(i) Define children’s dietary patterns at three developmental stages – early childhood (1 to < 3 years), preschool age (3 to < 6 years) and school age (6 to < 11 years) – and assess transitions over time and (ii) verify the association between exposure to exclusive breast-feeding and the trajectory of patterns.

Cohort study using 2008–2019 data from the Brazilian Food and Nutritional Surveillance System.

Standardised markers of previous-day food intake identified dietary patterns. Latent transition analysis assessed shifts over time and estimated the effect of exclusive breast-feeding for 3–6 months on dietary pattern transitions.

135 340 children.

Two dietary patterns emerged: higher ultra-processed food intake and lower ultra-processed food intake. Patterns showed notable stability over time. Exclusively breastfed children following a lower ultra-processed food pattern in early childhood had 11 % higher odds (OR = 1·11, 95 % CI = 1·06, 1·16) of maintaining this pattern at preschool age. Exclusively breastfed children in the lower ultra-processed food pattern had a 10 % lower likelihood (OR = 0·90, 95 % CI = 0·86, 0·95) of transitioning to a higher ultra-processed food pattern at preschool age.

Dietary patterns in Brazilian children showed significant stability from early childhood to school age. Exclusive breast-feeding may protect against transitioning to high ultra-processed food patterns.

The effectiveness of food advertising restrictions may be limited by the allowance of brand advertising. This study investigated the impact of brand advertising on cognitive, affective and behavioural intention outcomes for food products high in fat, salt and/or sugar (HFSS).

Online randomised controlled trial. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three groups: HFSS brand advertisements, non-HFSS brand advertisements or non-food brand advertisements (control). Eight images of brand advertisements were individually presented via an online research platform. The primary outcomes were purchase intention and craving, measured using 100-point slider scales. Secondary outcomes were brand recognition, recall and product associations. Generalised linear models examined craving and purchase intention for HFSS foods. Group differences in brand recognition, recall and product associations were tested using Kruskal–Wallis and ANOVA.

Online.

UK adults (N 191) aged 18–87 (M = 47; sd = 16·15).

The mean composite purchase intention score for the HFSS group (234·89) was not significantly different (p > 0·05) from coefficients for non-HFSS (−51·91) and non-food groups (31·21). Similarly, no significant group differences were found for cravings. The HFSS group was significantly more likely to recognise, recall and associate more products with viewed brands, compared to non-HFSS and non-food groups (ps < 0·01).

Exposure to HFSS brand advertising triggered recognition, recall and product associations with viewed brands. However, this did not translate into increased craving or purchase intention for HFSS foods. Future research should examine the effects of brand advertising in real-world settings.

Food insecurity is prevalent among underserved communities and contributes to maternal–child health disparities. The perinatal period – from pregnancy through 1 year postpartum – provides a critical window of opportunity to identify and address food insecurity. However, perinatal providers face barriers that prevent them from providing screening, referrals and follow-up services. The study aimed to understand barriers perceived by perinatal providers to implement strategies to screen, refer and follow up for food-insecure pregnant people and children living in underserved areas.

This qualitative phenomenological study explored multi-level barriers perceived by perinatal providers when implementing strategies for screening, referral and follow-up for food insecurity guided by the socio-ecological model.

This study was conducted within five zip codes of Southern Nevada (89101, 89106, 89030, 89031 and 89032) selected for their prevalence of food insecurity and health disparities.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen perinatal providers.

Barriers at the individual provider level included lack of knowledge and education on food insecurity; at the interpersonal level included patient hesitancy to reveal sensitive information to providers; at the institutional level included lack of standard procedures to conduct screening, referrals and follow-up services; and at the community and policy levels identified organisational capacity and historical distrust of healthcare systems as obstacles to offering equitable care for food insecurity in perinatal settings.

Addressing these multi-level barriers is essential to implementing effective food insecurity mitigation strategies within perinatal care settings. Utilising the created recommendations may promote equitable care for food insecurity within clinical and community perinatal settings.

To examine the impact of one-to-one peer support on mothers’ personal breastfeeding goals.

