Exploring the Effects of Perceived Stress on the Within-Person Relationships Between Daily Activity Levels and Sleep in Women: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Many studies show positive bidirectional associations between physical activity (PA) and sleep at the between-person level. There is an increased interest in investigating these associations at the within-person level. Few studies examined the effects of time-varying moderators on the within-person bidirectional associations between PA and sleep. This study aimed to examine the bidirectional within-person day-level associations between activity levels and self-reported sleep duration and explore the moderating effects of perceived stress on these day-level associations. METHOD: Data from 158 women that included 7-day free-living monitoring over 4 measurement periods was analyzed using multilevel modeling to explore the moderating effects of daily stress on the bidirectional, within-person associations between activity levels and self-reported sleep duration. Moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) were estimated from a waist-worn accelerometer. Self-reported sleep duration and perceived stress were collected by ecological momentary assessment. RESULTS: No significant within-person associations between MVPA minutes and self-reported sleep duration were found in either direction. However, engaging in more MVPA than one's usual level was associated with longer sleep later that night when perceived stress was higher than usual (p = .04). Bidirectional negative within-person association between SB minutes and self-reported sleep duration was found (ps < .01). The negative association between SB and sleep duration later that night was stronger when perceived stress was lower than usual (p = .01). CONCLUSION: Daily stress played an important role in the day-to-day associations between activity levels and sleep.

Circadian timing of eating and BMI among adults in the American Time Use Survey.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Experimental studies of time-restricted eating suggest that limiting the daily eating window, shifting intake to the biological morning, and avoiding eating close to the biological night may promote metabolic health and prevent weight gain. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We used the Eating & Health Module of the 2006-2008 and 2014-2016 American Time Use Survey to examine cross-sectional associations of timing of eating in relation to sleep/wake times as a proxy for circadian timing with body mass index (BMI). The analytical sample included 38 302 respondents (18-64 years; BMI 18.5-50.0 kg/m2). A single 24-hour time use diary was used to calculate circadian timing of eating variables: eating window (time between first and last eating activity); morning fast (time between end of sleep and start of eating window); and evening fast (time between end of eating window and start of sleep). Multinomial logistic regression and predictive margins were used to estimate adjusted population prevalences (AP) by BMI categories and changes in prevalences associated with a one-hour change in circadian timing of eating, controlling for sociodemographic and temporal characteristics. RESULTS: A one-hour increase in eating window was associated with lower adjusted prevalence of obesity (AP = 27.1%, SE = 0.1%). Conversely, a one-hour increase in morning fast (AP = 28.7%, SE = 0.1%) and evening fast (AP = 28.5%, SE = 0.1%) were each associated with higher prevalence of obesity; interactions revealed differing patterns of association by combination of eating window with morning/evening fast (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to hypotheses, longer eating windows were associated with a lower adjusted prevalence of obesity and longer evening fasts were associated with a higher prevalence of obesity. However, as expected, longer morning fast was associated with a higher adjusted prevalence of obesity. Studies are needed to disentangle the contributions of diet quality/quantity and social desirability bias in the relationship between circadian timing of eating and BMI.

A qualitative exploration of facilitators and barriers of adherence to time-restricted eating.

Time-restricted eating (TRE), a dietary strategy that involves limiting daily energy intake to a window of ≤12 h is appealing for weight management and metabolic health due to its relative simplicity and the ability to consume ad libitum diet during eating windows. Despite the potential utility of TRE for improving health and reducing disease, the feasibility of adherence depends upon a variety of multilevel factors which are largely unexplored. The primary aim of our study was to explore facilitators and barriers of adherence to TRE among community-dwelling individuals. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted among 24 individuals (50% male; M age: 34, range: 18-57; 58% overweight/obese) who currently or formerly practiced TRE. Thematic analysis identified facilitators of and barriers to TRE adherence at multiple levels of influence (i.e., biological, behavioral, psychosocial, environmental). Key facilitators of adherence included improvements in physical health and energy levels, alignment with other aspects of diet, exercise and sleep patterns, self-monitoring and positive psychological impacts, social support, and busy or regular schedules. Key barriers included negative physical health effects, feelings of hunger and sluggishness, difficulty in skipping valued baseline eating routines or inadequate diet quality during the eating window, misalignment of TRE with 24-h activity behaviors, difficulties with self-monitoring, the need to mitigate negative feelings, social situations that discourage TRE, and irregular or idle schedules. Results illustrate that key drivers of adherence differ across individuals and their unique settings and that multiple drivers of behavior should be considered in the successful implementation of TRE. Findings may inform interventions seeking to tailor TRE schedules to fit individuals' diverse behavioral patterns and preferences, thereby optimizing adherence.

