Food systems are a major contributor to climate change, producing one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, public knowledge of food systems’ contributions to climate change is low. One reason for low public awareness may be limited media coverage of the issue. To investigate this, we conducted a media analysis examining coverage of food systems and their contribution to climate change in Australian newspapers.

We analysed climate change articles from twelve Australian newspapers between 2011 and 2021, sourced from Factiva. We explored the volume and frequency of climate change articles that mentioned food systems and their contributions to climate change, as well as the level of focus on food systems.

Australia.

N/A.

Of the 2892 articles included, only 5 % mentioned the contributions of food systems to climate change, with the majority highlighting food production as the main contributor, followed by food consumption. Conversely, 8 % mentioned the impact of climate change on food systems.

Though newspaper coverage of food systems’ effects on climate change is increasing, coverage of the issue remains limited. As newspapers play a key role in increasing public and political awareness of matters, the findings provide valuable insights for advocates wishing to increase engagement on the issue. Increased media coverage may raise public awareness and encourage action by policymakers. Collaboration between public health and environmental stakeholders to increase public knowledge of the relationship between food systems and climate change is recommended.

To (i) examine the consumption of highly processed foods (HPF) in relation to diet quality among Japanese adults and (ii) compare the results when dishes prepared away home are disaggregated into food ingredients before classification by processing levels and the results when they are not.

Cross-sectional analysis using 4-day dietary record data. Foods were categorised by level of processing using the framework developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Specifically, dishes prepared away from home were classified at both the food level (classified after disaggregation into ingredients) and dish level (classified without disaggregation). Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9·3.

Twenty areas in Japan.

Adults aged 20–69 years (n 388).

Energy contribution of HPF was higher when dishes prepared away from home were classified at dish level than food level (48·3 % v. 32·9 %, P < 0·0001). Regardless of the classification method, cereals and starchy foods were the top food groups contributing to total energy intake from HPF. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in higher tertiles of the energy contribution of HPF had lower total scores for Healthy Eating Index-2015 and Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9·3 (P for trend ≤ 0·007 for all), irrespective of the food- or dish-level classification.

HPF accounted for at least one-third of energy intake of Japanese adults. Regardless of the classification methods for dishes prepared away from home, higher consumption of HPF was associated with lower diet quality.

The objective of this study was to determine the association between the consumption of dairy foods with urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and iodine deficiency risk in a nationally representative sample of the US population.

24-hour dietary recall data and laboratory data for UIC (μg/l) from subjects 2+ years old US population participating in National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2001–2018 were used (n 26 838) for analyses after adjusting for demographic covariates. Significant associations were assessed at P < 0·05.

Mean intakes of total dairy were 2·21, 2·17 and 1·70 cup equivalents (cup eq) among those 2–8, 9–18 and 19+ years, respectively. Of the dairy components, intake of milk was highest followed by cheese and yogurt for all age groups. Total dairy intakes were positively associated with UIC among those 2–8 years (β = 29·9 ± 9·9 μg/l urine/cup eq dairy) and 9–18 years (β = 26·0 ± 4·8 μg/l urine/cup eq dairy) but not associated among those 19+ years. Total dairy intakes were associated with lowered risks (30 %, 21 % and 20 % for among 2–8, 9–18 and 19+ years, respectively) of being classified as iodine insufficient (UIC < 100 μg/l) or lowered risk (47 %, 30 % and 26 % among 2–8, 9–18 and 19+ years, respectively) of being classified as iodine severely deficient (UIC < 20 μg/l).

The results indicate that dairy foods are beneficially associated with UIC and lowered iodine deficiency risk.

The relationships between childhood weight self-misperception and obesity-related factors particularly health markers have not been extensively discussed. This study aims to examine the associations between weight self-misperception and obesity-related knowledge, attitudes, lifestyles and cardio-metabolic markers among Chinese paediatric population.

Cross-sectional study.

Data sourced from a national survey in Chinese seven provinces in 2013.

Children and adolescents aged 5–19 years.

Of the total 14 079 participants, there were 14·5 % and 2·2 % participants over-estimated and under-perceived their weight, respectively. Multi-variable logistic regression was applied to calculate OR and 95 % CI (95 % Cl) of obesity-related behaviours and cardio-metabolic markers by actual and perceived weight status. Individuals who perceived themselves as overweight/obese were more likely to have prolonged screen time, insufficient dairy intake and over sugar-sweetened beverages consumption (all P < 0·05), regardless of their weight. Furthermore, actual overweight/obese individuals had higher odds of abnormal cardio-metabolic markers, but a smaller magnitude of association was found among weight under-estimators. Among non-overweight/obese individuals, weight over-estimation was positively associated with abdominal obesity (OR: 10·49, 95 % CI: 7·45, 14·76), elevated blood pressure (OR: 1·30, 95 % CI: 1·12, 1·51) and dyslipidemia (OR: 1·43, 95 % CI: 1·29, 1·58).

