Associations between aspects of the home-, school- and digital food environment and food consumption in school-aged children

Background & aims: The establishment of healthy dietary habits in children is of great importance to prevent diet-related conditions later in life. Eating behaviour is affected by several factors, including food environments. This thesis aimed to examine the associations of aspects within the home-, school- and digital food environment and fruit and vegetable and sugar-rich food and drink consumption in children, and to determine which food environment shows the strongest association with consumption of these foods. Materials & methods: Cross-sectional data from the DAGIS intervention follow-up study was used. The analyses included 419 children attending third to sixth grade in primary schools (N=22) in Salo, Finland. Food consumption was measured with a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Food environment data was gathered by caregiver- and child questionnaires and through school observations. Aspects studied within the home food environment were fruit and vegetable accessibility and availability and sugar-rich food and drink availability. Within the school food environment, the position of salad or vegetables in the lunch serving line and the availability of plate model posters were studied. The aspect studied within the digital food environment was advertising for sweets, soda/pop or energy drinks. Associations between the exposure and outcome variables were examined with linear regression models. Results: The home food environment was positively associated with fruit and vegetable consumption per week (B=10.96, p<0.001) and was the only food environment associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. High exposure to digital food advertising for sweets, soda/pop or energy drinks was positively associated with sugar-rich food and drink consumption frequency per week as compared to low exposure (B=3.24, p=0.002) and showed the only association with consumption of these foods. Conclusion: A healthier home food environment was positively related to children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. Children with high exposure to digital food advertising consumed sugar-rich food and drinks more frequently, compared to low exposure.