The Association of Maternal Perceived Stress With Changes in Their Children's Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) Scores Over Time.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the role of maternal stress in relation to their children's dietary quality and its trajectory over time. PURPOSE: The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the effect of baseline maternal stress on the change in their 8- to 12-year-old children's dietary quality over 1 year. METHODS: Mother-child dyads (N = 189) from the greater Los Angeles area participating in the Mothers' and their Children's Health (MATCH) study in 2014-2016 completed assessments at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. At baseline, mothers (mean age = 41.0 years, standard deviation [SD] = 6.1) completed the 10-item Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). At each time point, children (51% female, mean age = 9.6 years, SD = 0.9) completed up to two 24-hr dietary recalls. Dietary data were used to calculate each child's Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) score at each time point. Multilevel models examined the effect of time on the patterns of change in children's HEI-2010 scores over 1 year and the cross-level interaction between baseline maternal PSS score and time on the change in children's HEI-2010 scores. RESULTS: On average, there was no significant linear change in child HEI-2010 across 1 year (b = -0.410, p = .586). Controlling for covariates, the rate of change in HEI-2010 differed depending on mother's baseline PSS (i.e., significant cross-level interaction effect) (b = -0.235, p = .035). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that higher-than-average maternal stress at baseline was associated with greater decline in children's dietary quality over 1 year. Family-based dietary interventions that incorporate maternal stress reduction could have positive effects on children's dietary quality.

Within-Subject Effects of Stress on Weight-Related Parenting Practices in Mothers: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Stress may compromise parenting practices related to children's dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. PURPOSE: The current study used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to examine microtemporal sequences underlying maternal stress and subsequent weight-related parenting practices. METHODS: Mothers (n = 199) of children aged 8-12 years participated in two separate 7-day waves of EMA with up to eight randomly prompted surveys per day during children's nonschool time. EMA items assessed stress and weight-related parenting practices. RESULTS: When mothers reported experiencing greater stress than usual, they subsequently engaged in less physical activity parenting (e.g., encouraging physical activity; p < .05) and more sedentary screen behavior parenting (e.g., limiting TV/video games; p < .05) over the next 2 hr. CONCLUSIONS: Addressing within-day variations in maternal stress may be an important component of parent-focused child obesity prevention interventions.

Within-subject effects of environmental and social stressors on pre- and post-partum obesity-related biobehavioral responses in low-income Hispanic women: protocol of an intensive longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Disproportionately high rates of maternal overweight and obesity among the Hispanic population before, during, and after pregnancy pose serious health concerns for both mothers (e.g., preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, weight retention) and children (e.g., elevated lifelong obesity risk). A growing body of evidence implicates environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution, metals) and social stressors (e.g., poverty, violence) in contributing to obesity-related biobehavioral processes, such as physical activity, dietary intake, perceived stress, and cortisol regulation. However, current understanding of the role of environmental exposures and social stressors on obesity-related biobehavioral processes is limited by infrequent, inter-individual measurement, and lack of personal exposure monitoring. METHODS: The "Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors" (MADRES) real-time and personal sampling study examines the within-subject day-level effects of environmental and social stressors on maternal pre- and post-partum obesity-related biobehavioral responses. Among a cohort of 65 low-income, Hispanic women in urban Los Angeles, this study uses innovative personal, real-time data capture strategies (e.g., ecological momentary assessment [EMA], personal exposure monitoring, geolocation monitoring, accelerometry) to repeatedly assess obesity-related processes during the 1st and 3rd trimester, and at 4-6 months postpartum. Day-level effects of environmental exposures and social stressors on women's physical activity, diet, perceived stress and salivary cortisol measured across repeated days will be tested using multilevel modeling. DISCUSSION: Hispanic women of childbearing age bear a disproportionately high burden of obesity, and this population is also unduly exposed to numerous obesogenic settings. By using innovative real-time data capture strategies, the current study will uncover the daily impacts of environmental and social stressor exposures on women's obesity-related biobehavioral responses, which over time can lead to excessive gestational weight gain, postpartum weight retention and can pose serious consequences for both mother and child. Findings from the real-time and personal sampling study will identify key mechanistic targets for policy, clinical, and programmatic interventions, with the potential for broad-reaching public health impacts.

