Impact of Maine's statewide nutrition policy on high school food environments.

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the effect on the food environments of public high schools of Maine's statewide nutrition policy (Chapter 51), which banned "foods of minimal nutritional value" (FMNV) in public high schools that participated in federally funded meal programs. We documented allowable exceptions to the policy and describe the school food environments. METHODS: We mailed surveys to 89 high school food-service directors to assess availability pre-Chapter 51 and post-Chapter 51 of soda, other sugar-sweetened beverages, and junk food. Frequency data were tabulated pre-Chapter 51 and post-Chapter 51, and Fisher exact test was used to assess significance in changes. We conducted food and beverage inventories at 11 high schools. RESULTS: The survey return rate was 61% (N = 54). Availability of soda in student vending significantly decreased pre-Chapter 51 versus post-Chapter 51 (P = .04). No significant changes were found for other sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food. Exceptions to Chapter 51 were permitted to staff (67%), to the public (86%), and in career and technical education programs (31%). Inventories in a subset of schools found no availability of soda for students, whereas other sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food were widely available in à la carte, vending machines, and school stores. Candy, considered a FMNV, was freely available. Soda advertisement on school grounds was common. CONCLUSION: Student vending choices improved after the implementation of Chapter 51; however, use of FMNV as the policy standard may be limiting, as availability of other sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food was pervasive. School environments were not necessarily supportive of the policy, as advertisement of soda was common and some FMNV were available. Furthermore, local exceptions to Chapter 51 likely reduced the overall effect of the policy.

Technology-Enhanced Health Promotion for College Students: A Seed Development Project.

Obesity is an issue for young adults in the U.S. This population is particularly vulnerable to weight gain as they move from adolescence to young adulthood, especially as they transition from high school to college. Adopting a health promotion approach, a university-based cluster of researchers, community advocates, and a technology partner embarked on a two-year seed development project that focused on development, implementation, and evaluation of a web-based healthy lifestyle intervention for college students. Using a mixed-method design, two convenience samples of residential university students were recruited to participate in a 4-week intervention called Eat, Move, Live, in which they interacted with a newly-created comprehensive website about management of a healthy lifestyle. Participants' post-intervention readiness for change increased by 15% (eating and life balance behaviors) to 23% (moving behaviors). Participants reported increased awareness of eating behaviors, and feelings of engagement in tracking their fruit and vegetable consumption. Findings suggest that technology may be utilized to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of achieving students' individual goals related to healthy living. These preliminary findings have implications for increasing the development and implementation of technological approaches to health promotion for young adult students.

Implementation of low-fat, low-sugar, and portion-controlled nutrition guidelines in competitive food venues of Maine public high schools.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of childhood "overweight" and "at risk for overweight" has become a major public health concern. School food environments can affect key nutritional risk factors, especially in high schools where foods of poor nutrient value are pervasive in à la carte and vending programs. This study examines à la carte and vending programs in Maine public high schools at baseline and following implementation of low-fat (defined as items

Investigating How to Align Schools' Marketing Environments With Federal Standards for Competitive Foods.

BACKGROUND: Limiting food and beverage marketing to children is a promising approach to influence children's nutrition behavior. School-based marketing influences nutrition behavior and studies have consistently found marketing for nonnutritious foods and beverages in schools. No studies have examined the resources necessary to align school marketing environments with federal school nutrition standards. The purpose of this study was to determine how to improve school marketing environments so that they align with new federal competitive food nutrition standards. METHODS: We assessed food marketing environments in 3 Portland, Maine schools using the Food and Beverage Marketing Survey (FBMS) and provided technical assistance to bring their marketing environments into conformity with the federal competitive food regulations, tracking resources and strategies for marketing removal. RESULTS: Noncompliant marketing was significantly reduced pre- to postintervention. Intervention strategies were facilitated by the School Health Coordinator and school-based wellness teams. CONCLUSIONS: Low monetary resources were required to remove marketing not compliant with federal nutrition standards for foods sold in schools. Several key challenges remain to sustain efforts. This study provides timely information for policymakers to support crafting policies that address the realities of school nutrition environments and universal enforcement challenges.

Cardiac dynamics during upright cycle exercise in boys.

Insight into the cardiac responses to exercise necessitates an understanding of both physiological data and cardiac dimensional changes. This study was designed to assess cardiovascular alterations during progressive upright cycle exercise in ten healthy 10-12-year-old boys. Doppler echocardiography was used to estimate stroke volume, and 2-dimensional echocardiography was used to evaluate changes in left ventricular systolic and diastolic dimensions. Test-retest reproducibility was high for both techniques. Mean peak stroke index and cardiac index values were 62 +/- 12 ml m(-2) and 11.79 + 2.62 L min(-1) m(-2), respectively. Stroke volume rose by 40% over resting values with early exercise (50 watt work load), but beyond moderate intensities (approximately 50% VO(2)max) little change was seen. The left ventricular diastolic dimension rose slightly at the onset of exercise and then declined slowly. A progressive and more precipitous decline was observed in systolic dimension, resulting in an increase in shortening fraction from 29% to 47%. This was accompanied by a dramatic fall in peripheral vascular resistance from 13.9 to 8.0 units at the onset of exercise. These findings suggest a close matching of increases in heart rate and systemic venous return and imply a significant role of peripheral pump function in the circulatory responses to exercise in children. The cardiac dynamics observed in this study mimic those previously described in adult subjects. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:749-757, 2000. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.