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Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of food neophobia in pre-school children and its association with eating habits, dietary intake and anthropometric parameters.Design: Cross-sectional survey performed in 2012-2013. The Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS) adapted by Wardle, Carnell and Cooke was used to assess the level of food neophobia. Dietary intake was measured using an FFQ and dietary records from three days. Anthropometric measurements were taken to determine children's nutritional status and BMI was computed based on Polish growth charts. Wilcoxon's rank test and Pearson's rank-correlation coefficient were applied to compare the level of food neophobia and frequency of consumption of food products and nutrient intakes.Setting: Kindergartens in southern Poland located in or near Cracow.Subjects: Three hundred and twenty-five pre-school children and their parents.Results: Low neophobia was observed in 12·3 % and high neophobia in 10·8 % of the children examined. Children with a high level of neophobia were significantly less likely (P<0·05) to eat eggs, raw or cooked vegetables and legumes, whereas they tended to eat sweets and snacks more frequently; these foodstuffs were also eaten more often between meals. Because the neophobic children ate vegetables very rarely, their intakes of vitamin C (36 % of RDA) and thiamin (84 % of RDA) were far below the norms. No differences in anthropometric parameters according to level of food neophobia were observed.Conclusions: High levels of neophobia are associated with diet variation and may enhance the risk of nutritional deficiencies in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preschool period Is a stage of Intensive development of the food preferences and the pro-health attitudes associated with normal eating behaviors and consequently eating habits in adulthood. The aim of the study was to assess eating behaviors of children attending kindergartens in relation to selected socio-economic factors in their families. The study was conducted in a group of 325 children, whose average age was 5.23 ± 1. 3 0 years, attending nine kindergartens in Krakow. The questionnaire was filled in by 51.4% (N = 167) of parents of boys and 48.6% (N = 158) of girls. To conduct qualitative assessment of nutrition habits the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used with addition of questions regarding the socio-economic situation of the surveyed families. Differences in selected dietary behaviors of children were evaluated by gender, family income and parents' educational level. The study indicates the existence of the relationship between food-related behaviour of preschool children and parents' education level and family income The resulting image of dietary behaviours of children in the study group has identified numerous anomalies that require an active and ongoing nutrition education for children and their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptin (LEP) and omentin (OMEN) are proteins whose concentrations change with the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). There are few intervention studies using various forms of physical activity in people with MetS that aim to determine the impact of physical exercise on the fluctuations of the presented hormones, and their results are contradictory. The present study aimed to examine the effect of two types of exercise intervention on LEP and OMEN concentrations and indicators of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in males with MetS. The study included 62 males with MetS (age 36.6 ± 6.9 years, body mass 110.31 ± 17.37 kg), randomly allocated to EG1, the examined group with aerobic training (n = 21); EG2, the examined group with combined aerobic and resistance training (n = 21), both for 12 weeks, and the control group (CG) without interventions (n = 20). Anthropometric measurements, body composition (body fat [BF], android body fat [ANDR]), as well as a biochemical blood analysis (omentin [OMEN], leptin [LEP], quantitative insulin sensitivity check index [QUICKI], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C] and nonHDL-C) were performed at baseline, and at 6 and 12 weeks of interventions and after 4 weeks after ending intervention (follow-up). Intergroup and intragroup comparisons were performed. In the intervention groups EG1 and EG2, a decrease in BF was observed as well as an improvement in carbohydrate metabolism parameters. In the EG1 group, the level of ANDR was reduced. In EG2 a decrease in LEP concentration between measurements was confirmed. However, no significant changes were found in the concentration of OMEN in any groups. Combined aerobic and resistance exercises led to a higher reduction of LEP concentration than applying only aerobic training in males with MetS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of obesity in Poland increases rapidly, especially fast among children and adolescents. An important and also fully accepted by the society ways of fighting this phenomenon are social marketing and educational interventions. To make these activities effective they have to keep pace with changes in information behavior of target groups. But the importance of raising information competency of consumers is not fully understood by those who design and implement health programs and health Information behavior and literacy rarely are the subject of research. The goal of this study is to find where and how Polish citizens look for diet related information, what barriers they encounter, and whether they behave differently in comparison with citizens of other European countries. Method: A survey administered through computer-assisted on-line web-interviewing to a probabilistic, stratified by age and gender, sample of respondents in Poland (n = 600). Comparison sample - same number of respondents in Belgium, Denmark, Italy and UK. Results: 49% of surveyed Poles do not know where to look for healthy diet related information and have bigger problems with this task then the respondents in other surveyed countries. In comparison with Danish, a probability that a Pole knows where to look for such information decreases twice. Individual and environmental determinants strongly affect information knowledge and behavior. Men, educated, poorer and sicker persons have bigger problems with finding information and are less likely to attempt to look for it. Majority of respondents uses Internet and Google to look for healthy diet information. Only 23% of Polish respondents would turn to their GPs for healthy eating advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review provides a classification of public policies to promote healthier eating as well as a structured mapping of existing measures in Europe. Complete coverage of alternative policy types was ensured by complementing the review with a selection of major interventions from outside Europe. Under the auspices of the Seventh Framework Programme's Eatwell Project, funded by the European Commission, researchers from five countries reviewed a representative selection of policy actions based on scientific papers, policy documents, grey literature, government websites, other policy reviews, and interviews with policy-makers. This work resulted in a list of 129 policy interventions, 121 of which were in Europe. For each type of policy, a critical review of its effectiveness was conducted, based on the evidence currently available. The results of this review indicate a need exists for a more systematic and accurate evaluation of government-level interventions as well as for a stronger focus on actual behavioral change rather than changes in attitude or intentions alone. The currently available evidence is very heterogeneous across policy types and is often incomplete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in several EU Member States many public interventions have been running for the prevention and/or management of obesity and other nutrition-related health conditions, few have yet been formally evaluated. The multidisciplinary team of the EATWELL project will gather benchmark data on healthy eating interventions in EU Member States and review existing information on the effectiveness of interventions using a three-stage procedure (i) Assessment of the intervention's impact on consumer attitudes, consumer behaviour and diets; (ii) The impact of the change in diets on obesity and health and (iii) The value attached by society to these changes, measured in life years gained, cost savings and quality-adjusted life years. Where evaluations have been inadequate, EATWELL will gather secondary data and analyse them with a multidisciplinary approach incorporating models from the psychology and economics disciplines. Particular attention will be paid to lessons that can be learned from private sector that are transferable to the healthy eating campaigns in the public sector. Through consumer surveys and workshops with other stakeholders, EATWELL will assess the acceptability of the range of potential interventions. Armed with scientific quantitative evaluations of policy interventions and their acceptability to stakeholders, EATWELL expects to recommend more appropriate interventions for Member States and the EU, providing a one-stop guide to methods and measures in interventions evaluation, and outline data collection priorities for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]