Scoping review guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework and reported in accordance with PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Qualitative data were analysed using descriptive content analysis. Quantitative data were analysed by identifying numerical trends and recurring patterns, and a concise overview of key descriptive findings was provided using frequency counts and proportions.

Studies conducted across ten countries globally, identified through systematic searches of seven electronic databases and screening of reference lists.

Thirty-eight studies were included: twenty quantitative, seven qualitative, six mixed methods and three secondary analyses (drawing on two relevant primary sources). Participants were mothers who received one-to-one breastfeeding peer support, predominantly in community or home-based settings.

One primary outcome was assessed: The impact of one-to-one peer support on mothers’ personal breastfeeding goals. Two secondary outcomes were identified. The first examined the effect of one-to-one peer support on breastfeeding outcomes based on traditional measures of breastfeeding success. Of the included studies, 50 % reported positive effects of one-to-one peer support on traditional measures of breastfeeding success, while 21 % found no statistically significant differences. An additional secondary outcome reported in 34 % of the included studies examined the impact of mother-centred breastfeeding peer support on maternal emotional well-being.

One-to-one peer support enhances the mothers’ ability to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals and positively influences emotional well-being. These findings underscore the need to integrate structured one-to-one peer support into maternal health services in Ireland and globally.

To develop a software application for planning and monitoring the nutritional content and cost of humanitarian food assistance, provided by food or cash transfers.

Development of software.

Humanitarian emergencies

Food rations or cash transfers provided to beneficiaries

NutVal v5 is an Excel application for the calculation of the macro- and micronutrient content of food assistance and comparison with the requirements of fourteen different population groups, including the population-averaged requirements, child and adult sub-groups, and people in detention. The criteria for nutrient inclusion and the calculation of population group requirements are presented. Market costs can be entered for the calculation of a cash-transfer equivalent value, and different food rations can be saved and compared over time.

The NutVal application has been widely used by humanitarian organisations to plan and monitor food transfers. The enhancements in version 5 should allow for its continued use in food assistance programmes where cash and voucher transfers are increasingly common.

This study aims to investigate the impact of women’s empowerment on child undernutrition from 2006 to 2021 in India at the state, primary sampling unit and household levels.

This study uses repeated cross-sectional data from three rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Child undernutrition is assessed using stunting, wasting and underweight indicators, with women’s empowerment as a key predictor. Kernel density and linear polynomial plots depict the progression of anthropometric indicators over time, while multilevel regression identifies correlates and clustering in the undernutrition outcome.

Children under 5 years of age from all twenty-eight states and nine union territories of India living with their biological mothers, who are currently married or in union and not pregnant, were included in the study.

Findings indicate that NFHS-5 reports the lowest prevalence of stunting and underweight, while severe wasting persists across all survey rounds. Women’s empowerment was not significant in NFHS-3, emerged as a significant determinant by NFHS-5 (NFHS-3 β = –0·08 (–0·26, 0·11); NFHS-5 β = –0·29** (–0·51, –0·07)). Among covariates, wealth quintile showed the strongest influence on child undernutrition from 2006 to 2021, with children from the richest households having the lowest risk of being underweight. Clustering remained higher at the household level in all survey rounds, reflected through the intra-class correlation.

Higher women’s empowerment is significantly associated with reduced child undernutrition, where higher clustering persists at the household level. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies promoting women’s empowerment through community platforms and convergence with self-help groups to strengthen household-level health and nutrition outcomes.

The environments where individuals live can shape their dietary patterns, but research using intersectionality as a context-informed analytic tool to assess associations between neighbourhood deprivation and diet quality is lacking. We therefore examined whether four dimensions of neighbourhood deprivation were independently and/or jointly associated with diet quality among adults in Canada.

We used 24-h dietary recall data to calculate Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) scores to assess diet quality and the 2016 Canadian Marginalisation Index (CAN-Marg) to assess four dimensions of neighbourhood deprivation (material resources, immigration/visible minority, age/labour force and households/dwellings). Weighted linear regression models were used to examine whether these CAN-Marg dimensions were independently and/or jointly associated with diet quality, adjusting for individual, household and area characteristics.

The ten Canadian provinces.

