Trends in Child Overweight Rates and Energy Intake in France From 1999 to 2007: Relationships With Socioeconomic Status

Objective: To review recent data on objectively measured overweight/obesity in national representative samples of European adolescents (aged 10-18 years), as well as availability of studies assessing trends in overweight/obesity in this target group. Attention was paid to the ability of the data to describe the obesity epidemic, especially in sociodemographic subgroups. Design/setting/subjects: Data on prevalence and trends in overweight/obesity among adolescents in the twenty-seven European Community member states, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, available as scientific publications as well as reports or unpublished data by the end of 2009, were retrieved. Reports on the most recent objectively measured data from national representative samples were selected and described with regard to the years of data collection, sample sizes, response rates, age ranges included, trends by age, type of measures of overweight/obesity, sociodemographic variables and the sources of information. Results: Objectively measured data on national representative samples were identified for only half of the countries, and the trend studies were mainly conducted applying subnational samples. Most studies used the criteria from the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) to define overweight/obesity, but the age ranges studied and the years of data collection varied, and information on sample sizes and response rates were often not presented. Data on trends of overweight/obesity over time are increasing, and the most recent studies indicate that the prevalence rate of overweight/obesity has stabilized. Few studies reported data by sociodemographic subgroups other than gender and age. Conclusions: Objectively measured data on national representative samples of adolescents appear scattered, and there is a large heterogeneity with respect to the quality and comparability of available data. Increasing use of the IOTF criteria for overweight/obesity contributes to improved comparability across studies. Data by sociodemographic subgroups, and in particular by socio-economic status, are scarce.Several scientific reports have shown that the obesity epidemic has reached children and adolescents in Europe. The reports suggest that there are clear geographic differences within the continent, with southern Europe and the British Isles reporting the highest prevalence rates of overweight/obesity among children and adolescents (1)(2)(3)(4) . In 2007, WHO Europe published a report on the challenge of obesity in Europe (1) . It was concluded that objectively measured and valid data on BMI were lacking for about half of the European countries. Furthermore, making comparisons between countries was difficult due to great variation in response rates, age ranges included, years of data collection and definition of overweight and obesity (1) . Considering the importance given to childhood obesity in the current public health discourse, as well as the urgent need to have high-quality

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Availability of data assessing the prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among European adolescents

Lien

Henriksen

Nymoen

et al. 2010

“…An additional socio-economic factor, called the 'household living standards index', was used. It was derived from correspondence analysis performed on the matrix based on the variables coding for the household's living standards, as previously described (19) . The score of each household on the first principal component was used as the summary index, and divided into tertiles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-economic and demographic variations in school lunch participation of French children aged 3–17 years

Dubuisson

Lioret

Dufour

et al. 2010

Self Cite

Objective: To assess school canteen attendance in a French nationally representative sample of children and to analyse its association with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the children and their families. Design: Data from the second French national cross-sectional food consumption survey (INCA2), performed in 2006-2007, were used. Information on usual weekly school canteen attendance was collected through a self-reported questionnaire, and demographic and socio-economic variables through a face-to-face questionnaire. The associations between school canteen attendance and the socio-economic and demographic variables were investigated by multivariate logistic regression analyses. Setting: The INCA2 sample was representative of the children aged 3-17 years in France. Subject: Analysis was performed on 1413 schoolchildren who completed the school canteen attendance questions. Results: Some 65?6 % of schoolchildren aged 3-17 years had school lunch at least once weekly. This rate of attendance was positively correlated with age. Whatever the school level, school canteen attendance was positively associated with the educational level of the caregiver/parent. In pre-and elementary-school children, enrolment at the school canteen was also higher when the caregiver/parent worked, or in single-parent families. In secondary-school children, school lunch participation decreased with children living in more densely populated areas and increased with the level of the household's living standards. Conclusions: School canteen attendance was positively associated with children's socio-economic background. This could reduce the effectiveness of the forthcoming school meal composition regulations designed to improve the diet of children from deprived backgrounds, who are more likely to have unhealthy food habits.

“…Nutritional interventions aimed at reducing energy intake can have a quantitative dimension (reducing the overall amount of foods eaten) or a qualitative dimension (stimulating the intake of products with a more favourable nutrient composition) (3)(4)(5) . Despite these interventions to reduce people's energy intake, overweight and obesity prevalence is not decreasing (6,7) . Although several factors and individual differences contribute to this problem, part of the explanation might be found in the fact that people compensate in response to nutritional interventions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I don't have to go to the gym because I ate very healthy today’: the development of a scale to assess diet-related compensatory health beliefs

Poelman

Vermeer

Vyth

et al. 2012

ObjectiveNutritional interventions to decrease energy intake, aimed at portion sizes and front-of-package labelling, are effective only if people do not compensate for their reduced energy intake. Since several observational studies indicate that these interventions could prompt compensation behaviour, it is important to assess underlying beliefs. Therefore, the purpose of the two studies reported here was to develop a Diet-related Compensatory Health Beliefs Scale (Diet-CHBS).DesignCross-sectional surveys were conducted for the scale development. Study 1 provided data on the factor analysis and convergent validity, while Study 2 assessed the Diet-CHBS’ test–retest reliability.SettingsVU University Amsterdam (Study 1) and twenty-five worksite cafeterias in the Netherlands (Study 2).SubjectsStudy 1 was conducted among 179 students and their parents; Study 2 was conducted among 119 worksite cafeteria visitors.ResultsThe results of Study 1 showed that the scale consisted of the hypothesized factors of compensation beliefs with regard to portion sizes (α = 0·73), front-of-package health logos (α = 0·77) and exercise (α = 0·75). The scale's overall Cronbach's α was 0·82. The Diet-CHBS had a Pearson correlation of 0·32 with a general health compensatory beliefs scale, signifying satisfactory convergent validity. Study 2 showed that the intra-class correlation coefficient between T1 and T2 was 0·69, indicating adequate test–retest reliability.ConclusionThe Diet-CHBS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing diet-related compensatory health beliefs in response to nutritional interventions. It is important to take such beliefs into account in further intervention studies aimed at preventing overweight and obesity.