An Analysis of Food Environment and Childhood Obesity in Australia

This report presents an epidemiological study analyzing the contribution of the food environment to childhood obesity in Australia. The study investigates various factors, including fast food consumption, food marketing, and government policies, and their impact on children's health. It reviews existing literature and uses a cohort study design with non-probability sampling to collect data from children in Australia. The report aims to identify the relationship between unhealthy food environments and childhood obesity, and offers recommendations for health specialists, doctors, and policymakers to address this issue. The research also proposes specific objectives, including raising awareness about the impact of fast food and promoting healthy dietary habits through tasty and nutritious options. The study utilizes relative risk analysis to assess the magnitude of the association between unhealthy food intake and obesity, aiming to provide insights for improving child health outcomes and informing government policies. The report emphasizes the need for collaboration between the food industry, government, schools, and parents to create a healthier food environment for children.

Epidemiological study design: Assessment 3

Table of Contents
Title of project .............................................................................................................................1
Project Summary .........................................................................................................................1
Rationale and Background ..........................................................................................................1
Study goals and Objectives .........................................................................................................3
Study design and Methods...........................................................................................................3
Study impact ...............................................................................................................................6
Project management arrangements..............................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Title of project
An analysis of how food environment contributes to childhood obesity, a study on
children of Australia.
Project Summary
Obesity can be defined as a medical condition which occurs due to excess fat in human
body which creates negative effect on health of an individual. Obesity among children is
common now a days. There can be various reason behind childhood obesity such as lack of
physical activity, genetic factors but the most common factors now a days which is contributing
to obesity is unhealthy eating patterns. The increase in fast food restaurant has however led to
increase in consumption of fast food among children. The other factors such as easy access to
convenience store, food marketing, government policies etc., has also contributed in obesity
(Cobb & et.al., 2015). However there is no single food environment which can be led responsible
for the childhood obesity this all factors together creates a negative impact on child health.
Along with this it has also been found that apart from neighbourhood and school food
environment family food environment also plays a major role in obesity among children. It has
been found that the rate of obesity among children has been increased by 5.2% to 7.5% by the
year 2008. Therefore in the study emphasis is laid on finding that how food environment
contributes to the obesity among children. The research has been performed in Australia, in order
to collect the data questionnaire has been prepared analyse that what parents thinks about the
childhood obesity and its contributing food environment. Also various literature has also been
reviewed which is based on childhood obesity and food environment which has been done in
context of Australia. The main idea behind study is to analyse various facts about childhood
obesity and contribution or relation of food environment in it and make some recommendation to
overcome this problem by making changes in food environment.
Rationale and Background
The main reason behind conducting research on this topic is that about 28% of children in
Australia are obese which also leads to development of severe medical conditions. A study has
found that type 2 diabetes are now being seen among the children also. It has been found that
children who become along with obesity are prone to many health related problems including
stroke, osteoarthritis and cancer. As per the New York Times all these health problem leads to
decrease the lifespan of such children by five years.
1

While some authors holds the view that childhood obesity is mainly cause due to the
genetic reason however food environment is contributing in it but it is not the main cause behind
child obesity.
According to Hoelscher & et.al., (2016), the easy availability of calorie rich foods and drinks in
market creates a negative impact of child health. The large intake of sugar which is present in
soft drinks leads to child obesity.
After studying literature review it has been found that many authors holds the view that
rise of obesity is due to many environmental factors such as less physical activity, high food
consumption, television watching, consumption of sweet beverages etc. Also physical
environment has also been changed which has led to imbalance in energy consumption and
expenditure. Various studies suggest that environmental factors also contributes to the excessive
intake of food.
As per some authors the solution for this problem can be:
Roberto & et.al., (2015), says that food industry should try to provide healthy food
choices to its costumers. Food industry should try to commit to provide consistent, clear and
honest claims for their products and also they should try to provide information regarding the
food product which customers buy. Industries can lay emphasis on creating new products which
is healthier for consumers. While Adab & et.al., (2018), holds the view that life long good health
of children can be assured at the childhood. Therefore, school plays a major role in healthy
dietary habits of children. Which means that schools has the opportunity to improve the health of
an child which will result in healthy young one. In order to do so schools can include diet lessons
spreading the importance of healthy food to children also some physical activities such as
outdoor game should also be conducted in school to improve children health. An effort should be
laid on involving children in regular physical activities. Healthier food offering in cafeteria will
also help in elimination of risk of childhood obesity (Obesity Prevention source, 2019).
However it has been seen that the reason behind childhood obesity is not yet clear. There
are various factors such as metabolic, cultural, genetic, behavioural and environmental factors.
Therefore it is quite impractical to impose food environment as the main cause for obesity
among children (Dwicaksono & et.al., 2018). Also as per the views of various authors food
industry, government and school should contribute to the better health of individual however
contribution to parents in food environment has not been discussed much. Hence the study will
2

