and overall diet quality in young adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the associations among evening snacking (food choices, portion sizes), afterschool-evening screen time, overall diet quality, and weight status. Participants consisted of 1008 young adolescents (secondary analyses, n = 651) from schools in Windsor-Essex, Ontario. The Web-based Food Behaviour Questionnaire, including a 24-h diet recall, was used to assess eating and screen time behaviours (television and video and computer games), as well as nutrient intake; height and weight for BMI were measured using a stadiometer. Results indicated that the majority of participants (62%) consumed an evening snack that contributed approximately 11% of their daily caloric intake. Evening snacking was associated with an overall good diet quality compared with that of non-evening snackers (p < 0.001). Increased afterschool-evening screen time was associated with fewer evening snack servings of vegetables and fruit (p < 0.05) and an overall increase in evening snack food portion sizes (p < 0.001). After accounting for other evening snacking factors, participants with greater than 6 h of afterschool-evening screen time were less likely to have a good overall diet quality compared with those with less than 1 h of afterschool-evening screen time. Therefore, increased screen time, because it is associated with greater evening snack portion sizes and overall poor diet quality, is of great concern regarding young adolescents' evening behaviour.

The Association between Energy Balance-Related Behavior and Burn-Out in Adults: A Systematic Review

“…A similar interaction between both behaviors, but with mortality as the outcome measure, was found in a large-scale meta-analysis (including over one million men and women), where high levels of moderate intensity physical activity (about 60-75 min per day) eliminated the increased risk of death associated with high sitting time [71]. In addition, previous studies showed that increased screen time was associated with an overall poor diet quality [72,73]. The above indicates possible triangular interactions, again highlighting the importance of combining all energy balance-related behaviors when investigating their association with burn-out risk.…”

Sedentary behaviour and diet across the lifespan: an updated systematic review

“…Adolescent study quality ranged from 4/16 to 15/16, median=8 (scores 19: n=127; 10: n=428–31; 8: n=232 33; 7: n=134; 6: n=518 35–38; 5: n=139; 4: n=140). Study quality scores in adults for studies ranged from 5/16 to 7/16, median=6 (scores 7: n=141; 6: n=118; 5: n=142).…”

Experiences of overweight/obese adolescents in navigating their home food environment

“…Finally, a small number of adolescents identified screen use and studying as a barrier to healthful eating, which has been linked with the consumption of less healthful foods/ beverages in previous studies (42,45) . Participants thought this was related to boredom, lack of awareness, hunger, stress and social reasons, while previous studies have identified distraction, lack of awareness and advertising as factors contributing to overconsumption while watching television (46,47) .…”