Physical Activity Levels among Preschool-Aged Children in Family Child Care Homes: A Comparison between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Children Using Accelerometry

Obesity prevalence among Hispanic children is twice that of non-Hispanic white children; Hispanic children may also engage in less physical activity (PA) compared to non-Hispanic white children. A large number of U.S. preschool-aged children are cared for in Family Child Care Homes (FCCH), yet few studies have examined PA levels and ethnicity differences in PA levels among these children. We examine baseline data from a cluster-randomized trial (Healthy Start/Comienzos Sanos) to improve food and PA environments in FCCHs. Children aged 2-to-5-years (n = 342) wore triaxial accelerometers for two days in FCCHs. Variables examined include percentage of time (%) spent in sedentary, and light, moderate, and vigorous PA. The full dataset (n = 342) indicated sedentary behavior 62% ± 11% of the time and only 10% ± 5% of the time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA. Among children in the upper-median half of wear-time (n = 176), Hispanic children had significantly greater % sedentary time vs. Non-Hispanic children (66.2% ± 8.3% vs. 62.6% ± 6.9%, p = 0.007), and lower % light PA (25.4% ± 6.3% vs. 27.7% ± 4.9%, p = 0.008) and moderate PA (5.5% ± 2.1% vs. 6.4% ± 2.2%, p = 0.018). Our results highlight that PA levels were lower among our sample compared to previous studies, and that Hispanic children were more sedentary and less active compared to non-Hispanic white children

Racial/ethnic differences in maternal feeding practices and beliefs at 6 months postpartum

Objective: To examine racial/ethnic differences in maternal feeding practices and beliefs in a sample of low-income smoke-exposed women. Design: Cross-sectional analysis using data collected during a randomised control trial. Maternal feeding practices and beliefs were assessed using the Infant Feeding Questionnaire (IFQ), which was administered at 6 months postpartum. ANOVA was used to examine differences in IFQ items by race/ethnicity, while multivariable linear regression models were used to examine differences in IFQ factor scores by race/ethnicity adjusting for potential confounders. Setting: Participants were recruited from prenatal clinics. Participants: 343 women (39 % non-Hispanic White, 28 % Hispanic/Latina, 13 % Black, and 20 % other). Results: Racial/ethnic minority mothers were more likely than non-Hispanic White mothers to put cereal in their infant's bottle so that the infant would stay full longer (P = 0 center dot 032), state their infant wanted more than just formula or breast milk prior to 4 months (P = 0 center dot 019), allow their infant to eat whenever he/she wanted (P = 0 center dot 023) and only allow their infant to eat at set times (P < 0 center dot 001). Adjusting for potential confounders, racial/ethnic minority mothers had higher scores for factors 1 (concern about infant undereating or becoming underweight), 2 (concern about infant's hunger), 4 (concern about infant overeating or becoming overweight) and 5 (feeding infant on a schedule), and lower scores for factor 7 (social interaction with the infant during feeding) than White mothers. Racial/ethnic differences were not found for the other two factors. Conclusions: Differences in maternal feeding practices and beliefs across race/ethnicity are present at 6 months postpartum

A Systematic Review of Studies Examining Associations between Sleep Characteristics with Dietary Intake and Eating Behaviors during Pregnancy

Little is known about the association between sleep and diet in pregnancy, despite both behaviors impacting maternal and fetal health. We aimed to perform a systematic review of the available literature on associations between sleep characteristics and dietary intake and eating behaviors during pregnancy, reporting on both maternal and fetal outcomes. We followed the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and conducted our search on 27 May 2021 in the PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases. The search yielded 6785 unique articles, of which 25 met our eligibility criteria. The studies, mostly observational, published 1993–2021, include data from 168,665 participants. Studies included examinations of associations between various maternal sleep measures with a diverse set of diet-related measures, including energy or nutrient intake (N = 12), dietary patterns (N = 9), and eating behaviors (N = 11). Associations of maternal exposures with fetal/infant outcomes were also examined (N = 5). We observed considerable heterogeneity across studies precluding our ability to perform a meta-analysis or form strong conclusions; however, several studies did report significant findings. Results from this systematic review demonstrate the need for consistency in methods across studies to better understand relationships between diet and sleep characteristics during pregnancy

Feeding and Activity Environments for Infants and Toddlers in Childcare Centers and Family Childcare Homes in Southeastern New England

