Why Is Creating a Healthy Food Environment So Crucial to Making Improvements in Diet-Related NCDs?

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes are the leading cause of death worldwide. To decrease the global burden of NCDs and strengthen national efforts to combat NCDs, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020. This plan provides established procedures and several policy options for member countries and other partners. Although many countries recognize that prevention of NCDs is an important health priority, their governments currently face a challenge: How do they adopt a multi-sectoral approach to promoting a healthy lifestyle among their populations? For this, all sectors of the food system (primary production, food processing, distribution, marketing, retail, catering, and food service) need to coordinate with each other for future governance. Since regulatory policy intervention areas for diet-related NCDs are widespread throughout the global food system, for future perspectives, comprehensive and coordinated approaches are needed for policy development and implementation across all levels of governments and food sectors in order to ensure sustainable policy action.

Guía de kioscos y colaciones saludables / Guide to kiosks and healthy snacks

En Chile son cada vez más las personas que presentan sobrepeso y obesidad. En primero básico el 25,3% de los escolares presenta obesidad y un 26,5% presenta sobrepeso, es decir, más de la mitad de los niños y niñas ya tiene exceso de peso a los seis años de edad 1 . Una de las principales causas de esta tendencia, es que los entornos en los cuales nos desenvolvemos como la escuela, el trabajo o el hogar facilitan hábitos de alimentación no saludables que dañan la salud de las personas. Frente a esta situación, el Ministerio de Salud en conjunto con otros sectores, está desarrollando diferentes estrategias de promoción y prevención, con el propósito de generar ambientes más saludables y mejores condiciones para facilitar el acceso a una alimentación equilibrada, orientando a la población a adoptar hábitos de vida saludables 2 . Una de estas estrategias es la Ley 20.606 sobre Composición nutricional de los alimentos y su publicidad, que consiste entre otras medidas, en mejorar la oferta de alimentos disponibles en los kioscos escolares, aumentando la disponibilidad de alimentos saludables y disminuyendo la oferta de alimentos no saludables 3, 4 . Le regulación de esta Ley es parte del Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, donde se encuentran las principales disposiciones que regulan la producción y comercialización de los alimentos en nuestro País 5. Este documento, es un material de apoyo que describe los elementos básicos para la adecuada implementación y funcionamiento del kiosco escolar, entregando información sobre las condiciones sanitarias y funcionamiento óptimo del kiosco, incluyendo las características de su infraestructura y orientaciones sobre los alimentos que se pueden vender y promocionar al interior de los establecimientos educacionales, según lo exigido por el Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos5 . Además, se incorpora una pauta de evaluación de infraestructura, oferta y publicidad de los alimentos del kiosco escolar con el objetivo asegurar la mantención y adecuado funcionamiento del kiosco, según el Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos. Cabe destacar que los establecimientos educacionales pueden optar por no contar con kioscos escolares y focalizarse en promover las colaciones saludables en la comunidad educativa, para esto esta guía incorpora información sobre las guías alimentarias y colaciones saludables.

Evaluating the Wellness School Assessment Tool for use in public health practice to improve school nutrition and physical education policies in New York.

BACKGROUND: Addressing the limitations of existing Local Wellness Policies (LWPs) and promoting their implementation remain priorities for health and education agencies. One gap has been the absence of a standard assessment to support LWP revision. During planning for an initiative to improve school nutrition and physical education policy, the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT) was evaluated. METHODS: Five public health practitioners used WellSAT to assess 50 LWPs. A randomized, counterbalanced design ensured each LWP was coded twice by separate raters. Models evaluated the extent to which WellSAT ratings reflected differences in the LWPs and order, familiarity and rater effects. During field testing, 18 public health practitioners used WellSAT as part of a statewide public health initiative. RESULTS: In pilot testing the majority of the variability in WellSAT scores (median = 88%; range = 76% to 100%) was attributable to differences between policies. Correlations between independent raters' strength and comprehensiveness scores were strong, r = .88 and r = .77, respectively. During field testing, WellSAT was well accepted by public health practitioners and members of the school community. CONCLUSIONS: WellSAT represents a reliable and feasible tool for health and education agencies to use in improving LWPs and aligning them with recognized standards.

Results of evaluability assessments of local wellness policies in 6 US school districts.

BACKGROUND: A US federal mandate that school districts devise and implement local wellness policies (LWPs) has potential widespread impact on the nutritional content of foods and beverages available in schools and on the amount of physical activity that students engage in; however, evidence concerning the mandate's effectiveness is limited. This study describes the content of LWPs of 6 US school districts and steps taken toward their implementation and evaluation. METHODS: During visits to 6 school districts, we interviewed 88 school and community representatives about the content of their district's LWPs and how the LWPs were being implemented and evaluated. RESULTS: The 6 LWPs were consistent with the federal mandate, although they varied in content and degree of specificity, and none had been fully implemented. All 6 districts were pursuing strategies to ensure that foods and beverages available at school met nutrition standards but did not offer nutrition education to all K-12 students. All 6 districts offered students only limited opportunities for physical activity, and all 6 collected data to monitor process and outcomes of their LWPs. CONCLUSIONS: Partial implementation of LWPs in the districts we visited resulted in significant improvement in the nutritional quality of foods available at district schools, but only slight improvement in students' opportunities for school-based physical activity. We provide recommendations for school districts on implementation and evaluation. Future research is needed to determine the impact of these LWPs on students' health.