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Since the beginning of the 1990s, nutrition education and health promotion have increasingly focused on the influence of diet on the quality of life in old age. The Government′s Health of the Nation policy in 1991 and the COMA report on The Nutrition of Elderly People in 1992 both emphasized the need for older age groups to adopt the dietary changes recommended for the population as a whole. In order to promote healthier eating habits and consequently improve health status, it is first vital to understand what makes elderly people follow particular dietary patterns and, equally, which factors constrain their choice. Reviews the current state of research on the social, economic, psychological, physiological, educational and personal factors which mediate food choice in later life. Indications are that it is the structural influences on choice which have the greatest impact – education, income, class and access to good health care. As a result, action at national level in the form of health and social policy designed to take into account the needs of older generations is highlighted.

Apples have always been considered a healthy product able to provide curative properties to consumers. In Italy, there is a long tradition of apple consumption and production both as a fresh product and as processed food. However, as with many other products, the consumption of fruits and vegetables and, more specifically apples, has been drastically affected by the first lockdown in 2020. In this project, the authors investigate whether the change in consumption habits had long-lasting consequences beyond 2020 and what are the main eating motivations, food-related behavior and socio-demographic affecting the consumption of fruits and vegetables after the pandemic.

The authors ran two online surveys with 1,000 Italian consumers across a year (from October 2021 to December 2022). In the study, participants answered questions about their consumption habits and their eating motives. Out of 1,000 consumers, the authors included in the final analysis only the participants who answered both surveys, leaving a final sample of 651 consumers.

The results show that participants have allocated more budget to fruit and vegetables after the lockdown than before it. Moreover, consumers reported an average increase in the consumption of apples. However, the increase was more pronounced for people aged between 30 and 50 years old and identified as female. After showing the difference across time, a cluster analysis identified three main segments that differ in their eating motives, place of purchase and area of residence.

Overall, the results contribute to a better understanding of how the global pandemic is still affecting people's daily life. Moreover, the findings can be used to guide the marketing and communication strategies of companies in the food sector.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates changes in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and, more specifically, apples, in Italy more than one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study proposes a classification of consumers based on their habits in a time frame during which the COVID-19 wave was at its bottom which is not currently present in the literature.

This paper aims to explore the parental role in children’s food socialization. More specifically, it explores how the legacy of the past (i.e. experiences from the participant’s own childhood) works to inform how parents, in turn, socialize their own children within the context of food, drawing on theories of consumer socialization, intergenerational influence and emotional reflexivity.

To seek further understanding of how temporal elements of intergenerational influence persist (through the lens of emotional reflexivity), the authors collected qualitative and interpretative data from 30 parents from the UK using a combination of existential–phenomenological interviews, photo-elicitation techniques and accompanied grocery shopping trips (observational interviews).

Through intergenerational reflexivity, parents are found to make a conscious effort to either “sustain” or “disregard” particular food practices learnt from the previous generation with their children (abandoning or mimicking the behaviours of their own parents within the context of food socialization). Factors contributing to the disregarding of food behaviours (new influencer, self-learning and resistance to parental power) emerge. A continuum of parents is identified, ranging from the “traditionalist” to “improver” and the “revisionist”.

By adopting a unique approach in exploring the dynamic of intergenerational influence through the lens of emotional reflexivity, this study highlights the importance of the parental role in socializing children about food, and how intergenerational reflexivity helps inform parental food socialization practices. The intergenerational reflexivity of parents is, thus, deemed to be crucial in the socialization process.

This paper aims to identify Australian consumer segments based on sustainable lifestyles and attitudes towards food waste and model the factors (socio-demographic, attitudinal and lifestyle) contributing to different levels of food waste.

This study uses a face-to-face survey of 334 respondents. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to identify consumer segments, and econometric analysis is used to model the factors contributing to different levels of food waste.

A total of six lifestyle segments are identified: the freshness lovers, the vegetarian and organic food lovers, the recycle/reuse advocates, the waste-conscious consumers, the label-conscious/sensory consumer and the food waste defenders. This research distinguishes between low and medium levels of food waste based on marginal effects analysis. At low levels of food waste, consumers who worry about the food waste cost, making efforts to reduce food waste are less likely to waste food. Affluent consumers, who claim to be waste conscious, have young children and frequently eat outside, are more likely to waste food than others, lying in the medium waste group.

Australia, like many other countries, has high levels of food waste and despite policy efforts, curbing household food waste remains a challenge. In addition, there are limited food waste studies that focus on consumers who practice sustainable lifestyles. The current paper contributes to the market segmentation literature and has several implications for food policy and practice.

University students are one of the vulnerable groups in terms of having nutritional problems due to their lifestyle and social environment. This study aims to determine the consumption of fast food among university students and evaluate factors that may impact it, such as sociodemographic factors, body mass index (BMI) or nutritional habits.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among a random sample of 184 university students (47.8% men and 52.2% women) with a mean age of 21.1 ± 2.0 years. The survey included students’ sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits and fast-food consumption. Chi-square test, t-test and binary logistic regression analysis were used depending on the characteristics of the data.

Results indicated that 39.7% of the students consumed fast food at least once in 15 days and preferred these foods for taste, workload and social activity. Consumption of fast food occurred at an earlier age in men (%13.6) and the portions were higher than portions of vegetables (p = 0.001). By using regression analysis, a statistically significant relationship was found between the frequency of fast-food consumption and age, gender, economic status, BMI, the amount of vegetables consumed daily and the habit of eating breakfast (p < 0.05).

It is planned to reach more students in the study. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation to students became difficult or could not be reached.

This study is one of the rare studies examining students’ orientation to fast food. The number of studies in this field in Turkey is limited.

