Food, Nutrition and Families
Tony WorsleyCentre for Nutrition and Physical Activity researchDeakinUniversity, Australia
Outline
The Five Country surveyCountry reports on key issues about families and food, food and nutrition promotion activitiesSharing of ideas for a monitoring system: key issuesPlanning for the future: organisation and financingDetailed discussions (Day 2)
The Five Country Survey
Aims of surveyAreas coveredSome findingsLimitationsPublication opportunities
General aims of the survey
Todescribe:1 Household food providers’ food & health behaviours & habits during the nutrition transition.2 Their views of food marketing, retailing & consumption, and food policies.Specific aimsTheir interest in body weight control.Their beliefs about the efficacy of weight control strategies.Their perceptions of the causes of obesity.Their support for food & nutrition policy options.
General Hypotheses
Thatmiddle class people will be more affected by the nutritiontransition.That‘traditional’ people will be less affected by the nutritiontransition.Thatmore consumerist populations will be less affected than new entrant (Australia and Singapore vs Shanghai, Vietnam and Indonesia).
Methods
The samplesOnline survey administered by Global MarketInsiteusing their consumer panels.800 respondents in each of Indonesia, Melbourne, Singapore, Shanghai, Vietnam.Respondents were household food providers, representative of main age groups in each country; approximately 40% were men.Samples were highly educated (middle class).
Procedure
Respondents contacted by email during December 2013 and January 2014.Strong data quality checks e.g. rotation of items to avoid order effects.Points incentives redeemable for small cash amounts.Quota (convenience) sampling
Areas covered (lots!)
Views of the healthiness of food habits.Body weight & obesity: Concerns, perceived causes, effective control strategies.Views of food and drink marketing: approval/disapproval of food marketing, penetration of marketing into family, control of marketing, trust of food company claims.Perceived healthiness of common beverages.Support for government control and promotion of healthierfoods anddrinks.Binary and 5 point responsescales with some open-ended questions.
Areas covered
Trust in sources of nutrition information.Family eating habits.Efforts to change dietary habits in previous year.Knowledge and skill required by consumers.Food shopping practices.Views of supermarkets.Food safety and environmental practices and beliefs.Background information: demographics, children, transport, accommodation, ownership of e-devices, personal values.
Data analysis - continues
Descriptive statisticsConfirmatory factor analyses and regression analysesWithin country analyses (QuynhPham, Vietnam)
Some Findings
Reports:Perceived causes of obesity, views of food marketing, government policies for healthy food promotion, skills and knowledge required by consumers.General points:Strong levels of interest in most topics.Many similarities between countries but also some big differences.Australia and Singapore similar & different to Shanghai, Indonesia and Vietnam.More interest in health promotion in Shanghai, Indonesia, Vietnam.Personal values important predictors of views.Development of reliable behavioural and attitudinal indices for future research.
Food providers’ weight change goals
Respondents were asked:Which of the following are you trying to do about your weight at the moment?
Ten most effective weight lossstrategies
Respondents were asked:How effective are the following actions that individuals can take to maintain a healthy body weight?
Perceived causes of obesity
What do you think are the main causes of obesity?(% Definitely a Cause)
What can governments do to help us consume healthier foods and drinks? (% Support)
Predictors of support for nutrition promotion
TotalR sq. = 40%
Two kinds of shoppers & food marketing
Cluster 2 stronger support for control of food marketing
Cluster 1 weaker support for control of food marketing
Discussion points
Many respondents throughout the Region were concerned with their weights,women more than men.Many are attempting to control their weight. This is similar to the situation in the USA (IFIC 2013) and elsewhere.The effectiveness of personal ways to avoid obesity were sensibleand have a supporting evidence base such as the emphasis on physical activities like walking, the avoidance of energy-dense products and the importance of healthy daily meal patterns such as breakfast taking. Food and health policies could help people do these things.It is important to engage at least part of the population(such as the rising middle class) if food and nutrition policies are to be well founded, well supported and long lasting (Laverack2010,Lobsteinet al. 2013).
References
International Food Information Council (IFIC) (2013). Food and Health Survey 2013. http://www.foodinfo@ific.org.HardusPM, vanVuurenCL, Crawford D and Worsley A (2003). Public perceptions of the causes and prevention of obesity among primary school children. International Journal of Obesity, 27, 1465–1471. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802463.Laverack, G 2010, Influencing public health policy: to what extent can public action define the policy concerns of government?ZeitschriftfürGesundheitswissenschaften, 18 (1), 21-28.Lobstein, T,Brinsden, H, Landon, J,Kraak, V,Musicus, A,Macmullan, J (2013). INFORMAS and advocacy for public health nutrition and obesity prevention. OBESITY Reviews, 14 (Supp. 1), 150-156.Moodie, R,Stuckler, D, Monteiro, C,Sheron, N, Neal, B,Thamarangsi, T, et al. (2013). Profits and pandemics: prevention of harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries.’ Lancet, 381, (9867), 670-679.
Limitations & comments
Middle class samples.Internet panels, not random probability samples.Scope too broad, needs tighter focus.Not a nutrition survey.Important family practices may be missing.Successful monitoring will link to health policies and promotion programs.
Publication opportunities
Substantial opportunities.In country reports - use of data to discuss current policies.Whole of study publications on likely influences on the various topic areas
What now?
Country reports on key issues about families and food, food and nutrition promotionactivities.Sharing of ideas for a monitoring system: keyissues.Planning for the future: organisation andfinancing.Detailed discussions (Day 2).
Discussion of within country issues relating to food and families.
Sharing of ideasfor collaboration: Questions
Are we interested in collaboration between us, to set up a monitoring system or something else ?What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Regional monitoring system?Which parts of the Five Country Study might be useful?Which new areas should we include?How often would the surveys be conducted?
Planningfor the future: organisation and financing.
How would we co-ordinate our activities?Howwould the findings be collated and reported to keystakeholders?How would findings be integrated into current nutrition and health surveys.How could we ensure the findings can be used by health policy makers, health promoters, educators and families?Howwould we support our collaboration: funding sources (or university student projects)?
Detailed discussions (Day 2).
How should we arrange tomorrow’s meetings?Priority for those leaving tomorrow afternoon to meet early.
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