Adults (≥ 18 years) who participated in the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition.

The material resources (β = –0·955, 95 % CI = –1·438, –0·471) and immigration/visible minority (β = 0·768, 95 % CI = 0·268, 1·268) dimensions were independently associated with HEI-2015 scores. Significant interactions suggest the associations between living in a neighbourhood with less material resources and lower HEI-2015 scores were stronger in areas with a smaller proportion of recent immigrants/visible minorities (β = 0·521, 95 % CI = 0·174, 0·868) and non-working individuals (β = –0·643, 95 % CI = –1·052, –0·234).

Neighbourhood material deprivation was not uniformly associated with poor diet quality. This suggests that associations between neighbourhood deprivation and diet quality are not universal and vary across neighbourhoods with differing immigrant, visible minority, age and labour force compositions.

To examine global, regional and national trends in dietary fibre and added sugar consumption and to assess their implications for non-communicable disease (NCD) prevalence.

This study used a longitudinal ecological design. Dietary fibre (1990–2018) and added sugar (1990–2020) intake data were obtained from the Global Dietary Database (GDD). Intakes were analysed across GDD regions, age groups, education levels and urbanisation status. Subsequently, mixed-effects models were used to assess the association between NCD prevalence and intakes of fibre, added sugar and the fibre-to-added-sugar ratio, adjusting for socio-demographic index (SDI), national income and urbanisation.

The GDD covers dietary intake estimates for 185 countries and territories.

Globally, median dietary fibre intake rose from 14·8 to 21·6 g/d, while added sugar intake increased from 7·7 % to 10·5 % of total energy intake. Fibre intake increased in all regions except high-income countries, where it declined from 21·5 to 16·4 g/d. In contrast, added sugar intake increased in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean (15·6 % to 13·3 % of total energy). Intake patterns were associated with education and urbanisation levels, with higher added sugar intake observed in countries with a higher SDI (r = 0·195, P = 0·008). The association between dietary fibre-to-added-sugar ratio was not significantly associated with NCD prevalence (β = –10·15, P = 0·067).

This study highlights global disparities in dietary fibre and added sugar consumption, driven by regional, educational and urbanisation factors. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to improve nutrition and reduce the NCD burden.

Donor human milk (DHM) is excess breast milk a woman donates to a human milk bank (HMB) for use by another infant. HMB requires operational sustainability to ensure consistent and equitable DHM supply. This review synthesises evidence from systematic reviews on how HMB services have been developed and scaled internationally. Results will inform the co-design of an evidence framework that incorporates governance, quality and sustainability criteria for HM banking.

An umbrella review was conducted following the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, JBI Evidence Synthesis, Epistemonikos and PROSPERO datasbases were searched along with grey literature searches using Google Scholar, BASE and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence website. Studies published between 2000 and June 2025 were screened by two independent reviewers.

HMB or HMB service operating in any middle- and high-income country.

Prospective, current or past HM donors; donor milk recipient families; staff working within HMB service.

Thirteen reviews were identified. Limited information on HMB organisational and funding models were identified. Key stakeholders include DHM donors and recipients, healthcare professionals and social supports. Institutional support and providing information about HMB were found to be facilitators of DHM donation and acceptance of DHM among recipient parents. Barriers to HMB development included limited public information, religious beliefs and lack of support.

A significant information gap was identified in HMB funding and organisational models. Establishing sustainable funding models, standardised governance structures and strategies to improve healthcare professionals knowledge and public awareness are opportunities for future research.

To identify economic evidence and evaluation for early-life interventions promoting healthy eating in the first 1000 days and to establish evidence gaps.

Five databases and five websites were searched using key words. Findings were synthesised narratively.

Home, education and community settings.

Pregnant women, infants and young children aged 0–2 years.

Twenty-four English-language, peer-reviewed economic evaluations reporting costs and consequences were selected. Overall, included studies demonstrated mixed quality. Using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standard (CHEERS) 2022, titles, comparators and outcomes were commonly reported, whereas health economic analysis plan (HEAP), heterogeneity and uncertainty were least reported. Four studies stated the analytical perspectives with clear decision contexts, making the results useful in decision-making. Several studies had a time horizon of one year or shorter with unclear decision context. Four studies presented relatively transparent methods, with the interpretation of results from cost–utility analyses being informative for decision-making.

