Articles

Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity?

Eating at "fast food" restaurants has increased and is linked to obesity. This study examined whether living or working near "fast food" restaurants is associated with body weight.

Authors: Robert W Jeffery, Judy Baxter, Maureen McGuire and Jennifer Linde

Report card on school snack food policies among the United States' largest school districts in 2004–2005: Room for improvement

Federal nutritional guidelines apply to school foods provided through the national school lunch and breakfast programs, but few federal regulations apply to other foods and drinks sold in schools (labeled "com...

Authors: H Mollie Greves and Frederick P Rivara

Out-of-home food outlets and area deprivation: case study in Glasgow, UK

There is a popular belief that out-of-home eating outlets, which typically serve energy dense food, may be more commonly found in more deprived areas and that this may contribute to higher rates of obesity and...

Authors: Sally Macintyre, Laura McKay, Steven Cummins and Cate Burns

Changes in accessibility and preferences predict children's future fruit and vegetable intake

Most children eat fewer fruits and vegetables than recommended. To be able to design effective interventions, understanding the aetiology of the behaviour is important. Accessibility and preferences have shown...

Authors: Elling Bere and Knut-Inge Klepp

School lunch and snacking patterns among high school students: Associations with school food environment and policies

This study examined associations between high school students' lunch patterns and vending machine purchases and the school food environment and policies.

Authors: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Simone A French, Peter J Hannan, Mary Story and Jayne A Fulkerson

The Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA) instrument: Evaluating features, amenities and incivilities of physical activity resources in urban neighborhoods

Neighborhood environment factors may influence physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to develop and test a brief instrument to systematically document and describe the type, features, amenities...

Authors: Rebecca E Lee, Katie M Booth, Jacqueline Y Reese-Smith, Gail Regan and Hugh H Howard

Gender differences in perceived environmental correlates of physical activity

Limited research has been conducted on gender differences in perceived environmental correlates of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to explore the potential role of gender in the link betw...

Authors: Enrique Garcia Bengoechea, John C Spence and Kerry R McGannon

Perceived environment and physical activity: a meta-analysis of selected environmental characteristics

Several narrative reviews have been conducted on the literature examining environmental correlates of physical activity (PA). To date these reviews have been unable to provide definitive summaries of observed ...

Authors: Mitch J Duncan, John C Spence and W Kerry Mummery

The place of physical activity in the WHO Global Strategy on Diet and Physical Activity

In an effort to reduce the global burden of non-communicable disease, the World Health Organization released a Global Strategy for Diet and Physical Activity in May 2004. This commentary reports on the develop...

Authors: Adrian Bauman and Cora L Craig

Psychosocial predictors of eating habits among adults in their mid-30s: The Oslo Youth Study follow-up 1991–1999

The predictive value of the psychosocial constructs of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) on subsequent dietary habits has not been previously investigated in a multivariate approach that includes demographic f...

Authors: Elisabeth Kvaavik, Nanna Lien, Grethe S Tell and Knut-Inge Klepp

Increasing weight-bearing physical activity and calcium-rich foods to promote bone mass gains among 9–11 year old girls: outcomes of the Cal-Girls study

A two-year, community-based, group-randomized trial to promote bone mass gains among 9–11 year-old girls through increased intake of calcium-rich foods and weight-bearing physical activity was evaluated.

Authors: Simone A French, Mary Story, Jayne A Fulkerson, John H Himes, Peter Hannan, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer and Kristine Ensrud

Test-retest reliability of a questionnaire to assess physical environmental factors pertaining to physical activity

Despite the documented benefits of physical activity, many adults do not obtain the recommended amounts. Barriers to physical activity occur at multiple levels, including at the individual, interpersonal, and ...

Authors: Kelly R Evenson and Aileen P McGinn

Estimated physical activity in Bavaria, Germany, and its implications for obesity risk: Results from the BVS-II Study

Adequate physical activity (PA) is considered as a key factor in the fight against the obesity epidemic. Therefore, detailed description of the actual PA and its components in the population is necessary. Addi...

Authors: Nina Schaller, Henrike Seiler, Stephanie Himmerich, Georg Karg, Kurt Gedrich, Günther Wolfram and Jakob Linseisen

Patterns of walking for transport and exercise: a novel application of time use data

Walking for exercise is a purposeful or structured activity that can be captured relatively easily in surveys focused on leisure time activity. In contrast, walking for transport is an incidental activity that...

Authors: Catrine Tudor-Locke, Michael Bittman, Dafna Merom and Adrian Bauman

Diets and selected lifestyle practices of self-defined adult vegetarians from a population-based sample suggest they are more 'health conscious'

Few population-based studies of vegetarians have been published. Thus we compared self-reported vegetarians to non-vegetarians in a representative sample of British Columbia (BC) adults, weighted to reflect th...

Authors: Jennifer L Bedford and Susan I Barr

Parental exercise is associated with Australian children's extracurricular sports participation and cardiorespiratory fitness: A cross-sectional study

The relationship between parental physical activity and children's physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness has not been well studied in the Australian context. Given the increasing focus on physical ac...

Authors: Verity Cleland, Alison Venn, Jayne Fryer, Terence Dwyer and Leigh Blizzard

Theory, evidence and Intervention Mapping to improve behavior nutrition and physical activity interventions

The present paper intends to contribute to the debate on the usefulness and barriers in applying theories in diet and physical activity behavior-change interventions.