lay emphasis on finding the relation of food environment and childhood obesity as well as some
recommendation will also be presented in order to deal with this problem including some
measures which government of Australia can take to minimises the contribution of food
environment in childhood obesity. A non probability sampling technique will be used in order to
collect sample from large number of population. Sample size will be 50 patients which are
children from Australia will be taken.
Study goals and Objectives
Goal is an idea of the result which is desired evolving person and also group of persons
to achieve which is common for all within a specified time line and with the available resources.
For the childhood obesity and food environment the goal of the research is to advice the health
specialist such as doctors and the policy makers. The policy makers can make policies which are
beneficial for health of the children which will help them in getting rid of health related issues
due to obesity and unhygienic food intake. The objectives will be SMART objectives which will
be Specifically on the children, Measurable in which how to obtain the objectives will be
discussed Achievable in which the standard and practical guidelines and budget will be followed
which are effective and are not burdensome, Relevant in which relevant disease will be taken
which is due to obesity and Timely in which deadlines will be set in order to convert obesity into
fitness.
Objectives
The objective of the study is to do research by which children are made aware of the impact of
intake of fast food.
To find out the relationship between unhealthy food and obesity at the older age as well at mid
age.
To do research which will help the children follow hygienic diet by making the diet tasty and
healthy.
To make aware the government of Australia in order to raise funds from them in the investment
of health awareness programs which help the youngster more effective and agile.
Study design and Methods
Study area:
The study has been designed on the basis of patients admitted in the government hospital
of Victoria on the basis of the age group of them and what is the age group of the patients which
3

are suffering from obesity. For the study what are the habits and lifestyle will be discussed in
detail. Body Mass Index of a person is derived from the weight and height of a person. BMI is
derived Body Mass Index will be used for measuring the obesity which will be different for
different age group. Here for the children age group of 10 to 20 is taken and if the BMI is above
30 then the same will be considered as overweight. Data collection is done on the basis of
different sex within the age group. Data will be collected with the help of professionals such as
doctors and specialist. The professionals will used in order to find out the background or the
profile of the obesity children and what are the disease they can have in the future. For example
diabesity, blood pressure etc. due to negative food environment. The other source for the
collection of the data will the performance of the government of Australia and the efforts made
by them till now in order to solve the issue of obesity (Faith. & et.al., 2016). The data will be
collected in order to show to the government that how can the government raise fund and solve
the issue of obesity by increasing the budget for health and fitness.
The design for the study will be cohort study, analytical as well as observational. Cohort
design is taken because the data of the individuals are covered for 20 years in which the history
of the individuals will be seen which will cover the previous record of the health such as heredity
issue or accidental issue, which is caused by any accident in the childhood and due to that
accident the person had the infection in which he had diabetes in childhood. After watching the
profile only those individuals will be selected which are having poor eating habits and due to
which they are facing obesity and not the ones who are having diabetes and heredity issue. The
food environment will also be studied due to which they are getting attracted towards the fast
food without knowing the impact of it in the future.
Sample design:
Non probability sampling is a method in which the sample is gathered in a way that does
give all the population chance to get selected for the study of them together. The method for
sampling will be used known as non probability sampling in which the patients are not required
to be selected on random basis but based on analysis. Time duration will taken from the day the
patients started following unhealthy y diet till date (Rosenheck, 2019). After collection of the
data the data collection will be consulted with the doctors for finding out the reasons for
unhealthy life style which is generally due to taste issues. In the observation part the food which
can correct the obesity will be selected and the same and even better taste compared to the
4

unhygienic food will be prepared. The preparedness of the flavour will be then implemented to
the healthy diet in order to make that diet delicious and tasty.
Data analysis:
The Analytical method used will be relative risk analysis in which magnitude which is
associated with the unhealthy food and obesity will be covered. The result will be derived on the
basis of calculation in which if the risk is 1 then there is relatively less chances that the patient
will suffer from any serious disease in the future and if it is greater then 1 then there are very
high chances that the patient will suffer from diabetes, obesity and brain diseases. Those students
will be considered for the study that are having more than 1 relevant risk(Crouch, O'DEA. &
Battisti, 2019). The analysis of those who are having healthy diet on regular basis of time and are
indulge in sports activities or some work out activities will also be done in order to show the
patients that this is the impact due to healthy diet and this is the impact of unhealthy diet. The
following formula will be used in order to do relative risk analysis for food environment and
childhood obesity.
Relative Risk (RR)
obesity individuals due to unhealthy food intake/ all the unhealthy food intake individuals
Healthy diet intake individuals which resulted in obesity/ All the individuals which are non
obesed.
The data will be collected on the slots of 10 years in every 20 years and also from that
suffered individuals data will be collected which are patients.
Ethical consideration:
As it is most important part in a research process. There has been various studies which
lay emphasis on focusing on ethical factors while conducting research. Some theorise lay
emphasis on treating the people or participants in the process nicely while some only focuses on
the results of study (Cummins, Clary & Shareck, 2017). Therefore in order to carry research in a
proper way the research has been prepared in such a manner that it does not cause any harm to
participants. It is necessary that people or individual in research should not be treated as an
subject. Secondly it has been assured that dignity of participants is maintained. Also in order to
collect data about participants which are children who has been suffering from obesity consent of
their parents has been taken. The data which was collected has been kept confidential. As it is
required that information which has been gathered from individual should be kept confidential.
5