This study aims to evaluate the nutritional habits, eating behavior and nutritional status of children with autism.

This study was conducted with 60 boys and 16 girls diagnosed with autism (mean age: 8.3 ± 4.9 years). Research data were collected from parents of children with autism using a questionnaire form developed by researchers after literature searching. The height and body weight of the children were recorded, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated.

Almost half of the children except the 13–18 age group were overweight/obese according to BMI. Difficulty in giving new food was 73.1% in the 2–5 age group, 70% in the 6–12 age group and 40% in the 13–18 age group (p = 0.04). It was determined that the children refused to consume a median of 3 (1–8) types of food (p = 0.04) and were obsessed with consuming 2 (1–4) types of food and 1 (1–4) type of beverages. Additionally, milk and dairy products were refused significantly higher between 2–5 and 6–12 years than 13–18 years (p = 0.02). Also, it was found that age had an inverse effect on refusal food number (β = 0.38, 95% CI = −0.30 − −0.08, p = 0.01). In conclusion, obesity and nutritional problems such as food selectivity, food refusal and obsessive eating behavior are encountered in children with autism which affect children socially and physically and should not be ignored when planning the treatment of children with autism.

The lack of a control group to compare the results of children with autism is an important limitation of the study.

This study fulfills a defined need to examine and evaluate Turkish children’s nutritional status, nutritional habits and eating behavior with autism.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nutritional quality of dinnertime meals eaten out of home (OH) vs those eaten at home by male Korean workers.

The study included 1,634 male Korean workers aged between 19 and 64 years among 15,508 individuals who participated in a 24-hour dietary recall through the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2013 to 2014. The study participants were classified and analyzed according to the place where dinner had been prepared: out-of-home group (OHG) (n=659) and at-home group (AHG) (n=975).

Young male white-collar workers who are unmarried with a higher level of education and income were more likely to eat OH at dinner. The OHG consumed more energy, fat, and sodium, but less carbohydrate at dinner than the AHG. The contribution of dinner to daily energy and macronutrient intakes, except for carbohydrate, was higher in the OHG. Additionally, the study results suggested that the OHG was less likely to consume a traditional Korean meal at dinner. Overall, the nutritional quality of dinnertime meals eaten OH had greater potential to lead to negative effects on nutrition and health.

This study highlights OH eating among male Korean workers as an important arena in which strategies for healthier eating can be deployed when establishing worksite health promotion or related national nutrition policies.

This article aims to explore the influence of values concerning food consumption and the effect of physical activity habit moderation on these.

The consumption value theory was used as a base, and a survey with 292 participants was analysed by means of factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The findings are presented at three levels. The first is the clustering of food consumption habits in different dimensions: healthy, unhealthy and hybrid. The second is the relationship between values and food consumption. In detail: (1) emotional value is the only significant measurement for the consumption of the three food dimensions; (2) social value is a significant measurement for healthy food consumption; (3) conditional value is significant for the consumption of hybrid and unhealthy foods; (4) epistemic value has significance in the consumption of hybrid foods; (5) functional value is denied for all dimensions. The third concerns the relationship between value perceptions and food consumption moderated by physical activity in: (1) social value of healthy foods; (2) functional value of hybrid foods; and (3) emotional and epistemic values of unhealthy foods.

This paper adds to the literature on consumption values and raises new insights into value and habits regarding food consumption, such as physical activity involved in the consumption context.

This paper aims to examine the effects of professional job experience on the lifestyle and dietary habits of participants who have studied food science and nutrition and acquired a dietitian license. The dietary habits of students of departments of food science and nutrition have been reported. However, no study has compared the dietary habits of graduates with and without actual clinical experience.

In total, 206 participants who graduated from the department of food science and nutrition of a university located in Tokyo between 1975 and 1984 completed a questionnaire on food and nutrient intake and lifestyle habits in 2011.

Total fat and SFA intake adjusted for energy intake or frequency of snack and fast food intake differed among participants with and without experience as dietitians, indicating that dietitian experience influenced the dietary habits of participants for approximately 30 years after graduation. Nutritional knowledge and skills acquired during attendance at a dietitian school are effective in maintaining favorable behavior for a long time. However, nutritional knowledge and skills were enhanced by later professional experience.

The refining effect of clinical experience appears to contribute to the maintenance of daily dietary habits and health. Professional experience can contribute to the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases not only personally but also for other people in terms of public health nutrition or nutritional education.

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the school-based nutrition programme using the health-promoting school (HPS) framework was effective to improve parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (KAB) in relation to nutrition in rural Mi Yun County, Beijing.

A cluster-randomised intervention trial design was employed. Two middle schools were randomly selected and assigned to either the intervention school using the HPS framework (HPS School), or to the Control School, in Mi Yun County, Beijing. From each school 65 parents of seventh-grade students were randomly selected to participate in the study. Nutrition-related KAB were measured at pre- and post-intervention surveys with the same instrument. The nutrition intervention last for six months.

The school-based nutrition intervention using the HPS framework was effective in increasing parents’ nutrition knowledge; however, it had no statistical significant impact on improving parents’ attitudes towards nutrition and their eating behaviours.

The intervention appeared to be inadequate from the point of view of its impact on parents in terms of content, form and frequency.

Future school-based nutrition promotion programmes using the HPS framework should focus more on parents, providing them with a more informative, participative and interactive, and frequent intervention.

There is very limited published research focusing on the effect of the school-based nutrition promotion programmes using an HPS framework on parents’ nutrition-related KAB. Although, the improved KAB in relation to nutrition among parents is essential to promote young people’s nutrition and healthy eating behaviours.