Concordance and predictors of concordance of children's dietary intake as reported via ecological momentary assessment and 24 h recall.

OBJECTIVE: To provide preliminary evidence in support of using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a real-time data capture method involving repeated assessments, to measure dietary intake in children by examining the concordance of children's dietary reports through EMA and 24 h recall. DESIGN: Children completed eight days of EMA surveys, reporting on recent dietary intake of four pre-specified food categories ('Fruits or Vegetables', 'Chips or Fries', 'Pastries or Sweets', 'Soda or Energy Drinks'), and completed two 24 h recalls during the same period. Concordance of children's reports of intake during matched two-hour time windows from EMA and 24 h dietary recall was assessed using cross-tabulation. Multilevel logistic regression examined potential person-level (i.e. sex, age, ethnicity and BMI category) predictors of concordance. SETTING: Children in Los Angeles County, USA, enrolled in the Mothers' and Their Children's Health (MATCH) study. SUBJECTS: One hundred and forty-four 144 children (53 % female; mean age 9·6 (sd 0·9) years; 34·0 % overweight/obese). RESULTS: Two-hour concordance varied by food category, ranging from 64·9 % for 'Fruits/Vegetables' to 89·9 % for 'Soda/Energy Drinks'. In multilevel models, overweight/obese (v. lean) was associated with greater odds (OR; 95 % CI) of concordant reporting for 'Soda/Energy Drinks' (2·01; 1·06, 4·04) and 'Pastries/Sweets' (1·61; 1·03, 2·52). Odds of concordant reporting were higher for Hispanic (v. non-Hispanic) children for 'Pastries/Sweets' (1·55; 1·02, 2·36) and for girls (v. boys) for 'Fruits/Vegetables' (1·36; 1·01, 1·83). CONCLUSIONS: Concordance differed by food category as well as by person-level characteristics. Future research should continue to explore use of EMA to facilitate dietary assessment in children.

Examining the Bidirectional Associations Between Sleep Duration, Screen Time, and Internalizing Symptoms in the ABCD Study.

PURPOSE: The likelihood of meeting sleep duration and screen time guidelines decreases as children develop toward adolescence. Simultaneously, the prevalence of internalizing symptoms increases. The purpose of this paper was to examine the bidirectional associations between sleep duration and screen time with internalizing symptoms in a one-year longitudinal study starting in late childhood. METHODS: Participants were 10,828 youth (47.8% female) enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. At baseline (mean age 9.9 years) and one-year follow-up (mean age 10.9 years), youth self-reported screen time for weekdays and weekend days. Responses were separately dichotomized as >2 versus ≤2 hours/day (meeting behavioral guidelines). Caregiver-reported youth sleep duration was dichotomized as <9 versus 9-11 hours/night (meeting behavioral guidelines). Caregivers reported internalizing symptoms via the child behavior checklist. The withdrawn/depressed, anxious/depressed, and somatic symptom child behavior checklist subscale t-scores were separately dichotomized as ≥65 (borderline clinical levels of symptoms and above) versus <65. Analyses were gender-stratified. RESULTS: In females, longer baseline sleep duration was protective against withdrawn/depressed symptoms (odds ratio [OR] 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.4-0.8) and somatic complaints (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.6-0.97) one year later. In females, greater baseline weekend screen time was associated with increased risk of withdrawn/depressed symptoms (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.2) one year later. No other significant associations were observed. DISCUSSION: Longitudinal associations between sleep duration, weekend screen time, and internalizing symptoms were unidirectional (behavior preceding internalizing symptoms), among females only, and specific to withdrawn/depressed and somatic symptoms. These prospective study findings warrant attention and inform future research in this cohort.

