Influence of the Home and School Food Environment on the Development of Childhood Obesity: Opportunities for Prevention

Dear Colleagues,

The childhood obesity epidemic has become a major public health problem worldwide. The etiology of obesity is complex and multifaceted with no single factor domain as a determinant. The factors which impact upon children’s food choices are not well understood. During the early years of childhood, many factors influence children’s food choices. Recent studies have demonstrated the likely importance of environmental determinants as targets to influence the food choices of children. The home food environment can be conceptualized as resulting from the interaction of many influences across different conditions. The range of potential determinants comprises the family home entertainment environment (e.g., television/video watching, using computer), the socio-cultural environment (e.g., family structure, parental stress, parenting practice/style), and the economic environment (e.g., parental education, parental income, and parental work status) that may influence the development of obesity in children. Gaining a thorough understanding of these determinants may help reduce the risk of obesity in children. Children’s food choices are also strongly influenced by the school food environment, which is a major contributor to the increasing rates of obesity. Several studies have shown that energy-dense snacks are consumed at school canteens. Thus, monitoring of food group recommendations are urgently needed to inform further research and policy, and to provide future health status measures for children. Intervention strategies targeting the poor nutritional status of school children are needed, which may help to reduce obesity. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to identify the home and school food environment influence on childhood obesity, and delineate implications for future prevention research by promoting healthy food choices to children. To achieve this aim, we welcome submissions of different article types, including high-quality original research, reviews, opinion, perspective, and commentary articles.

Dr. Naser Alsharairi
Guest Editor

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• obesity
• children
• food choices
• dietary behaviors
• family home entertainment environment
• socio-cultural environment
• economic environment
• school food environment
• nutrition policies
• interventions