The influence of the food environment on overweight and obesity in young children: a systematic review
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Background and objective: The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has led to interest in its prevention, particularly through school-based and family-based interventions in the early years. Most evidence reviews, to date, have focused on individual behaviour change rather than the ‘obesogenic environment’. Objective: This paper reviews the evidence on the influence of the food environment on overweight and obesity in children up to 8 years. Data sources: Electronic databases (including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), DARE, CINAHL and Psycho-Info) and reference lists of original studies and reviews were searched for all papers published up to 31 August 2011. Study selection: Study designs included were either population-based intervention studies or a longitudinal study. Studies were included if the majority of the children studied were under 9 years, if they related to diet and if they focused on prevention rather than treatment in clinical settings. Data extraction: Data included in the tables were characteristics of participants, aim, and key outcome results. Quality assessment of the selected studies was carried out to identify potential bias and an evidence ranking exercise carried out to prioritise areas for future public health interventions. Data synthesis: Thirty-five studies (twenty-five intervention studies and ten longitudinal studies) were selected for the review. There was moderately strong evidence to support interventions on food promotion, large portion sizes and sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Conclusions: Reducing food promotion to young children, increasing the availability of smaller portions and providing alternatives to sugar-sweetened soft drinks should be considered in obesity prevention programmes aimed at younger children. These environment-level interventions would support individual and family-level behaviour change.
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The food environment plays an influential role in shaping the diets of children and may contribute to the development of obesity and other adverse health outcomes.
“The food environment plays an influential role in shaping the diets of children and may contribute to the development of obesity and other adverse health outcomes [1, 2].”
From Comparison of the nutrient content of children’s menu items at US restaurant chains, 2010–2014 (2015) · cites this paper as [2]
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Comparison of the nutrient content of children’s menu items at US restaurant chains, 2010–2014
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- Authors
- Osei-Assibey, G., Dick, S., Macdiarmid, J., Semple, S., Reilly, J. J., Ellaway, A., Cowie, H., & McNeill, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Public Health Nutrition Research Group, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (GB)
- Institute of Occupational Medicine (GB)
- Corresponding author
- McNeill, Geraldine
- Venue
- BMJ Open
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e001538
- ISSN
- 2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3532982
- OpenAlex
- W2165987395
- Cited by
- 188
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (acceptedVersion)
- Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Scottish Government
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Keywords
- childhood obesity, overweight, food environment, obesogenic environment, obesity prevention, young children, food promotion, portion size, sugar-sweetened beverages, school-based intervention, family intervention
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