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Background and Aims If socio-economic disadvantage is associated with more adolescent smoking, but less participation in tertiary education, and smoking and tertiary education are both associated with heavier drinking, these may represent opposing pathways to heavy drinking. This paper examines contextual variation in the magnitude and direction of these associations. Design Comparing cohort studies. Setting United Kingdom. Participants Participants were from the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS58; n = 15 672), the British birth cohort study (BCS70; n = 12 735) and the West of Scotland Twenty-07 1970s cohort (T07; n = 1515). Measurements Participants self-reported daily smoking and weekly drinking in adolescence (age 16 years) and heavy drinking (> 14/21 units in past week) in early adulthood (ages 22-26 years). Parental occupational class (manual versus non-manual) indicated socio-economic background. Education beyond age 18 was coded as tertiary. Models were adjusted for parental smoking and drinking, family structure and adolescent psychiatric distress. Findings Respondents from a manual class were more likely to smoke and less likely to enter tertiary education (e.g. in NCDS58, probit coefficients were 0.201 and -0.765, respectively; P < 0.001 for both) than respondents from a non-manual class. Adolescent smokers were more likely to drink weekly in adolescence (0.346; P < 0.001) and more likely to drink heavily in early adulthood (0.178; P < 0.001) than adolescent non-smokers. Respondents who participated in tertiary education were more likely to drink heavily in early adulthood (0.110 for males, 0.182 for females; P < 0.001 for both) than respondents with no tertiary education. With some variation in magnitude, these associations were consistent across all three cohorts. Conclusions In Britain, young adults are more likely to drink heavily both if they smoke and participate in tertiary education (college and university) despite socio-economic background being associated in opposite directions with these risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Energy density ( ED) is a measure of the energy content of a food component or diet relative to a standard unit of weight. Widespread variation in ED assessment methodologies exist. The present study aimed to explore the feasibility of calculating the ED of the Scottish diet using UK food purchase survey data and to identify the most appropriate method for calculating ED for use in the development of a Scottish Dietary Goal that captures any socioeconomic differences. Methods Energy density was calculated using five different methods [food; food and milk; food, milk and energy containing (non-alcoholic) beverages; food, milk and all non-alcoholic beverages; and all food and beverages]. ED of the Scottish diet was estimated for each of the ED methods and data were examined by deprivation category. Results Mean ED varied from 409 to 847 kJ 100 g-1 depending on the method used. ED values calculated from food (847 kJ 100 g-1) and food and milk (718 kJ 100 g-1) were most comparable to other published data, with the latter being a more accurate reflection of all food consumed. For these two methods, there was a significant gradient between the most and least deprived quintiles (892-807 and 737-696 kJ 100 g-1 for food and food and milk, respectively). Conclusions Because the World Cancer Research Fund recommendations are based on ED from food and milk, it was considered prudent to use this method for policy purposes and for future monitoring work of the Scottish Diet to ensure consistency of reporting and comparability with other published studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the association between watching TV whilst eating and consumption of ultraprocessed foods amongst children aged 4–10 years old in the United Kingdom. Cross‐sectional data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS 2008–2012) were analysed. Dietary data were derived from 4‐day food diaries of 1,277 children, and the dietary contribution of ultraprocessed foods was assessed. Meals were classified based on time of day in which foods were consumed (lunch: 11 pm–3 pm and dinner: 6 pm–9 pm). Crude and adjusted linear regression models were employed to verify the effect of watching TV during meals on dietary contribution of ultraprocessed foods (% of total energy intake). More than 70% of the children watched TV during meals, and 31.4% presented the behaviour on both "lunch and dinner." Children's mean total energy intake was 1,532.3 kcal/day, of which 65.8% came from ultraprocessed foods. Findings indicated that children who watched TV whilst having both meals (lunch and dinner) consumed on average 85.5 kcal/day and 6.1% more energy from ultraprocessed foods than those who did not. Children who watched TV only during dinner consumed on average 37.1 kcal/day and 3.4% more energy from ultraprocessed foods than those who did not. The behaviour of watching TV whilst eating meals was associated with higher total daily consumption of ultraprocessed foods by children in the United Kingdom. Therefore, interventions designed to promote healthy eating habits should include aspects related to the context of meals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]