Identifying the barriers to implementing the Victorian Department of Education and Training guidelines regarding the provisions of nutrient dense food options in school canteens

Aims & rationale/Objectives : To identify barriers to the full implementation of new guidelines regarding school canteen menus launched by The Victorian Education Department in May 2004.
Methods : A self-administered questionnaire was sent to principals, business mangers and canteen managers of 13 secondary schools in South West Victoria covered by The Greater Green Triangle area (response rate 59%). The questions explored the canteen's role, operation, staffing and profits; existence and content of canteen policy; enablers and barriers to the sale of healthier foods; introduction and promotion of healthier foods; and perceived implications of banning less healthy foods.
Principal findings : The study identified several barriers to implementing healthy menus in school canteens, these being largely consistent with those found in other studies. The majority of schools reported they were making attempts to follow the guidelines for school food services, but were experiencing difficulty in proceeding to full implementation. The barriers identified through the study were student preference for less healthy options, concerns about profitability, lack of policy or its active communication and promotion at the school level and competition from other food outlets.
Discussion : There was evidence that healthy foods had not been actively promoted, suggesting that identification of student preferences as a barrier was based on perception rather than observation. The Victorian guidelines are effectively voluntary, with no accountability measures in place.
Implications : Research needs to be conducted to provide reliable and tested information about factors which impact on student choice. Schools would benefit from specialised assistance to formulate business plans for contemporary canteens selling healthy food and a clarification of government policy.
Presentation type : Poster

Nutrient intake and plate waste from an Australian residential care facility

Objective: To determine the plate waste, energy and selected-nutrient intake, from elderly residents living in a high-level care (HLC) and low-level care (LLC) facility.

Design: Three, single, whole day assessments of plate waste, energy, and selected nutrients, using a visual rating plate waste scale.

Setting: Long-term residential care establishment.

Subjects: One hundred and sixty-nine (93 HLC and 76 LLC) individual daily intakes.

Main findings: The mean energy wasted throughout the whole day was 17%. The energy wasted from main meals (16%) was significantly less than the energy wasted at mid-meals (22%, P=0.049). The lowest mean energy wastage occurred at breakfast (8%) compared to lunch (22%) and dinner (25%, P<0.001). The mean (s.d.) daily energy served and consumed was 8.1 (2.0) and 6.6 (2.2) MJ, respectively. There was no difference in energy served or consumed between HLC and LLC residents. On the observation day, 60% of residents consumed less than their estimated energy requirement. The mean calcium intake was 796 (346) mg, and the median (inter-quartile range) vitamin D intake was 1.78 (2.05) μg.

Conclusion: On 1 day, more than half the residents surveyed were at risk of consuming an inadequate energy intake, which over-time, may result in body weight loss. Although wastage was not excessive and energy served was adequate, the amount of food eaten was insufficient to meet energy and calcium requirements for a significant number of residents and it is not possible to consume sufficient vitamin D through food sources.

Promoting transportation cycling for women : the role of bicycle infrastructure

Objective.
Females are substantially less likely than males to cycle for transport in countries with low bicycle transport mode share. We investigated whether female commuter cyclists were more likely to use bicycle routes that provide separation from motor vehicle traffic.
Methods.
Census of cyclists observed at 15 locations (including off-road bicycle paths, on-road lanes and roads with no bicycle facilities) within a 7.4 km radius of the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Australia, during peak commuting times in February 2004.
Results.
6589 cyclists were observed, comprising 5229 males (79.4%) and 1360 females (20.6%). After adjustment for distance of the bicycle facility from the CBD, females showed a preference for using off-road paths rather than roads with no bicycle facilities (odds ratio [OR] = 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12, 1.83), or roads with on-road bicycle lanes (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.75).
Conclusions.
Consistent with gender differences in risk aversion, female commuter cyclists preferred to use routes with maximum separation from motorized traffic. Improved cycling infrastructure in the form of bicycle paths and lanes that provide a high degree of separation from motor traffic is likely to be important for increasing transportation cycling amongst under-represented population groups such as women.