Conceptualization and Assessment of 24-H Timing of Eating and Energy Intake: A Methodological Systematic Review of the Chronic Disease Literature.

Timing of eating (TOE) and energy intake (TOEI) has important implications for chronic disease risk beyond diet quality. The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended developing consistent terminology to address the lack of TOE/TOEI standardization. The primary objective of this methodological systematic review was to characterize the conceptualization and assessment of TOE/TOEI within the chronic disease literature (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews registration number: CRD42021236621). Literature searches in Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Plus, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus were limited to English language publications from 2000 to August 2022. Eligible studies reported the association between TOE/TOEI and obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer, or a related clinical risk factor among adults (≥19 y) in observational and intervention studies. A qualitative synthesis described and compared TOE/TOEI conceptualization, definitions, and assessment methods across studies. Of the 7579 unique publications identified, 259 studies (observational [51.4 %], intervention [47.5 %], or both [1.2 %]) were eligible for inclusion. Key findings indicated that most studies (49.6 %) were conducted in the context of obesity and body weight. TOE/TOEI variables or assigned conditions conceptualized interrelated aspects of time and eating or energy intake in varying ways. Common TOE/TOEI conceptualizations included the following: 1) timepoint (specific time to represent when intake occurs, such as time of breakfast [74.8 %]); 2) duration (length of time or interval when intake does/does not occur, such as "eating window" [56.5 %]); 3) distribution (proportion of daily intake at a given time interval, such as "percentage of energy before noon" [29.8 %]); and 4) cluster (grouping individuals based on temporal ingestive characteristics [5.0 %]). Assessment, definition, and operationalization of 24-h TOE/TOEI variables varied widely across studies. Observational studies most often used surveys or questionnaires (28.9 %), whereas interventions used virtual or in-person meetings (23.8 %) to assess TOE/TOEI adherence. Overall, the diversity of terminology and methods solidifies the need for standardization to guide future research in chrononutrition and to facilitate inter-study comparisons.

Time-Restricted Eating in Community-Dwelling Adults: Correlates of Adherence and Discontinuation in a Cross-Sectional Online Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Time-restricted eating (TRE), a type of intermittent fasting in which all daily calories are consumed within a window of ≤12 hours, is hypothesized to promote long-term weight management because of its relative simplicity. OBJECTIVE: This study reports correlates of adherence among community-dwelling adults currently or formerly following a TRE dietary strategy. DESIGN: A 25-minute cross-sectional online survey was developed, including questions about TRE perceptions, behaviors, motivators and drivers, and demographics. The survey was administered in February 2021 via Prolific, an online platform for sample recruitment and survey dissemination. PARTICIPANTS: Eligibility criteria included US adult ages 18+ who currently or formerly (past 3 months) followed TRE (ie, consumed all daily calories within a window of ≤12 hours) for a minimum of 1 week. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: χ2 tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA; adjusting for sex and age) compared responses between current and former followers. RESULTS: Current followers (n = 296, mean [SD]: 34.2 ± 12.2y) were older than former followers (n = 295, mean [SD]: 31.1 ± 10.9 y) and practiced TRE for longer (median: 395 vs 90 days, P < 0.001). Current followers reported more success with meeting TRE goals (P ≤ 0.015), were less likely to report TRE concerns (P < 0.001), and more likely to report TRE satisfaction (P < 0.001). Four TRE motivators were more important among current (vs former) followers: weight maintenance, health (not weight), improved sleep, and preventing disease (P ≤ 0.017); weight loss was more important among former (vs current) followers (P = 0.003). Among adherence drivers, ability to work from home and the impact of COVID-19 were reported as more helpful for TRE adherence among current compared with former followers (P ≤ 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: TRE motivators and drivers differed between current and former followers; interventions tailored to individuals' preferences and circumstances may benefit TRE adherence.

