Effectiveness of a family-, school- and community-based intervention on physical activity and its correlates in Belgian families with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus : the Feel4Diabetes-study

BackgroundThe study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the European Feel4Diabetes intervention, promoting a healthy lifestyle, on physical activity and its correlates among families at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (based on the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score) in Belgium.MethodsThe Feel4Diabetes intervention involved three components: family, school and community component, with the family component consisting of 6 counseling sessions for families at risk. Main outcomes were objectively measured physical activity levels and its subjectively measured correlates. The final sample consisted of 454 parents (mean age 39.4years; 72.0% women) and 444 children (mean age 8.0years; 50.1% girls). Multilevel repeated measures analyses were performed to assess intervention effectiveness after 1 year.ResultsIn parents, there was no significant intervention effect. In children, there were only significant negative effects for moderate to vigorous physical activity (p=0.05; eta (2)(p)=0.008) and steps (p=0.03; eta (2)(p)=0.006%) on weekdays, with physical activity decreasing (more) in the intervention group.ConclusionsThe F4D-intervention lacks effectiveness on high-risk families' physical activity and its correlates in Belgium. This could partially be explained by low attendance rates and a large drop-out. To reach vulnerable populations, future interventions should invest in more appropriate recruitment (e.g. more face-to-face contact) and more bottom-up development of the intervention (i.e. co-creation of the intervention with the target group).Trial registrationThe Feel4Diabetes-study was prospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02393872 on 20 March 2015

Cross-sectional associations between mothers and children’s breakfast routine : the Feel4Diabetes study

Positive influences of family members have been associated with a high probability of children's daily breakfast consumption. Therefore, the aim of this study was to scrutinize the association of breakfast routines between mothers and their children. The baseline data of the Feel4Diabetes-study was obtained in 9760 children (49.05% boys)-mother pairs in six European countries. A parental self-reported questionnaire gauging the frequency of breakfast consumption and of breakfast ' foods and beverages consumption was used. Agreement in routines of mothers and their children's breakfast consumption was analyzed in sex-specific crosstabs. The relationship of breakfast routine and food groups' consumption between mothers and their children was assessed with analysis of covariance. The highest proportion of children who always consumed breakfast were those whose mothers always consumed it. Children consuming breakfast regularly had a higher intake of milk or unsweetened dairy products and all kind of cereal products (low fiber and whole-grain) than occasional breakfast consumers (p < 0.05). The strong similarity between mothers and children suggests a transfer of breakfast routine from mothers to their children, as a high proportion of children who usually consume breakfast were from mothers also consuming breakfast. All breakfast foods and beverages consumption frequencies were similar between children and their mothers

The association between children’s and parents’ co-TV viewing and their total screen time in six European countries : cross-sectional data from the Feel4diabetes-study

In many European children, high levels of screen time can be found, which is associated with several adverse health outcomes. Therefore, there is a need for identifying effective intervention strategies that reduce screen time in children. A factor that may contribute to excessive screen time in children may be "co-TV viewing" (i.e., the time that parents and children spend on watching TV together), as parents often recognize the importance of limiting children's (individual) screen time, but often encourage TV viewing as a family because of its perceived benefits (e.g., educational purposes). The primary aim of this study was to investigate the (sex-specific) association between co-TV viewing and both children's and parents' screen time, and these associations were investigated across and within six European countries. In total, 10,969 parents (Mean(age) = 40.7 +/- 5.3 years, Mean(BMI) = 24.4 +/- 4.6) of primary school children (Mean(age) = 8.2 +/- 1.0 years, 49.0% boys, Mean(BMI) = 17.3 +/- 2.8) completed a questionnaire assessing co-TV viewing and screen time. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted. Across countries, positive associations were found between co-TV viewing and both children's (beta = 11.85, SE = 3.69, p < 0.001) and parents' screen time (beta = 14.47, SE = 4.43, p = 0.001). Similar associations were found in most (but not all) countries. The results suggest that targeting co-TV viewing might be a promising intervention strategy because of its potential to limit screen time of both children and parents

Prevalence of childhood obesity by country, family socio-demographics, and parental obesity in Europe : the Feel4Diabetes study