This review identified consistent methodological challenges in the economic evaluation of early-life nutrition interventions. Comparators were inconsistently defined, and most studies adopted short time horizons, limiting assessment of longer-term outcomes. Chosen outcomes were focused on immediate health outcomes, with limited consideration of broader impacts or population differences. More robust and transparent approaches to economic evaluations, supported by a HEAP could improve consistency and support evidence-based decision-making.

Although BMI is associated with sarcopenia, factors that modify this association are unclear. This study aimed to clarify how demographic and lifestyle factors affect the association between BMI and sarcopenia in middle-aged and older adults.

A 9-year follow-up study.

Community-based cohort in Japan.

A total of 6632 individuals aged 40–74 years participated in this study. BMI, demographic and lifestyle factors and disease history were assessed in a baseline survey conducted between 2011 and 2014. Sarcopenia was not assessed at baseline. Sarcopenia status was assessed based on the diagnostic criteria of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 during follow-up examinations conducted in 2021 and 2022. The OR for the presence of sarcopenia at follow-up was calculated using multivariable logistic regression analysis.

A lower BMI was associated with a higher odds of sarcopenia in both males and females (P for trend < 0·0001). Significant interactions were observed between BMI and age (P for interaction = 0·0003) and between BMI and physical activity (PA) level (P for interaction = 0·0272), in sarcopenia. Specifically, the odds of sarcopenia among underweight individuals (< 18·5 kg/m2) were significantly higher than that of their counterparts in the subgroup aged < 68 years and in the subgroup with high total PA (≥ 40·1 MET-h/d).

Low BMI is strongly associated with sarcopenia, and this relationship is modified by age and PA level. Specifically, the adverse impact of being underweight on sarcopenia was greater among middle-aged individuals and those with high PA levels.

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition interventions delivered in Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services for children aged 4–12 years.

Five electronic databases were searched for articles published up to February 2024. Eligible studies were quantitative evaluations of nutrition interventions conducted in OSHC settings, including randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental and pre-post study designs. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessments (ROB 2 and ROBINS-I tools) were conducted independently by two reviewers.

Formal OSHC services operating before and/or after school and during school holidays in high-income countries. Outcomes assessed included children’s dietary intake, food provision, healthy eating behaviours, staff practices, service policies and health indicators such as BMI.

Children (aged 4–12 years) and staff at OSHC services.

Thirty-three studies involving approximately 13 880 participants were included. Interventions varied in duration (7 weeks to 3 years) and components, including nutrition education, staff training, family engagement, menu and policy changes and many also a physical activity component. Most studies reported improvements in food provision, children’s dietary intake and staff nutrition practices. Interventions focused on food provision, menu planning and policy were most effective. Few studies reported significant changes in anthropometric outcomes. Risk of bias was moderate across studies.

This review highlights effective strategies to improve children’s dietary habits and food environments in OSHC services. Sustained interventions that focus on food provision, menu planning and/or policy are recommended. Future research should explore multi-level initiatives, digital tools, fidelity and cost-effectiveness.

Consumption of meat – red and processed meat in particular – exceeds recommended levels in most high-income countries. Higher taxes on meat have been proposed as a response but have proven difficult to implement due to political controversy. We examined the role of framing in the media debate on taxing meat and other animal-based foods in Germany.

We conducted a framing analysis to identify themes characterising the debate, and key actors and their narrative and argumentative strategies.

Germany.

A total of 381 articles from eighteen German-language newspapers published between 2019 and 2023.

Frames in favour of higher meat taxes most commonly referred to potential animal welfare and environmental gains, with health playing a smaller role. Anti-tax frames most commonly concerned the amplification of inequalities, the alleged inefficacy of taxes and the superiority of regulation. Support for higher taxes came from across the political spectrum and from various stakeholders, including producers, researchers and environmental organisations. Conservative actors and producers often expressed support, conditional upon earmarking of revenue for animal welfare measures.