Time-Restricted Feeding Studies and Possible Human Benefit.

Metabolic syndrome consists of a constellation of clinical factors associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Preclinical studies demonstrate that restricting the time during a 24-hour period when an obese animal eats (time-restricted feeding) leads to metabolic benefits. These benefits, which may or may not be associated with weight loss, often lead to improvements in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Studies seeking to determine whether similar benefits result when humans restrict daily eating time (time-restricted eating) are less mature and less consistent in their findings. In this commentary, we outline some of the exciting preclinical findings, the challenges that preliminary studies in humans present, and efforts of the US National Institutes of Health and specifically the National Cancer Institute to address the role of time-restricted eating in cancer.

Perspective: Time-Restricted Eating Compared with Caloric Restriction: Potential Facilitators and Barriers of Long-Term Weight Loss Maintenance.

A growing body of literature examines the potential benefits of a time-based diet strategy referred to as time-restricted eating (TRE). TRE, a type of intermittent fasting, restricts the time of eating to a window of 4-12 h/d but allows ad libitum intake during eating windows. Although TRE diets do not overtly attempt to reduce energy intake, preliminary evidence from small studies suggests that TRE can lead to concomitant reduction in total energy, improvements in metabolic health, and weight loss. Unique features of the TRE diet strategy may facilitate adherence and long-term weight loss maintenance. In this Perspective, we explore the potential multilevel (i.e., biological, behavioral, psychosocial, environmental) facilitators and barriers of TRE for long-term weight loss maintenance in comparison with the more commonly used diet strategy, caloric restriction (CR). Compared with CR, TRE may facilitate weight loss maintenance by counteracting physiological adaptations to weight loss (biological), allowing for usual dietary preferences to be maintained (behavioral), preserving executive functioning (psychosocial), and enabling individuals to withstand situational pressures to overeat (environmental). However, TRE may also pose unique barriers to weight loss maintenance, particularly for individuals with poor baseline diet quality, internal or social pressures to eat outside selected windows (e.g., grazers), and competing demands that interfere with the scheduling of eating. Future studies of TRE in free-living individuals should consider the multiple levels of influence impacting long-term adherence and weight loss maintenance. Ultimately, TRE could be one strategy in a toolkit of tailored diet strategies to support metabolic health and weight loss maintenance.

The curvilinear effect of mothers' parenting stress and attunement on children's internalizing symptoms: A six wave study of mother-youth dyads across the transition to adolescence.

We aimed to test how deviations in a mother's own parenting stress (PS) levels across her child's transition to adolescence contribute to subsequent changes in her child's internalizing symptom levels. We tested both linear and curvilinear effects, as well as the extent to which a child's perception of his or her mother's attunement alters these links. We further explored whether overall maternal PS levels (relative to the other mothers) further moderate the within-dyad association. These effects were tested in a community sample consisting of 202 mother-child dyads during transition to early adolescence. The dyads were examined within and across six waves, each separated by 6 months. During each wave, the mothers (Mage at baseline = 40.1 years [SD = 6.1]) reported on their PS, while children (Mage at baseline = 10.1 years [SD = .90]) reported on their internalizing symptoms and their perceived maternal attunement. Multilevel within-dyad analyses revealed a U-shaped effect of mothers' PS on concurrent child symptoms, whereas the prospective association was not significant. Maternal attunement moderated the concurrent effects, changing the tipping point at which the concurrent potential benefits of rising PS were outweighed by the potential negative consequences of overburdening the child. Increases in PS prospectively predicted increased symptoms in the child but not when maternal attunement was above the mothers' average level. Global PS levels did not moderate these effects. The results underscore the contribution made by mothers' PS to the emotional trajectories of their children and show that these effects vary as a function of deviations in maternal attunement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Momentary affect, stress coping, and food intake in mother-child dyads.