Weight over-perception was more prevalent than under-estimation, particularly in girls. Weight over-estimators tended to master better knowledge but behave more unhealthily; both weight over-perception and actual overweight/obesity status were associated with poorer cardio-metabolic markers. Future obesity intervention programmes should additionally pay attention to the population with inaccurate estimation of weight who were easily overlooked.

Higher BMI, lower quality of diet and a higher percentage of breakfast-skippers have been reported among rotating shift (RS) workers compared with day shift (DS) workers. As such, this study examined the association between breakfast skipping, habitual food consumption and BMI in RS workers.

Japanese nurses were studied using a self-administered questionnaire that assessed the height, weight, breakfast consumption habits, dietary consumption, physical activity, sleep habits, chronotype and demographic characteristics of the participants.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in a population of nurses in Japan. Dietary and health-related questionnaires were mailed to 5536 nurses aged 20–59 years, working at 346 institutions.

A total of 3646 nurses at 274 institutions responded to the questionnaire. After removing those who met the exclusion criteria, 2450 participants were included in the statistical analysis.

The RS breakfast-skippers had lower total energy intake, diet quality and higher BMI than DS workers, whereas the RS breakfast-consumers had a higher total energy intake and BMI than the DS workers. In the RS workers, breakfast skipping on the days of DS and the end days of evening/night shift was associated with a poorer diet quality. Additionally, breakfast skipping on the days of DS was positively associated with BMI, independent of the total energy intake and diet quality.

Breakfast skipping on workdays may contribute to a difference in dietary intake and BMI between RS workers and DS workers and may increase BMI in RS workers, independent of dietary intake.

Limitations of traditional geospatial measures, like the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI), are well documented. In response, we aimed to: (1) extend existing food environment measures by inductively developing subcategories to increase the granularity of healthy v. less healthy food retailers; (2) establish replicable coding processes and procedures; and (3) demonstrate how a food retailer codebook and database can be used in healthy public policy advocacy.

We expanded the mRFEI measure such that ‘healthy’ food retailers included grocery stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, wholesalers, bulk food stores, produce outlets, butchers, delis, fish and seafood shops, juice/smoothie bars, and fresh and healthy quick-service retailers; and ‘less healthy’ food retailers included fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, coffee shops, dollar stores, pharmacies, bubble tea restaurants, candy stores, frozen dessert restaurants, bakeries, and food trucks. Based on 2021 government food premise licences, we used geographic information systems software to evaluate spatial accessibility of healthy and less healthy food retailers across census tracts and in proximity to schools, calculating differences between the traditional v. expanded mRFEI.

Calgary and Edmonton, Canada.

N/A.

Of the 10 828 food retailers geocoded, 26 % were included using traditional mRFEI measures, while 53 % were included using our expanded categorisation. Changes in mean mRFEI across census tracts were minimal, but the healthfulness of food environments surrounding schools significantly decreased.

Overall, we show how our mRFEI adaptation, and transparent reporting on its use, can promote more nuanced and comprehensive food environment assessments to better support local research, policy and practice innovations.

This study employs a strengths-based approach to assess food access in remote Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying both the negative consequences of the pandemic on store-bought and subsistence/traditional food access and compensatory strategies used.

As a part of a larger study on the impacts of COVID-19 on daily life remote Alaskan communities, study data presented here were collected through key informant interviews (KII) and state-wide online surveys from 21 September 2020 to 31 March 2021 among remote Alaska community members.

This study was conducted with residents of remote communities in Alaska, defined as those off the road system. Remote communities often have small or no grocery stores and rely on subsistence or traditional sources of food.

KII participants (n 36) were majority female (78 %) and Alaska Native (57 %). Survey participants (n 615) were also majority female, 25–54 years old and most had had some post-secondary education or training.

Survey and interview data revealed that the pandemic had significant negative impacts on store-bought food access in remote Alaskan communities. Individuals also shared that locally available and wild harvested foods acted as a buffer to some of the loss of access to these store-bought foods, with some people sharing that the harvesting of wild and traditional foods served as a coping strategy during times of pandemic-related stress.

The results from this study demonstrate that the remoteness of some Alaskan communities has been both a source of vulnerability and protection in terms of food access.