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Objectives: To describe the eating behaviour styles of Irish teens and to explore the relationships between demographic factors, BMI and dietary intake and these eating behaviour styles., Design: Cross-sectional data from the Irish National Teens' Food Survey (2005-2006). The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire assessed three eating behaviour styles in teens: restrained, emotional and external eating. Data were stratified by sex and age groups., Setting: The Republic of Ireland., Participants: Nationally representative sample of teens aged 13-17 years (n 441)., Results: The highest scoring eating behaviour style was external eating (2·83 external v. 1·79 restraint and 1·84 emotional). Girls scored higher than boys on all three scales (Restraint: 2·04 v. 1·56, P < 0·001, Emotional: 2·15 v. 1·55, P < 0·001 and External: 2·91 v. 2·76, P = 0·03), and older teens scored higher than younger teens on the Emotional (1·97 v. 1·67, P < 0·001) and External scales (2·91 v. 2·72, P = 0·01). Teens classified as overweight/obese scored higher than those classified as normal weight on the Restraint scale (2·15 v. 1·71, P < 0·001) and lower on the External scale (2·67 v. 2·87, P < 0·03). Daily energy intake was negatively correlated with the Restraint (r -0·343, P < 0·001) and Emotional scales (r -0·137, P = 0·004) and positively correlated with the External scale (r 0·110, P = 0·02)., Conclusions: External eating is the predominant eating behaviour style among Irish teens, but sex, age, BMI and dietary differences exist for each eating behaviour style. Including measures of eating behaviour styles into future dietary research could help understand both how and why as well as what people eat.

Objective: To apply a dietary modelling approach to investigate the impact of substituting beef intakes with three types of alternative fatty acid (FA) composition of beef on population dietary fat intakes., Design: Cross-sectional, national food consumption survey - the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS). The fat content of the beef-containing food codes (n 52) and recipes (n 99) were updated with FA composition data from beef from animals receiving one of three ruminant dietary interventions: grass-fed (GRASS), grass finished on grass silage and concentrates (GSC) or concentrate-fed (CONC). Mean daily fat intakes, adherence to dietary guidelines and the impact of altering beef FA composition on dietary fat sources were characterised., Setting: Ireland., Participants: Beef consumers (n 1044) aged 18-90 years., Results: Grass-based feeding practices improved dietary intakes of a number of individual FA, wherein myristic acid (C14 : 0) and palmitic acid (C16 : 0) were decreased, with an increase in conjugated linoleic acid (C18 : 2c9,t11) and trans-vaccenic acid (C18 : 1t11; P < 0·05). Improved adherence with dietary recommendations for total fat (98·5 %), SFA (57·4 %) and PUFA (98·8 %) was observed in the grass-fed beef scenario (P < 0·001). Trans-fat intakes were increased significantly in the grass-fed beef scenario (P < 0·001)., Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to characterise the impact of grass-fed beef consumption at population level. The study suggests that habitual consumption of grass-fed beef may have potential as a public health strategy to improve dietary fat quality.

Objective: To establish the factors that determine food fussiness, to explore if child age determines the extent to which these factors influence food fussiness and to identify whether parental neophobia is an independent determinant of food fussiness., Design: Cross-sectional data from the National Children's Food Survey (2003-2004). The Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) assessed eating behaviours in children. The Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) assessed parental food neophobia. Young children were classified as 5-8 years old with older children classified as 9-12 years old., Setting: Republic of Ireland.ParticipantsNationally representative sample of Irish children aged 5-12 years (n 594)., Results: Parents identifying child's food preferences as a barrier to providing their child with a healthy diet was significantly associated with increased food fussiness in younger (P&lt;0·001) and older children (P&lt;0·001). Higher levels of parental neophobia were significantly associated with an increase in food fussiness in younger (P&lt;0·05) and older (P&lt;0·001) children. Food advertising as a barrier to providing a healthy diet was inversely associated with food fussiness in younger children (P&lt;0·05). In older children, there was a significant inverse association between child's BMI and food fussiness (P&lt;0·05), but not to the extent that a difference in weight status was noted. Family mealtimes in older children were associated with significantly lower levels of food fussiness (P&lt;0·05)., Conclusions: Findings from the present study identify that a child's age does determine the extent to which certain factors influence food fussiness and that parental neophobia is an independent determinant of food fussiness.

Objective: Obesity is a serious public health issue, the prevalence of which is increasing globally. The present study aimed to investigate trends in overweight and obesity in Irish adults between 1990 and 2011., Design: Anthropometric data from three Irish national food consumption surveys were used to calculate trends in BMI, waist circumference and waist:hip ratio., Setting: Three cross-sectional food consumption surveys: the Irish National Nutrition Survey (1990), the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey (2001) and the National Adult Nutrition Survey (2011)., Subjects: A collective sample of free-living Irish adults (n 3125), aged 18-64 years., Results: There were significant increases in mean weight, height and BMI from 1990 to 2011. Significant increments were also reported in waist and hip circumferences and waist:hip ratio between 2001 and 2011, with concurrent increases in the proportion of individuals at risk of developing CVD, particularly females aged 18-35 years. In 2011, 23·4 % of the Irish population was classified as obese; with the mean BMI increasing by 1·1 kg/m2 between 1990 and 2001 and by 0·6 kg/m2 between 2001 and 2011., Conclusions: The present paper characterises obesity levels in Irish adults from 1990 to 2011. Absolute levels of overweight and obesity have increased between these time points. Of concern is the increase in the proportion of young women classified as at risk of CVD, using waist circumference and waist:hip ratio. Effective prevention strategies are needed to avoid further increases.