Children's exposure to food advertising on free-to-air television: an Asia-Pacific perspective.

There is an established link between food promotions and children's food purchase and consumption. Children in developing countries may be more vulnerable to food promotions given the relative novelty of advertising in these markets. This study aimed to determine the scope of television food advertising to children across the Asia-Pacific to inform policies to restrict this marketing. Six sites were sampled, including from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. At each site, 192 h of television were recorded (4 days, 16 h/day, three channels) from May to October 2012. Advertised foods were categorized as core/healthy, non-core/unhealthy or miscellaneous, and by product type. Twenty-seven percent of advertisements were for food/beverages, and the most frequently advertised product was sugar-sweetened drinks. Rates of non-core food advertising were highest during viewing times most popular with children, when between 3 (South Korea) and 15 (Indonesia) non-core food advertisements were broadcast each hour. Children in the Asia-Pacific are exposed to high volumes of unhealthy food/beverage television advertising. Different policy arrangements for food advertising are likely to contribute to regional variations in advertising patterns. Cities with the lowest advertising rates can be identified as exemplars of good policy practice.

[Correlation between the expression level of coiled-coil domain-containing protein 80 and obesity].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between expression of coiled-coil domain-containing protein 80(CCDC80) and obesity in serum and adipose tissues. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a hospital in Tangshan in September 2010. 100 people including 78 healthy people and 22 with type-2 diabetes were recruited. Another 36 female patients with benign tumor of Obstetrics and Gynecology were also recruited. Demographic characteristics and serum samples were collected from all subjects, basic biochemical indicators were tested. All subjects were divided into 'Normal Weight' and 'Overweight and Obese' according to their BMI (BMI <24.0 kg/m(2); BMI≥24 kg/m(2)). Serum CCDC80 of the 100 subjects was detected by ELISA. Visceral and subcutaneous fat were derived from the other 36 female subjects, and Real-time PCR was used to detect CCDC80 mRNA expression in adipose tissues. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the correlation between serum or adipose CCDC80 expression and waist, BMI, and other biochemical indicators. RESULTS: The age of 100 subjects was (52.9±8.4) years old. 44% of them were women (44 cases) and 56% of them were men (56 cases). After dividing them into three groups according to their BMI, covariance analysis were conducted, and age and gender were adjusted. The HDL-C level was significantly different among three groups (F = 10.73, P < 0.001): 'Overweight and obese combined with diabetes' group ((0.90±0.06) mmol/L)< 'Overweight and obese' group ((1.14±0.04) mmol/L) < 'Normal weight' group ((1.28±0.05) mmol/L). The adjusted expression of serum CCDC80 of the 100 subjects was (5.84±0.16) pg/ml, (5.81±0.98) pg/ml among men and (5.97±0.89) pg/ml among women, and there was no significant difference (t = -0.812, P = 0.419) between genders. ANOVA revealed that there was no significant differences of the expression of serum CCDC80 among three groups (F = 1.06, P = 0.351), 'Normal weight' group was (5.84±0.16) pg/ml, 'overweight and obese' group was (6.11±0.14) pg/ml, and 'Overweight and obese combined with diabetes' group was (5.84±0.19) pg/ml. The analysis showed that FBG had a negative correlation with serum CCDC80 (R(b) = -0.223, P = 0.026). Multivariate linear regression had a similar result, with 1 mmol/L increase of serum FBG, serum CCDC80 decreases for 0.24 pg/ml (ß = -0.24, 95% CI: -0.21--0.02). There was also a negative correlation between serum CCDC80 and FBG in overweight and obese people (R(a) = -0.368, P = 0.013). Besides, CCDC80 mRNA was detected in both subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue of 36 cases, the expression level was 0.06±0.02 for subcutaneous fat, was 0.05±0.04 for visceral fat, and the expression in visceral fat was lower (0.05±0.03) than that in subcutaneous fat (0.06±0.03) (t = 2.50, P = 0.025) among overweight and obese group. There was a negative correlation between waist and visceral CCDC80 mRNA expression (r = -0.472, P = 0.035). CONCLUSION: This study suggested that CCDC80 may be involved in energy and insulin metabolism, and plays a protective role in obesity and diabetes.

Lifestyle factors associated with childhood obesity: a cross-sectional study in Shanghai, China.

BACKGROUND: Limited research has been conducted to investigate factors associated with overweight and obesity of children in China, where obesity has been increasing. This study investigated associations of lifestyle factors with overweight or obesity among Chinese primary school-aged children. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 2400 children aged 6-12 from 11 primary schools. Children completed a self-administered questionnaire assisted by their parents at home. The survey included questions on self-reported height and weight, screen time, physical activity, modes of travel to/from school, and dietary habits. Multilevel models were conducted to examine factors associated with overweight or obesity. RESULTS: 15.6% of children were overweight and 11.2% were obese; nearly 80% of children spent ≤2 hrs./day either on physical activities or screen time. Compared with those spent >3 hrs./day on screen time, children who spent ≤2 hrs./day or between 2-3 hrs./day were significantly less likely to be obese after adjusting for other variables (AOR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.20-0.60, P < 0.01; or AOR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.20-0.84, P = 0.02 respectively). Children spent ≤2 hrs./day on screen time were less likely to become overweight or obesity, compared with >3 hrs./day (AOR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.38-0.99, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Screen time is independently associated with childhood obesity, and needs be focused for obesity prevention in school-aged children in China.

[Study on the association between diet, nutrient and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children in Shanghai, Kunshan, Wuxi three kindergarten].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between nutrition and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: For 417 students from Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire was used to investigate learning disorders and Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to evaluate the dietary and nutrient intake. Correlation between ADHD and Diet was analyzed. RESULTS: The rate of the ADHD abnormalities was 3.2%, there was no statistical difference between both the various regions and the genders. Partial correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between diet intake (processed meat, salty snacks) and hyperactivity index (P < 0.05); A negative correlation was found between vegetables, coarse cereals, aquatic products, beef, mutton, milk and hyperactivity index (P < 0.05). The regression showed that there was a negative correlation between calcium and hyperactivity index (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Children's diet pattern is an important environmental impact foctor for ADHD.