Few studies have documented the food and physical activity (PA) environments of childcare settings caring for children &lt;24 months of age, although they may be key contributors to developing child PA and diet patterns. We used an adapted Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation tool to assess the food and activity environments for infants and toddlers in childcare centers (n = 21) and family childcare homes (FCCH) (n = 20) and explored differences by childcare type. Many similarities were found between childcare site types; however, centers used more recommended feeding practices than FCCH (e.g., 100% of center providers talked with toddlers about feelings of hunger or fullness compared to 18% of family childcare providers (FCCP), p &lt; 0.01). Differences in non-recommended feeding practices (e.g., spoon feeding, bottle propping and encouraging unhealthy foods) were mixed between childcare types. Toddlers in centers spent more time playing at higher PA levels than those in FCCH (61 vs. 13 min, p &lt; 0.001). Screen time was observed in FCCH, but not in centers. Differences between childcare types may indicate differential influences on infant and toddler feeding and PA behaviors, which could predict disparate obesity risk. Future research should further observe these behaviors in a larger sample of centers and FCCH to inform childcare interventions and policies

The impact of the federal menu labeling law on the sentiment of Twitter discussions about restaurants and food retailers: An interrupted time series analysis.

The US federal menu labeling law, implemented on May 7 th 2018, required that restaurant chains post calorie counts on menu items. The purpose of this study was to analyze the change in public sentiment, using Twitter data, regarding eight restaurant chains before and after the calorie labeling laws implementation.&nbsp;Twitter data was mined from Twitters application programming interface (API) for this study from the calendar year 2018; 2016 and was collected as a control. We selected restaurant chains that had a range of compliance dates with the law. Tweets about each chain were filtered by brand-specific keywords, and Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) sentiment analysis was applied to receive a continuous compound score (-1-1) of how positive (1) or negative (-1) each tweet was. Controlled Interrupted Time Series (CITS) was performed with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression on 2018 and 2016 series of compound scores for each brand, and level and trend changes were calculated.&nbsp;Most restaurant chains that implemented the federal menu calorie labeling law experienced no change or a small change in level or trend in sentiment after they implemented labeling. Chains experienced mildly more negative sentiment right after the law was implemented, with attenuation of this effect over time.&nbsp;Calorie labeling did not have a strong effect on the publics perception of food brands over the long-term on Twitter and may imply the need for greater efforts to change the sentiment towards unhealthy restaurant chains

Six-Month Outcomes of a Theory- and Technology-Enhanced Physical Activity Intervention for Latina Women (Pasos Hacia La Salud II): Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundMore than half (55%) of Latina women do not meet aerobic physical activity (PA) guidelines, and frequently cite time, childcare, and transportation as barriers to PA. In addition to linguistic adaptations for this population, successful PA interventions for Latina women addressed these barriers through remote intervention delivery approaches (eg, mail, phone, or web delivery). ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate 6-month outcomes of a randomized trial comparing a Spanish-language, individually tailored, web-delivered PA intervention (original) to an enhanced version with text messages and additional features (enhanced). Further, we evaluated if increases in PA at 6 months were moderated by baseline activity status. MethodsIn total, 195 Latina women aged 18-65 years participated in a trial comparing the efficacy of the enhanced versus original interventions at initiating PA behavior change. We examined minutes per week of accelerometer-measured PA in the enhanced versus original arms, and the proportion of each arm meeting aerobic PA guidelines (150 min/wk at 6 mo). For moderator analyses, participants were classified as inactive (0 min/wk) or low active (1-90 min/wk) at baseline, measured via the 7 Day Physical Activity Recall interview. ResultsPA increased from 19.7 (SD 47.9) minutes per week at baseline to 46.9 (SD 66.2) minutes per week at 6 months in the enhanced arm versus 20.6 (SD 42.7) minutes per week to 42.9 (SD 78.2) minutes per week in the original arm (P=.78). Overall, 30% (31/103) of the enhanced group met aerobic PA guidelines at 6 months, compared to 21% (19/92) of the original group (odds ratio [OR] 1.75, 95% CI 0.87-3.55). Baseline PA (inactive vs low active) moderated treatment effects on PA. For inactive participants, there were no group differences at 6 months (b=7.1; SE 22.8; P=.75), while low-active participants increased more in enhanced than original (b=72.5; SE 27.9; P=.01). For low-active participants, 45% (46/103) of the enhanced group met PA guidelines at 6 months, versus 20% (18/92) of the original arm (OR 3.29, 95% CI 1.05-11.31). For inactive participants, there were no group differences (25/103, 24% vs n=19/92, 21% for enhanced vs original, respectively; OR 1.28, 95% CI 0.54-3.06). ConclusionsIntervention effects were conditional on baseline PA. For low-active Latina women, the enhanced intervention was more effective at increasing PA. Additional tailored intervention enhancements may be necessary to increase PA for inactive Latina women. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03491592; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03491592 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.1186/s13063-022-06575-