Search results

Several cross‐sectional studies reported that breakfast skipping and a poor consumption of fruits and vegetables are associated with overweight and obesity‐related morbidities. In this respect healthy eating habits such as regular breakfast and a sufficient intake of fruit and vegetables are two important items to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity. The purpose of this study is to determine the breakfast frequency and the fruit and vegetable consumption in Belgian adolescents.

A cross‐sectional study using pupils contacted by nurses in schools during an information session about female hygiene. On that occasion all pupils (boys and girls) completed a questionnaire concerning their eating habits. Subjects were boys (n = 1390) and girls (n = 3610) between 12 and 15 years of age from the main three educational programmes (general, technical and occupational programme).

Socio‐economic status significantly influenced breakfast frequency with differences between the highest educational programme (general) and the lower technical‐ and occupational programmes. The use of daily breakfast was respectively 67 versus 49 and 48 per cent for the boys and 60 versus 42 and 39 per cent for the girls). For both sexes breakfast frequency decreased when comparing age groups from 12 with 15 years of age respectively from 67 to 55 per cent for the boys and from 61 to 47 per cent for the girls. Half of the subjects who declared to have overweight (self‐image) did not take breakfast at a regular base. Twenty six per cent of the boys of the French speaking part and 19 per cent of the boys of the Flemish speaking part of Belgium declared to take only one or less than one portion of fruit and/or vegetables a day. For the girls the reported intake of one or less than one portion of fruit and/or vegetables was respectively 20 and 16 per cent. Only 13 per cent of the French speaking boys and 10 per cent of the Flemish speaking boys reported an intake of four or more fruits and/or vegetables a day. The percentage of girls reaching an intake of four or more a day was 15 per cent for the two language regions. Fruit and/or vegetable intake was influenced significantly by the educational programme and by the educational level of the mother. In conclusion, healthy eating habits among girls and boys in Belgium (as estimated by breakfast frequency and fruit and/or vegetable intake) are rather poor. These habits are influenced by age, educational programme, self‐image and educational level of the mother.

In the light of these findings action should be taken to improve the eating habits among Belgian children to prevent childhood obesity.

This study attempts to examine the relationships between leisure involvement, social support, and happiness. Consequently, for data collection, this study utilizes a convenient sampling procedure, involving a questionnaire survey on scuba divers in Kenting, a southern resort town in Taiwan. In this study, 320 samples of useful samples were collected. Structural equation modeling is deployed to test the underlying relationships among the research variables. Concerning the leisure involvement of the scuba diving participants, social support is viewed as an essential antecedent. This study confirms leisure involvement is a mediator between social support and happiness in the case of scuba diving. This study further confirms that the mediation effect of leisure involvement positively affects happiness. Furthermore, social support positively leads to leisure engagement (e.g., scuba diving) and could also directly influence happiness with a positive relationship. Consequently, this study renders managerial implications for the service providers of scuba diving.

The aim of the study is to analyse whether self-identifying as a traditional food consumer is associated with obesity or overweight, and to investigate the motives for consuming traditional food among people with normal weight, overweight and obesity.

Cross-sectional data were collected through a pan-European consumer survey (n=4,828) with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Data analyses included multivariate logistic regressions and a multi-group structural equation modelling analysis.

Individuals with overweight or obesity attach more importance to weight control when purchasing food, and tend to self-identify themselves more as consumers of traditional foods. Among individuals with obesity, importance attached to the natural content of food is directly associated with traditional food consumption, and importance attached to sensory appeal in food choice is indirectly associated with self-identification as a traditional food consumer. Among individuals with normal weight, importance attached to healthiness in food choice associates negatively with self-identification as a traditional food consumer.

This study provides a unique approach for testing the motives for consuming traditional food among people with different nutritional status, particularly with normal weight, overweight and obesity. The strength of this paper pertains further to its international scope and large representative data set.

It is the aim of the present paper to describe the nutritional intake, the physical performance capacity and certain anthropometric variables of a group of schoolchildren (n=297) aged seven to 12 years. The findings on this population may be used to give advice in specific marketing situations.

The subjects were asked to complete a three‐day food diary. During a school visit body weight, stature and skinfold thicknesses were measured. Physical fitness was assessed using items of the Eurofit test battery. Data analysis was carried out as a function of sex and age groups.

The study finds that 77 per cent of all subjects had a caloric intake below the recommended daily allowance (RDA), while 23 per cent had an intake above the RDA. Macronutrient analysis showed for all groups a low carbohydrate intake, a high fat intake, whilst protein intake was just near the upper limit of the RDA. Flexibility, explosive leg strength, abdominal dynamic muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance were significantly lower when comparing these data with data of the 1990s. Significant correlations were found between the BMI values and the sum of skinfolds.

The relations between behavioural characteristics of this age group and adaptations of dysfunctional behaviour, as well as consequences for later life, need to be further established.

Combining the promotion of healthy nutritional and physical activity habits is an appropriate and ethical way to improve the health and fitness status of young consumers. Products may only be linked with health if there is sufficient evidence that the normal use will lead to the pretended health advantages. The interaction with behavioural changes may result in a marketing advantage if the health implications are properly stated.