The Feel4Diabetes study recruited 12,193 children (age: 8.20 +/- 1.01 years) and their parents from six European countries as part of the broader attempt to prevent type 2 diabetes. The current work collected data pre-intervention to identify the prevalence of childhood obesity by country and describe its association with socio-demographic characteristics and parental obesity status. One in four children were overweight or obese, and one in four families had at least one obese parent. Multivariate logistic regression examined the associations between childhood obesity, family socio-demographics, and parental obesity status. Children had a higher chance of being overweight or obese if they were living in "low income" countries (OR: 2.11, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.74) and countries "under economic crisis" (OR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.89, 3.24) compared to "high-income" countries; if their fathers completed fewer than nine years of education (OR: 2.16, 95% CI: 1.54, 3.05) compared to children whose fathers had a higher level (>14 years) of education; and if one (OR: 2.46, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.62) or both of their parents (OR: 6.83, 95% CI: 5.15, 9.05) were obese. Future childhood obesity prevention-programs should target the whole family while taking into consideration the socioeconomic and weight status of parents. Future research should examine these associations in more countries and in socio-demographically diverse populations in order to facilitate the generalisability of the present study's findings

Comentarios críticos sobre la fundación de Pereira. La historia local a debate

En los últimos años la historia sobre los orígenes de Pereira ha promovido un debate que deja en cuestión los acontecimientos de este acto fundacional. El presente artículo hará un recuento de los principales temas y problemas de in-vestigación que hoy suscitan la discusión académica. Tres son los hilos conduc-tores: presentación del debate, argumentaciones historiográficas y posición crí-tica sobre el mismo. ¿Acaso la historia de Pereira comienza en 1863 cuando se ofició la primera misa de este acto fundacional o en 1540 cuando se fundó la antigua ciudad de Cartago en el mismo sitio donde poco más de tres siglos des-pués se creó la ciudad de Pereira? Más allá de establecer una fecha fundacional sobre la ciudad de Pereira, la polémica dejar ver una historia de representacio-nes y poderes en tensión tanto por los actores de la época como por las nuevas interpretaciones sobre los orígenes de la ciudad.Palabras clave: Pereira, fundación, historiadores locales, cronistas, historiografía, Cartago, representaciones.Critical commentaries on the founding of Pereira. Debating local history AbstractIn recent years, the history of the origins of Pereira has promoted a debate which questions the events surrounding the foundational act. The current article will give a retelling of the main topics and research problems which today provoke academic debate. Three are the guiding strands: debate presentation, historiographical argumentations, and the critical position on these. Could the history of Pereira have begun in 1863 when the founding act first mass was officiated, or in 1540 when the old city of Cartago was founded on the same site, where a little more than three centuries later the city of Pereira was created? Beyond establishing a founding date for the city of Pereira, the polemic allows one to see a history of representations and powers under tension as much by the actors of the period as by the new interpretations on the origins of a cityKeywords: Pereira, founding, local historians, chroniclers, historiography, Cartago, representations

Frequency of family meals and food consumption in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes : the Feel4Diabetes-study

A family meal is defined as a meal consumed together by the members of a family or by having> 1 parent present during a meal. The frequency of family meals has been associated with healthier food intake patterns in both children and parents. This study aimed to investigate in families at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes across Europe the association (i) between family meals' frequency and food consumption and diet quality among parents and (ii) between family meals' frequency and children's food consumption. Moreover, the study aimed to elucidate the mediating effect of parental diet quality on the association between family meals' frequency and children's food consumption. Food consumption frequency and anthropometric were collected cross-sectionally from a representative sample of 1964 families from the European Feel4Diabetes-study. Regression and mediation analyses were applied by gender of children. Positive and significant associations were found between the frequency of family meals and parental food consumption (beta = 0.84; 95% CI 0.57, 1.45) and diet quality (beta = 0.30; 95% CI 0.19, 0.42). For children, more frequent family meals were significantly associated with healthier food consumption (boys, beta = 0.172, p < 0.05; girls, beta = 0.114, p< 0.01). A partial mediation effect of the parental diet quality was shown on the association between the frequency of family meals and the consumption of some selected food items (i.e., milk products and salty snacks) among boys and girls. The strongest mediation effect of parental diet quality was found on the association between the frequency of family breakfast and the consumption of salty snacks and milk and milk products (62.5% and 37.5%, respectively) among girls. Conclusions: The frequency of family meals is positively associated with improved food consumption patterns (i.e., higher intake of fruits and vegetables and reduced consumption of sweets) in both parents and children. However, the association in children is partially mediated by parents' diet quality. The promotion of consuming meals together in the family could be a potentially effective strategy for interventions aiming to establish and maintain healthy food consumption patterns among children