Efforts to improve the nutritional quality and health promotion in the charitable food system have been undertaken. Though methods exist to track these efforts in terms of food banks’ inventory, there are not research-tested tools to assess, monitor and influence policy, systems and environmental (PSE) changes. The study objective was to develop and evaluate a novel assessment tool that could be used to evaluate a food bank’s efforts to improve the promotion of health and nutritious foods.

The study had five phases: (1) initial development; (2) iterative review and revisions; (3) pilot testing; (4) content validity assessment and (5) inter-rater and test-retest assessment. The Food Bank Health and Nutrition Assessment (FB-HANA) was drafted after reviewing existing policies, nutrition-focused charitable food systems guidance and similar tools for food pantries.

Midwestern United States.

Eleven food banks.

Stakeholders and pilot testers provided initial feedback to refine the FB-HANA’s flow, ease of completion and collection of contextual information. External experts rated the FB-HANA and each of the eight objectives as content valid. A set of two assessments completed by twenty-six community-based professionals, employed by Extension and fourteen food bank staff across eleven food banks, supported moderate to excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability for the FB-HANA overall and each of its objectives.

Evidence suggests that the FB-HANA can be used by either food bank or community-based professionals, such as Extension staff, to provide a perspective on ways food banks promote health and nutrition through PSE approaches.

The objective of the current study was to identify challenges of making and sustaining healthy lifestyle changes for families with children/adolescents affected by obesity, who were referred to a multicomponent healthy lifestyle assessment and intervention programme in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ).

Secondary qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews.

Taranaki region of Aotearoa/NZ.

Thirty-eight interviews with parents/caregivers (n 42) of children/adolescents who had previously been referred to a family-focused multidisciplinary programme for childhood obesity intervention, who identified challenges of making healthy lifestyle changes. Participants had varying levels of engagement, including those who declined contact after their referral.

Participant-identified challenges included financial cost, impact of the food environment, time pressures, stress, maintaining consistency across households, independence in adolescence, concern for mental health and frustration when not seeing changes in weight status.

Participants recognised a range of factors that contributed towards their ability to make and sustain change, including factors at the wider socio-environmental level beyond their immediate control. Even with the support of a multidisciplinary healthy lifestyle programme, participants found it difficult to make sustained changes within an obesogenic environment. Healthy lifestyle intervention programmes and families’ abilities to make and sustain changes require alignment of prevention efforts, focusing on policy changes to improve the food environment and eliminate structural inequities.

To determine whether dietetic students would report a change in their public service motivation (PSM) following a community nutrition service learning (SL) course, and whether the SL model (charity v. project) influences this change differently.

Using a pretest–posttest, nonequivalent groups quasi-experimental design, this study compared students’ PSM at the beginning and end of a 15-week college-level course. PSM and four component dimensions (attraction to public policy, commitment to public interest, compassion and self-sacrifice) were measured via electronic survey using the PSM scale. Average PSM scores were compared between and within the charity and project groups using independent samples and paired sample t tests, respectively. ANCOVA assessed the effect of SL model on post-survey scores, controlling for pre-survey scores.

Public university in northeastern United States.

Dietetic students enrolled in six sections of the same undergraduate community nutrition SL course. Students were placed by section in either charity (n 59) or project (n 52) SL experiences and required to complete 14 h in this role.

Mean PSM total scores increased between pre-survey and post-survey (3·50 v. 3·58; P = 0·001). Students reported small increases in three PSM dimensions: commitment to public interest, compassion and self-sacrifice (all P ≤ 0·01). Holding pre-scores constant, the charity group reported a higher attraction to public policy post-score, while the project group reported a higher self-sacrifice post-score (both P < 0·05).

Educators should consider adopting SL methods into curricular offerings to enhance students’ motivation for public service.

To assess the prevalence of nutritional risk among an ethnically diverse group of urban community-dwelling older adults and to explore if risk varied by race/ethnicity.