The paper demonstrated that, at a very young age, nutritional and physical activity habits in the self‐selected population were rather poor.

This study examined the causes of academic stress amongst undergraduate students in the Department of Quantity Surveying to ascertain whether stress has an influence on their academic performance.

This research explores the relationships between these constructs: academic stress, non-academic stress, coping strategies and academic performance, using a survey questionnaire to collect data from 190 undergraduate students in the Quantity Survey department. Descriptive statistics have been used to analyse the data and a path analytical approach has been adopted to evaluate the relationship between the constructs discussed in the paper.

Significant linear associations have been established between all the proposed paths and the outcome factor (p < 0.00). Coping strategies were an important mediator (p = 0.000), as they explained 32.9% of the association between academic stress and non-academic stress. However, the findings have shown that the stress faced by students is an optimal degree of stress that improves learning capabilities.

Explanation and clarification of the effects of academic and non-academic stress and coping mechanisms on the academic performance of university undergraduate students could help to reduce the risk of suicide amongst the teeming youths. It will also afford the university administration the opportunity to engender stress-free environment that is conducive for learning through the formulation of appropriate policies that promote “balanced learning” for the students. The outcome of this study may provide a launch pad for researchers who are interested in knowing how the possible causes of stress may impact on the health of university students.

The findings will be of great importance to the academic advisers and university administration in developing a flexible academic calendar and adopt policies that will eliminate academic stress and promote strategies to cope with non-academic stress. The study is the first attempt to examine academic stress, non-academic stress, coping strategies and academic performance in a single research in the Nigerian context due to limited literature found. This study has pedagogical implications to education practice by offering tertiary institutions the opportunity to appraise and device a means of managing students' stress by identifying their needs and increase students' coping skills based on prevailing modalities that give students' opportunities to strengthen the strategies of coping.

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) can be vulnerable to developing mental health problems. It has been found that participating in regular exercise can help to improve emotional well-being, both in typically developing people and those with ID. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of community clients with ID who have engaged in a football training programme, and the perceived impacts on attitudes, mood and behaviour.

Interviews with seven patients from generic or forensic community ID services were conducted. The transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Two master themes were identified from the interviews, “Striving” and “Togetherness”.

The most important factors related to taking part in the football programme were the social, emotional and personal growth associated with being part of a team and general enjoyment of being part of something. Although aspects of football knowledge and physical fitness were still evident, their impact seemed to be less significant. The experience of football was overwhelmingly positive.

Consumption of breakfast is often associated with important health‐related behaviours. For example, skipping breakfast is related to obesity and eating breakfast is also correlated to cognitive, behavioural, and affective components. The purpose of this paper is to review the breakfast eating literature, and investigate the circumstances under which people consume breakfast, what is actually being consumed, and how much breakfast is eaten therefore.

This systematic review summarises the results from 24 studies which focus on who is eating what, where, and with whom.

All 24 of the included studies are of a self‐report nature, from which nine were analysed from second‐hand survey data. Sample sizes vary from 100 to a total of 35,119 with a reported participants' age range from two years old to 70 years of age. Ready‐to‐eat cereal and dairy foods are the most commonly consumed breakfast items across the studies. Between 1.7 and 30 per cent of participants are found to skip breakfast and approximately one‐quarter of the studies report that those with lower socio‐economic status, non‐whites, and females were the groups more likely to omit breakfast.

The evidence provided in this review suggests that there is still considerable variation in studies into breakfast consumption. This has implications for future research into breakfast eating if interventions are based on these studies.

There are very few systematic reviews detailing the quality, context, and content of breakfast consumption and the lack of consistency in the results show the need for further research to be conducted to find a degree of consistency in how breakfast should be defined and measured.

This study aims to gauge the effect of rural–urban migration and its challenges on the urban development of Bengaluru. This study examines the driving forces behind urbanization and its impact on social, economic and environment areas. The research helps to establish the sustainable city planning, after evaluation of specific challenges of zones, and this mitigation will optimize government investment and reduce cost.

Bengaluru is used as a study area to examine the interaction of migration and urban development. The study covers the period between 2011 and 2019. Panel data analysis is applied to measure the effect of urban development indicators on urban migration. The authors applied the integrated urban metabolism analysis tool to quantify the urban development indicators and identified the most critical areas for migrants. Later, authors proposed mitigation measures based on alternate scenario approach.

The authors found that there is a mixed effect of urban migration on urban development across various zones in Bengaluru. Besides, the authors suggest how planned collaboration should play a significant role in urban planning and optimize city planning judiciously. Effective mitigation measures should be developed based on zone-specific core issues, and practical trainings, research, public awareness campaigns and skill up-gradation of migrants would enhance the socio-economic and environmental conditions.

The study will support the ongoing and upcoming initiatives launched by the Government of India i.e. Awas Yojna, Atmanirbhar Bharat and Swach Bharat.

The structured city planning suggested in the study will help to save wastage of resources and cost and time of developers and policymakers. This will also help to upgrade the status of migrants and enhance the ambience of city around social, economic and environment fronts.

The first of its kind of innovative model mapped in the study area establishes a link between strategic city planning under rural–urban migration and urban development.