BACKGROUND: Momentary affect and stress in mothers and their children may be an important predictor of food intake in the natural environment. This study hypothesized that there would be parallel actor and partner effects such that mothers' and children's negative affect (NA), positive affect (PA), and ability to cope with stress would be associated with their own and the other dyad member's unhealthy and healthy food intake in a similar pattern. METHOD: Participants included 202 mother-child dyads (child age range = 8-12 years) who responded to randomly prompted ecological momentary assessment surveys via smartphone up to 7 times per day over 8 days, excluding time at school. At each prompt, mothers and children reported on their current NA, PA, and ability to cope with stress and foods consumed in the past 2 hr. RESULTS: Mothers' momentary ability to cope with stress predicted their own and their child's pastries/sweets intake and their own fries/chips intake, and children's momentary ability to cope with stress predicted their own pastries/sweets intake. Mothers and children who reported higher NA on average consumed more pastries/sweets, and children with higher NA on average consumed more fast food. Finally, mothers' momentary PA predicted their own fruit/vegetable consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provided evidence that the affect and ability to cope with stress of children and mothers predicted subsequent food intake. Given both actor and partner effects, the results show that targeting momentary mothers' and children's ability to cope with stress may have the greatest effect on reducing unhealthy food intake. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior on Brain Response to High-Calorie Food Cues in Young Adults.

OBJECTIVE: Physical activity (PA) promotes weight maintenance, potentially because of its beneficial effects on feeding behavior regulation via diminished food cue reactivity within brain reward regions. This study examined how levels of PA and sedentary behavior (SB) relate to brain responses to food cues. METHODS: Participants (22 lean, 18 with obesity) completed three to five PA recalls over 2 months. Average minutes per day of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and SB were calculated. Participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session, viewing food and nonfood images following glucose ingestion. Region of interest (ROI) analysis examined associations between MVPA and brain percent signal change in response to food versus nonfood images, controlling for obesity and sex. Secondary analysis examined associations between SB and brain responses to food cues. RESULTS: Greater MVPA was associated with decreased food cue reactivity after glucose across brain ROIs (ß = -0.00057, P = 0.005), controlling for obesity and sex. Greater SB was associated with increased food cue reactivity after glucose across brain ROIs in unadjusted analyses (ß = 0.00041, P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: PA may have beneficial effects on brain regulation of feeding behavior after caloric intake in lean individuals and individuals with obesity.

Objectively-Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Time are Differentially Related to Dietary Fat and Carbohydrate Intake in Children.

Background: Research on the clustering of physical activity, sedentary, and dietary intake behaviors in children has relied on retrospective and parent-report measures, which may obscure true associations. The current study combined objectively-measured moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) data from waist-worn accelerometers, with multiple child-report 24-h dietary recalls to assess specific components of dietary intake (i.e., dietary fat, carbohydrates, protein; glycemic load, fruits and vegetables) in children. Methods: Participants (n = 136, ages 8-12 years) wore an accelerometer for 7 days. On two of those days, children completed 24-h recall phone interviews to assess dietary intake. Results: After adjusting for child age, sex, ethnicity, annual household income, and body mass index (BMI) percentile; ST was positively associated with percent dietary fat intake, and negatively associated with percent dietary carbohydrate intake and glycemic load (p's < 0.01). MVPA was positively associated with percent dietary carbohydrate intake and daily glycemic load, and negatively associated with percent dietary fat intake (p's < 0.05). Conclusion: Despite its direct health benefits, physical activity may be associated with consuming greater proportion of total intake from carbohydrates, especially those with a higher glycemic index. Further research is needed to understand the differential implications of these unique behavioral interrelations for diabetes, cardiovascular, and obesity risk.

An Electronic Ecological Momentary Assessment Study to Examine the Consumption of High-Fat/High-Sugar Foods, Fruits/Vegetables, and Affective States Among Women.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between high-fat/high-sugar foods (HFHS) and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and affective states in women. METHODS: The researchers used electronic ecological momentary assessment to capture HFHS and FV consumption in the past 2 hours (predictor) and current affective states (outcome) across 1 week among 202 women. Multilevel linear regression was conducted. Weight status was tested as a moderator. RESULTS: Consumption of FV in the past 2 hours was positively associated with feeling happy (P < .05). Women who consumed more HFHS or fewer FV than others in the study reported higher average sadness (both P < .05). Overweight or obese women who reported more frequent HFHS consumption than others had higher average stress than normal weight women (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The association between HFHS consumption and stress might be stronger in overweight or obese than normal weight women. Future studies could further enhance the electronic ecological momentary assessment method to explore other time-varying moderators and mediators of food consumption and affect.