Using framing strategies and policy designs that appeal to broadly shared values may help to reduce polarisation in debates on meat taxation. In countries where concerns for animal welfare are salient, earmarking revenue for animal welfare improvements may increase support. Anticipating and addressing concerns around equity and efficacy may help to defuse criticism. In the German context, legal obstacles to earmarking and rising inflation may have hindered policy adoption.

Price promotions are widely used in supermarkets and are more commonly applied to less healthy foods and beverages. We aimed to examine how supermarket price promotions influence food and beverage purchasing among households with school-aged children in Australia, and how perceptions vary by income.

A cross-sectional qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, analysed using thematic analysis.

Australia, within the supermarket retail food environment.

Twenty-two parents or caregivers of school-aged children from households with differing income levels.

Participants across income groups reported using supermarket price promotions as a budgeting strategy, particularly in the context of rising food costs. Price promotions were described as encouraging unplanned purchases, most often for unhealthy foods and beverages. Compared with higher-income households, lower-income households reported greater awareness of supermarket pricing strategies and more frequent purchasing of price-promoted products. Participants perceived that healthy options were less frequently discounted and suggested that increasing promotions for healthy foods and beverages would better support healthy diets.

Supermarket price promotions were perceived to shape purchasing decisions, often encouraging purchases of less healthy foods and beverages. Regulatory approaches that reduce promotions on less healthy products while improving the affordability of healthier options may support healthier and more equitable food environments, particularly for households experiencing financial constraints.

To explore how key stakeholders contribute to dietary self-care support for adults with type 2 diabetes receiving outpatient care in diabetes clinics in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

Descriptive phenomenological study. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit the participants. A total of thirty-one interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Reflexive thematic analytical framework was followed to analyse the data.

Diabetes clinics in the Ashanti region of Ghana: Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Manhyia District Hospital, Ejisu Government Hospita and Juaben Government Hospital.

Healthcare providers, family caregivers and officials of health directorates.

Healthcare professionals contributed to dietary self-care by framing and interpreting dietary knowledge, offering psychological care and support and preparing family caregivers for their caregiving responsibilities. Family caregivers supported adherence by providing emotional reinforcement and behavioural motivation, assuming responsibility for managing the daily realities of dietary self-care and mobilising material and financial resources. Directors and officers at the health directorate contributed through supervision and quality control and through capacity building.

The study underscores a need for continuous professional development programmes for healthcare providers, equipping them with updated knowledge on dietary counselling, psychological support and caregiver training. Additionally, the role of health directorates in supervising healthcare facilities and facilitating training programmes underscores the importance of strengthening institutional frameworks that ensure adherence to evidence-based dietary guidelines. Furthermore, the study highlights a need for healthcare facilities to strengthen the recognition and formalisation of the role of family caregivers in diabetes self-care practices.

To explore consumers’ understanding of whole-grain foods and their processing and food industry personnel’s perceptions of whole-grain foods in processing classification systems.

Semi-structured focus groups and interviews.

Online.

Consumers (n 28) ≥ 18 years frequently purchasing/consuming grain foods. Food industry personnel (n 16) currently/recently employed within the grain industry.

Consumers generally used whole-refined grain comparisons to gauge the level of processing, perceiving whole grains as less processed. While some suggested processing elements, such as additives, may influence their food choices, healthfulness was typically judged based on the presence or absence of certain nutrients. Often, other drivers of behaviour took precedence (e.g. cost, familial preferences and culinary skills). Food industry personnel viewed food processing as complex but oversimplified in current food processing classification systems. They considered that while some processed foods can be unhealthful, this does not apply to all processed foods. They emphasised the importance of holistic consumer education including that processing needs to be considered together with the food’s nutritional composition to help consumers differentiate between less healthy and ‘healthier’ processed foods (e.g. a highly processed refined grain food with added fats and sugars, and a fortified whole-grain product).

Messaging around food processing should be considered alongside those on nutritional quality of foods to ensure consumers are informed in their understanding of a food’s healthfulness. Policy measures addressing food processing should reflect its complexities, including the different types and functions of processing and their rationale, particularly in the context of whole grains.