Demographic characteristics, Katz’s activities of daily living and health-care resource utilization were ascertained cross-sectionally via telephone surveys with trained interviewers. Nutrition risk and nutrition symptomology were assessed via the abridged Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (abPG-SGA); scores of ≥6 points delineated ‘high’ nutrition risk. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Urban.

White, Black or Hispanic community-dwelling adults, ≥55 years of age, fluent in English or Spanish, residing in the city limits of Chicago, IL, USA.

A total of 1001 participants (37 % white, 37 % Black, 26 % Hispanic) were surveyed. On average, participants were 66·9 years old, predominantly female and overweight/obese. Twenty-six per cent (n 263) of participants were classified as ‘high’ nutrition risk with 24, 14 and 31 % endorsing decreased oral intake, weight loss and compromised functioning, respectively. Black respondents constituted the greatest proportion of those with high risk scores, yet Hispanic participants displayed the most concerning nutrition risk profiles. Younger age, female sex, Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity, emergency room visits, eating alone and taking three or more different prescribed or over-the-counter drugs daily were significantly associated with high risk scores (P<0·05).

One in four older adults living in an urban community prone to health disparities was classified as ‘high’ nutrition risk. Targeted interventions to promote healthy ageing are needed, especially for overweight/obese and minority community members.

Examine relationships of healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns with BMI, sex, age and acculturation among Mexican Americans.

Cross-sectional. Participants completed culturally tailored Healthy and Unhealthy Eating Indices. Multivariable mixed-effect Poisson regression models compared food pattern index scores and dietary intake of specific foods by BMI, sex, age and acculturation defined by language preference and generational status.

Participants recruited from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort study, Texas–Mexico border region, between 2008 and 2011.

Mexican-American males and females aged 18–97 years (n 1250).

Participants were primarily female (55·3 %), overweight or obese (85·7 %), preferred Spanish language (68·0 %) and first-generation status (60·3 %). Among first-generation participants, bilingual participants were less likely to have a healthy eating pattern than preferred Spanish-speaking participants (rate ratio (RR)=0·79, P=0·0218). This association was also found in males (RR=0·81, P=0·0098). Preferred English-speaking females were less likely to consume healthy foods than preferred Spanish-speaking females (RR=0·84, P=0·0293). Among second-generation participants, preferred English-speaking participants were more likely to report a higher unhealthy eating pattern than preferred Spanish-speaking participants (RR=1·23, P=0·0114). Higher unhealthy eating patterns were also found in females who preferred English v. females who preferred Spanish (RR=1·23, P=0·0107) or were bilingual (RR=1·26, P=0·0159). Younger, male participants were more likely to have a higher unhealthy eating pattern. BMI and diabetes status were not significantly associated with healthy or unhealthy eating patterns.

Acculturation, age, sex and education are associated with healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns. Nutrition interventions for Mexican Americans should tailor approaches by these characteristics.

To identify the food that has the greatest effect on the variation in the percentage of energy intake derived from fat and saturated fatty acids for the consumption of a Spanish population.

A cross-sectional study of food consumption, using the 24-hour recall method for three non-consecutive days, one of which was a non-working day. Subjects were interviewed by trained interviewers in the subjects' homes. We used multiple linear regression for statistical analysis.

The citizens of Reus.

One thousand and sixty subjects over five years old, randomly selected from the population census of Reus.

In both sexes, the foods that mainly determine a high consumption of fat are oil and red meat while those that determine a lower consumption of fat are bread, savoury cereals and fruit. The foods that mainly determine a high consumption of saturated fatty acids are red meat and whole-fat dairy products while those that determine a low consumption are bread, savoury cereals and fruit.

In our population, feasible variations in the intake of some foods – less than one portion – would reduce the estimated percentage of energy intake derived from fat and saturated fatty acids by a quantity considered important for cardiovascular disease prevention. The periodic identification and quantification of the food that most affects the dietary fat profile will help in drawing up dietary guidelines with more reasonable strategies for consuming a healthier diet and decreasing the risk of developing nutritional disorders.