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Persuading the Population to Eat a Healthier Diet

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A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 22732

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Norman Temple

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Guest Editor

Centre for Science, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada
Interests: diet; diseases of lifestyle; strategies to reduce the risk of chronic disease; food labels; government policy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is now firmly established that chronic diseases of lifestyle (CDL) are closely related to the Western lifestyle and are therefore potentially preventable. There has been an enormous effort to discover effective interventions that would persuade the population to adopt a healthier lifestyle so as to enhance health and prevent disease. This collection of papers critically examines some of the strategies that have been used, including improved designs of food guides and food labels, policies that restrict advertising of unhealthy foods, setting limits on the food content of unhealthy components (such as trans fatty acids and salt), and government policies to make a healthier diet more affordable.

Topics covered can include:

Improved designs of food guides;
Improved designs of food labels;
Restricting the advertising of unhealthy foods, especially when the target audience is young people;
Setting limits on the food content of unhealthy components (such as trans fatty acids and salt);
The use of taxes and subsidies on food (taxes to reduce intake of unhealthy food, subsidies to make healthy food cheaper).

Dr. Norman J. Temple
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Food guides
Food labels
Food advertisements
Trans fatty acids
Salt
Food prices

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1211 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Young Adults’ Concerns and Attitudes toward Food-Related Sustainability Issues in Israel: Implications for Food Policy

by Sigal Tepper, Vered Kaufman-Shriqui and Danit Rivka Shahar

Nutrients 2020, 12(10), 3190; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12103190 - 19 Oct 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2502

Abstract

Identifying the concerns about and attitudes toward adopting a healthy, sustainable diet may facilitate the development of effective implementation policies targeted at changing an individual’s dietary choices toward reducing the environmental burden of food systems. This cross-sectional online study was conducted in Israel among 348 adults aged 20–45 who responded to an advertisement posted on several social media platforms. Respondents received a link for the survey after signing informed consent forms. The questionnaire included three sections: concerns regarding food-related sustainability issues, willingness to act (“self”), and expectation that leaders would act upon these issues (“leaders”). Responses were recorded on a 1–4 Likert scale. Health-related issues—healthy food and drink, food prices, food safety, and the quality of health services—were scored the highest, both in the “self” and “leaders” sections. In all items, the expectation that leaders would act was higher than the willingness to act (composite mean ± SD: 3.04 ± 3.11 vs. 2.51 ± 2.47, respectively, p < 0.001). There were significant differences among dietary patterns in all three components. Mapping young adults’ concerns about and attitudes toward food-related sustainability issues allows for the identification of leverages that can be further used as focus issues in messages and interventions such as communication, food labeling, and economic incentives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Persuading the Population to Eat a Healthier Diet)

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11 pages, 611 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Change in Growth and Diet Quality Among Preschool Children in Tokyo, Japan

by Chisa Shinsugi, Yukako Tani, Kayo Kurotani, Hidemi Takimoto, Manami Ochi and Takeo Fujiwara

Nutrients 2020, 12(5), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12051290 - 01 May 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3927

Abstract

Dietary intake of adequate quality and quantity in early life is essential for healthy growth and development. This study aimed to examine the association between one-year change in growth and diet quality in preschool children in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan. A total of 110 participants (49% boys, four to five years old at baseline) were included in this analysis. Body mass index for age z-score (BAZ) and height for age z-score (HAZ) were calculated in accordance with WHO reference. Dietary intakes were assessed using the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire for children (BDHQ3y), and daily quality score was calculated based on the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top (JFGST score). Regression analyses found no significant association between one-year change in growth and diet quality (compared to a low JFGST score, BAZ: β = 0.16, 95% CI: −0.29 to 0.60 for a middle JFGST score, β = −0.14, 95% CI: −0.61 to 0.33 for a high JFGST score, HAZ: β = −0.15, 95% CI: −0.50 to 0.21 for a middle JFGST score, β = −0.06, 95% CI: −0.43 to 0.30 for a high JFGST score). Further studies are needed to develop an appropriate diet quality index for healthy growth in Japanese preschool children. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Persuading the Population to Eat a Healthier Diet)

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13 pages, 1974 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nutrient Extraction Lowers Postprandial Glucose Response of Fruit in Adults with Obesity as well as Healthy Weight Adults

by Rabab Alkutbe, Kathy Redfern, Michael Jarvis and Gail Rees

Nutrients 2020, 12(3), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12030766 - 14 Mar 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4664

Abstract

Fruit consumption is recommended as part of a healthy diet. However, consumption of fruit in the form of juice is positively associated with type 2 diabetes risk, possibly due to resulting hyperglycemia. In a recent study, fruit juice prepared by nutrient extraction, a process that retains the fiber component, was shown to elicit a favorable glycemic index (GI), compared to eating the fruit whole, in healthy weight adults. The current study expanded on this to include individuals with obesity, and assessed whether the nutrient extraction of seeded fruits reduced GI in a higher disease risk group. Nutrient extraction was shown to significantly lower GI, compared to eating fruit whole, in subjects with obesity (raspberry/mango: 25.43 ± 18.20 vs. 44.85 ± 20.18, p = 0.034 and passion fruit/mango (26.30 ± 25.72 vs. 42.56 ± 20.64, p = 0.044). Similar results were found in those of a healthy weight. In summary, the current study indicates that the nutrient-extraction of raspberries and passionfruit mixed with mango lowers the GI, not only in healthy weight individuals, but also in those with obesity, and supports further investigation into the potential for nutrient extraction to enable increased fruit intake without causing a high glycemic response. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Persuading the Population to Eat a Healthier Diet)

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12 pages, 1829 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sugar Reduction in Yogurt Products Sold in the UK between 2016 and 2019

by J. Bernadette Moore, Eiméar H. Sutton and Neil Hancock

Nutrients 2020, 12(1), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12010171 - 08 Jan 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 11201

Abstract

The UK government has called for industry reformulation of foods that contribute most to sugar consumption in children’s diets, including yogurts. The aim of this work was to comprehensively survey yogurt products available in UK supermarkets in 2019 to determine whether sugar contents had been reduced since our baseline survey in 2016. Product information was collected for 893 unique yogurt, fromage frais and dairy dessert products, and nutrient contents were analysed in comparison to those previously examined. Examining all products, there was a highly significant (p < 0.0001) reduction in the median total sugar contents in 2019 compared to those in 2016: median (interquartile range): 10.4 g/100 g (6.6, 13.0) versus 11.9 g/100 (8.8, 13.6). However, notable product turnover was evident; while 60% of the 2019 products surveyed could be matched by brand and name to 2016, 40% were new. In scrutinising paired products closely, only 32% (173 of 539) had reduced sugar contents with a smaller mean difference of −0.65 g/100 g (p < 0.0001), suggesting that the overall median had dropped as a result of higher sugar products being discontinued. Categories showing the most improvements were children’s, drinks and fruit yogurts. Although only 15% of the 2019 products contained ≤5 g/100 g sugars, considered a ‘low-sugar’ product for labelling, this was an improvement over the 9% identified in 2016. Our results yield important insights into current market trends and demonstrate that the median sugar content of UK yogurt products has been reduced by 13% in two years. These data independently evidence modest, but encouraging changes in response to public policy initiatives aimed at preventing childhood obesity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Persuading the Population to Eat a Healthier Diet)

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