Mobile Ecological Momentary Diet Assessment Methods for Behavioral Research: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: New methods for assessing diet in research are being developed to address the limitations of traditional dietary assessment methods. Mobile device-assisted ecological momentary diet assessment (mEMDA) is a new dietary assessment method that has not yet been optimized and has the potential to minimize recall biases and participant burden while maximizing ecological validity. There have been limited efforts to characterize the use of mEMDA in behavioral research settings. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to summarize mEMDA protocols used in research to date, to characterize key aspects of these assessment approaches, and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of mEMDA compared with the traditional dietary assessment methods as well as implications for future mEMDA research. METHODS: Studies that used mobile devices and described mEMDA protocols to assess dietary intake were included. Data were extracted according to Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and Cochrane guidelines and then synthesized narratively. RESULTS: The review included 20 studies with unique mEMDA protocols. Of these, 50% (10/20) used participant-initiated reports of intake at eating events (event-contingent mEMDA), and 50% (10/20) used researcher-initiated prompts requesting that participants report recent dietary intake (signal-contingent mEMDA). A majority of the study protocols (60%, 12/20) enabled participants to use mobile phones to report dietary data. Event-contingent mEMDA protocols most commonly assessed diet in real time, used dietary records for data collection (60%, 6/10), and provided estimates of energy and nutrient intake (60%, 6/10). All signal-contingent mEMDA protocols used a near real-time recall approach with unannounced (ie, random) abbreviated diet surveys. Most signal-contingent protocols (70%, 7/10) assessed the frequency with which (targeted) foods or food groups were consumed. Relatively few (30%, 6/20) studies compared mEMDA with the traditional dietary assessment methods. CONCLUSIONS: This review demonstrates that mEMDA has the potential to reduce participant burden and recall bias, thus advancing the field beyond current dietary assessment methods while maximizing ecological validity.

Differences in Mothers' and Children's Dietary Intake during Physical and Sedentary Activities: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity and diet are major modifiable health behaviors contributing to obesity risk. Although patterns of these behaviors tend to cluster within individuals and within family units, it is unknown to what extent healthy and unhealthy dietary intake might differentially accompany sedentary and physical activities in mothers compared with their children. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to examine differences in co-occurrence of activities and dietary intake between mothers and children, as measured in real time using ecological momentary assessment. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: This study examined cross-sectional data from 175 mothers and their children aged 8 to 12 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed 8 days of ecological momentary assessment surveys, reporting on whether the following activities had occurred during the past 2 hours: sedentary screen activity, physical activity, and intake of healthy (ie, fruits and vegetables) and unhealthy (ie, fast food, chips/fries, pastries/sweets, and soda/energy drinks) foods. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Multilevel logistic regression models estimated the adjusted odds of consuming healthy and unhealthy dietary intake for mothers and children during time periods reporting physical activity (vs no physical activity) or sedentary screen activity (vs no sedentary screen activity). Post hoc tests compared estimates for mothers vs children. RESULTS: Children were significantly more likely than their mothers to consume unhealthy foods during 2-hour windows that included physical activity (odds ratio [children] 1.85, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.31; odds ratio [mothers] 0.83, 95% CI 0.58 to 1.20; Pdiff <0.05), but not sedentary screen activity (Pdiff=0.067). In addition, children and their mothers did not differ in their likelihood of consuming healthy foods during 2-hour windows with sedentary screen activity (Pdiff =0.497) or physical activity (Pdiff =0.170). CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the consumption of unhealthy foods may be more likely to co-occur within a 2-hour window including physical activity in children as compared to their mothers. Future research should examine reasons for this difference, and potential areas for intervention.