Authors: Johannes Brug, Anke Oenema and Isabel Ferreira

Correlates of motivation to prevent weight gain: a cross sectional survey

This study is an application of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with additional variables to predict the motivations to prevent weight gain. In addition, variations in measures across individuals classif...

Authors: Birgitte Wammes, Stef Kremers, Boudewijn Breedveld and Johannes Brug

Diet and physical activity behavior among users of prescription weight loss medications

There is limited population-based data on diet and physical activity behaviors and weight loss among users of prescription weight loss medications. Most findings are from clinical settings or from research tha...

Authors: Heidi Michels Blanck, Laura Kettel Khan and Mary K Serdula

Physical function and associations with diet and exercise: Results of a cross-sectional survey among elders with breast or prostate cancer

Functional decline threatens independent living and is common among individuals diagnosed with cancer, especially those who are elderly. The purpose of this study was to explore whether dietary and exercise pr...

Authors: Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Elizabeth C Clipp, Miriam C Morey, Carl F Pieper, Richard Sloane, Denise Clutter Snyder and Harvey J Cohen

Perceived personal, social and environmental barriers to weight maintenance among young women: A community survey

Young women are a group at high risk of weight gain. This study examined a range of perceived personal, social and environmental barriers to physical activity and healthy eating for weight maintenance among yo...

Authors: Sari Andajani-Sutjahjo, Kylie Ball, Narelle Warren, Victoria Inglis and David Crawford

Tracking of physical activity, fitness, body composition and diet from adolescence to young adulthood: The Young Hearts Project, Northern Ireland

The assumption that lifestyles formed early in life track into adulthood has been used to justify the targeting of health promotion programmes towards children and adolescents. The aim of the current study was...

Authors: Colin Boreham, Paula J Robson, Alison M Gallagher, Gordon W Cran, J Maurice Savage and Liam J Murray

Predictors of vigorous exercise adoption and maintenance over four years in a community sample

Very little is known about the correlates of adoption and maintenance of vigorous exercise. The purpose of this study was to understand the sociodemographic correlates of exercise adoption and maintenance in a...

Authors: Kerri N Boutelle, Robert W Jeffery and Simone A French

Who will lose weight? A reexamination of predictors of weight loss in women

The purpose of this study was to analyze pretreatment predictors of short-term weight loss in Portuguese overweight and obese women involved in a weight management program. Behavioral and psychosocial predicto...

Authors: Pedro J Teixeira, António L Palmeira, Teresa L Branco, Sandra S Martins, Cláudia S Minderico, José T Barata, Analiza M Silva and Luís B Sardinha

"Is there nothing more practical than a good theory?": Why innovations and advances in health behavior change will arise if interventions are used to test and refine theory

Theoretical and practical innovations are needed if we are to advance efforts to persuade and enable people to make healthy changes in their behavior. In this paper, I propose that progress in our understandin...

Authors: Alexander J Rothman

How can Health Behavior Theory be made more useful for intervention research?

The present paper expresses the author's views about the practical utility of Health Behavior Theory for health behavior intervention research. The views are skeptical and perhaps even a bit exaggerated. They ...

Authors: Robert W Jeffery

What is the role of theory in health behavior change interventions?

Authors: Simone A French and Tony Worsley

Development of the Physical Activity Interactive Recall (PAIR) for Aboriginal children

Aboriginal children in Canada are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Given that physical inactivity is an important modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes, prevention efforts targeting Aboriginal child...

Authors: Lucie Lévesque, Margaret Cargo and Jon Salsberg

The influence of self-efficacy and outcome expectations on the relationship between perceived environment and physical activity in the workplace

Recent research and commentary contends that ecological approaches may be particularly useful for understanding and promoting physical activity participation in various settings including the workplace. Yet wi...

Authors: Tricia R Prodaniuk, Ronald C Plotnikoff, John C Spence and Phillip M Wilson

The relationship between physical fitness and clustered risk, and tracking of clustered risk from adolescence to young adulthood: eight years follow-up in the Danish Youth and Sport Study

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is usually caused by high levels of many risk factors simultaneously over many years. Therefore, it is of great interest to study if subjects stay within rank order over time in bo...

Authors: Lars Bo Andersen, Henriette Hasselstrøm, Vivian Grønfeldt, Stig Eiberg Hansen and Froberg Karsten

The quality of girls' diets declines and tracks across middle childhood

Food group intakes by US children are below recommendations and micronutrient inadequacies have been reported. There are few longitudinal data that focus on developmental changes in food and nutrient intake fr...

Authors: Michelle L Mannino, Yoonna Lee, Diane C Mitchell, Helen Smiciklas-Wright and Leann L Birch

Activities Contributing to Total Energy Expenditure in the United States: Results from the NHAPS Study

Physical activity is increasingly recognized as an important factor influencing health and disease status. Total energy expenditure, both low-intensity and high-intensity, contributes to maintenance of healthy...

Authors: Linda Dong, Gladys Block and Shelly Mandel

Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US

In recent years, the food and beverage industry in the US has viewed children and adolescents as a major market force. As a result, children and adolescents are now the target of intense and specialized food m...

Authors: Mary Story and Simone French

Why combine diet and physical activity in the same international research society?

Research in diet and physical activity in the U.S. started in very different traditions, with behavioral science input being uneven in their development. Investigators and policy makers in Europe have recogniz...

Authors: Tom Baranowski

Welcome to the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA)!

Authors: Simone A French and Tony Worsley