All the aspects including research aims and objectives has been presented to participants parents.
As the study include data collection about the child obesity therefore it is necessary to take
consent of their parents. Therefore, during the whole process of data collection parents has been
involved.
Study limitation:
The study has only conducted for obese children of Australia. It has however used
literature review and questionnaire method for collecting a good data but it does not assure the
right results as a complete picture has not been presented in a study. The study has not included
the sufficient sample size to get an idea of relation between food environment and childhood
obesity in Australia it is only a picture of small sample. As if larger sample will be taken then
result obtained must be more accurate and precise. The study however unable to asses that
whether food environment is the major cause behind childhood obesity or not because in study
the comparison has not been done with the other factors behind childhood obesity. Also literature
review which has been taken does not give the accurate idea behind relation between food
environment and obesity.
Study impact
From the study it can be expected that research will give the beneficial results which will
help to give highlight that what role does food environment can play in better health of children.
It will help government to form policies which will lay emphasis better and healthy food
products to costumers. It will also help to highlight that how food environment contributes to the
childhood obesity. Also various other diseases which can be occurred due to obesity among
children will be analysed. Thus this all aspects such as food environment of children, diseases
due to food environment etc., will help in improvement in current public health policy (Adab. &
et.al., 2018). Study will also create play an important role in creating awareness among children
and their parents.
Project management arrangements
In order to conduct this project children who has been suffering from obesity will be
taken. And consent of their parents will be taken in order to extract the information which is
needed for conducting the study. There will be involvement of hospitals of Australia. The study
will take about 1 month. The funds for conducting research will be collected by the government
of Australia.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adab, P. & et.al., (2018). Effectiveness of a childhood obesity prevention programme delivered
through schools, targeting 6 and 7 year olds: cluster randomised controlled trial
(WAVES study). Bmj. 360. k211.
Cobb, L. K. & et.al., (2015). The relationship of the local food environment with obesity: a
systematic review of methods, study quality, and results. Obesity. 23(7). 1331-1344.
Crouch, P., O'DEA, J.A. & Battisti, R., (2019). Child feeding practices and perceptions of
childhood overweight and childhood obesity risk among mothers of preschool
children. Nutrition & Dietetics. 64(3). pp.151-158.
Cummins, S., Clary, C., & Shareck, M. (2017). Enduring challenges in estimating the effect of
the food environment on obesity.
Dwicaksono, A. & et.al., (2018). Evaluating the contribution of the built environment on obesity
among New York State students. Health Education & Behavior. 45(4). 480-491.
Faith, M.S. & et.al., (2016). Eating in the absence of hunger: a genetic marker for childhood
obesity in prepubertal boys?. Obesity. 14(1). pp.131-138.
Hoelscher, D. & et.al., (2016). Effects of funding allocation for safe routes to school programs
on active commuting to school and related behavioral, knowledge, and psychosocial
outcomes: results from the Texas childhood obesity prevention policy evaluation (T-
COPPE) study. Environment and Behavior. 48(1). 210-229.
Huang, T.T. & et.al., (2016). A systems-oriented multilevel framework for addressing obesity in
the 21st century. Preventing chronic disease. 6(3).
Roberto, C. A. & et.al., (2015). Patchy progress on obesity prevention: emerging examples,
entrenched barriers, and new thinking. The Lancet. 385(9985). 2400-2409.
Rosenheck, R., (2019). Fast food consumption and increased caloric intake: a systematic review
of a trajectory towards weight gain and obesity risk. Obesity reviews. 9(6). pp.535-547.
Online
Obesity Prevention source. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/food-
environment-and-obesity/>
7

Obesity: environmental strategies for preventing childhood obesity. 2019. [Online] Available
through: <http://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/obesity-environmental-
strategies-for-preventing-childhood-obesity/>
8