Area variation in recreational cycling in Melbourne : a compositional or contextual effect?

Objective: To examine whether compositional and/or contextual area characteristics are associated with area socioeconomic inequalities and between-area differences in recreational cycling.

Setting: The city of Melbourne, Australia.

Participants: 2349 men and women residing in 50 areas (58.7% response rate).

Main outcome measure: Cycling for recreational purposes (at least once a month vs never).

Design: In a cross-sectional survey participants reported their frequency of recreational cycling. Objective area characteristics were collected for their residential area by environmental audits or calculated with Geographic Information Systems software. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed to examine associations between recreational cycling, area socioeconomic level, compositional characteristics (age, sex, education, occupation) and area characteristics (design, safety, destinations or aesthetics).

Results: After adjustment for compositional characteristics, residents of deprived areas were less likely to cycle for recreation (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.43 to 1.00), and significant between-area differences in recreational cycling were found (median odds ratio 1.48 (95% credibility interval 1.24 to 1.78). Aesthetic characteristics tended to be worse in deprived areas and were the only group of area characteristics that explained some of the area deprivation differences. Safety characteristics explained the largest proportion of between-area variation in recreational cycling.

Conclusion: Creating supportive environments with respect to safety and aesthetic area characteristics may decrease between-area differences and area deprivation inequalities in recreational cycling, respectively.

The politics of developing reference standards for nutrient intakes : the case of Australia and New Zealand

Objective Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) are evidence-based benchmarks for assessing the dietary adequacy of individuals and population groups as well as informing public health nutrition policies and programmes. The present paper presents the findings of an analysis of the views of submitters to a draft document associated with the development of the 2006 NRV for Australia and New Zealand. The aim of the study was to explore how these views were reflected in the policy-making process and final policy document.

Design The information necessary to fulfil this aim required access to stakeholder submissions to the NRV development process and this necessitated exploiting the provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982. We understand that the present research represents the first time that an FOI request seeking information about a National Health and Medical Research Council food and nutrition policy process has been made and therefore is novel in its approach to public health nutrition policy analysis.

Results The analysis of stakeholder submissions identified that stakeholders had particular concerns about the conduct of the review process and the future application of the nutrient values to policy and programmes. There is a lack of evidence that the majority of stakeholder comments were addressed in the final NRV document.

Conclusion Although these findings cannot be interpreted to assess the validity or otherwise of the set nutrient values, they do raise questions about the process for their development and the adequacy of the final document to reflect the views of key stakeholders.

Walking and cycling to school : predictors of increases among children and adolescents

Background
Little is known about what happens to active commuting as children get older, and less is known about influences on changes in this behavior. This study examined predictors of increases in children's and adolescents' active commuting (walking or cycling) to/from school over a 2-year period.
Methods
Participants were initially recruited and assessed in 2001. Follow-up data were collected in 2004 and 2006 and analyzed in 2008. Participants were 121 children (aged 9.1±0.34 years in 2004) and 188 adolescents (aged 14.5±0.65 years in 2004) from Melbourne, Australia. Parents and adolescents reported their perceptions of individual-level factors and of the neighborhood social and physical environment. Weekly active commuting (walking or cycling) to/from school, ranging from 0 to 10 trips/week was also proxy- or self-reported at the initial measurement and again 2 years later. Logistic regression analyses examined predictors of increases in active commuting over time.
Results
Children whose parents knew many people in their neighborhood were more likely to increase their active commuting (OR=2.6; CI=1.2, 5.9; p=0.02) compared with other children. Adolescents whose parents perceived there to be insufficient traffic lights and pedestrian crossings in their neighborhood were less likely to increase their active commuting over 2 years (OR=0.4; CI=0.2, 0.8; p=0.01), whereas adolescents of parents who were satisfied with the number of pedestrian crossings were more likely to increase their active commuting (OR=2.4; CI=1.1, 5.4; p=0.03) compared with other adolescents.
Conclusions
Social factors and physical environmental characteristics were the most important predictors of active commuting in children and adolescents, respectively.