The Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) is a multi-dimensional, parent-reported questionnaire measuring children's eating behaviours related to obesity risk, i.e. 'enjoyment of food', 'food responsiveness', 'slowness in eating' and 'satiety responsiveness'. It has not previously been validated in a Swedish population, neither on children under the age of 2 years. In the present study we examined the factor structure and the reliability of the Swedish version of the CEBQ, for use in an obesity intervention programme targeting preschool children 1-6 years. Further, the associations between eating behaviours and children's age, gender and relative weight (BMI SDS) and parental weight were investigated. Parents to 174 children aged 1-6 years (50% girls, mean age 3.8 years), recruited from five kindergartens in Stockholm, completed the Swedish version of the CEBQ. Data on children's weight and height, parental weight, height and educational level was collected. Children's relative weight was calculated for a subpopulation (mean BMI SDS -0.4, n = 47). Factorial validation (Principal Component Analysis) on all CEBQ items was performed. Differences in eating behaviours by age, gender and parental weight were examined. Correlations between eating behaviours and the child's BMI SDS were analysed controlling for age, gender, parental weight and education in linear regression analyses. The factor analysis revealed a seven factor solution with good psychometric properties, similar to the original structure. The behaviour scales 'overeating'/'food responsiveness', 'enjoyment of food' and 'emotional undereating' decreased with age and 'food fussiness' increased with age. Eating behaviours did not differ between girls and boys. The children's relative weight was not related to any of the eating behaviours when controlling for age, gender, parental weight and education, and only associated with parental weight status. Our results support the use of the CEBQ as a psychometric instrument for assessing children's eating behaviours in Swedish children aged 1-6 years. Measuring obesity related eating behaviours in longitudinal and interventional studies would offer opportunities for studying causal effects of eating behaviours in the development of obesity in children.

To test the hypothesis whether microbiota in oral biofilm is linked with obesity in adolescents we designed this cross‐sectional study. Obese adolescents (n = 29) with a mean age of 14.7 years and normal weight subjects (n = 58) matched by age and gender were examined with respect to visible plaque index (VPI%) and gingival inflammation (bleeding on probing (BOP%)). Stimulated saliva was collected. They answered a questionnaire concerning medical history, medication, oral hygiene habits, smoking habits, and sociodemographic background. Microbiological samples taken from the gingival crevice was analyzed by checkerboard DNA‐DNA hybridization technique. The sum of bacterial cells in subgingival biofilm was significantly associated with obesity (P < 0.001). The link between sum of bacterial cells and obesity was not confounded by any of the studied variables (chronic disease, medication, VPI%, BOP%, flow rate of whole saliva, or meal frequency). Totally 23 bacterial species were present in approximately threefold higher amounts, on average, in obese subjects compared with normal weight controls. Of the Proteobacteria phylum, Campylobacter rectus and Neisseria mucosa were present in sixfold higher amounts among obese subjects. The association between obesity and sum of bacterial cells in oral subgingival biofilm indicates a possible link between oral microbiota and obesity in adolescents.

The urban environment has been criticized for promoting ‘nature-deficit’ and ‘child-nature disconnectedness’. Keeping in mind the importance of nature exposure and its extensive health benefits, many environmental programs around the world hope to (re)connect children with nature. To evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts, valid tools to measure Connectedness to Nature (CN) are needed but do not exist today, especially for use with pre-schoolers. The original CN Index was modified and tested among the Parents of Preschool Children (CNI-PPC) in an urban setting (Hong Kong) for its internal consistency (n = 299) and external validity (n = 194). The ‘Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire’ (SDQ) was chosen for divergent and convergent analysis. Conventional recommendations for test adaptation and translation were used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that the 16-item scale adequately captured four major dimensions: enjoyment of nature, empathy for nature, responsibility toward nature, and awareness of nature (Cronbach’s α were respectively .86, .87, .75 and .80). When tested against the SDQ, a validated measure for child psychological functioning, and identification of children’s problem behaviours, three CNI-PPC factors influenced the SDQ outcomes: (1) the more enjoyment of nature children displayed the less overall distress and impairment they exhibited (β = -.64); (2) greater responsibility toward nature in children was associated with less hyperactivity (β = -.50), fewer behavioural and peer difficulties (β = -.62 and β = -.65 respectively) and improved prosocial behaviour (β = .77); (3) the more aware children were of nature, the less emotional difficulties they exhibited (β = -.51). The variance explained was large (range R² = .42 to .80). Thus, CNI-PPC factors have meaningful and substantive associations with the strengths and difficulties parents perceive in their children. This indicates that the CNI-PPC is a valid and reliable instrument to measure CN at an age when children cannot respond for themselves. Further, this simple tool can help researchers/practitioners to better understand how connectedness to nature affects child psychological functioning and wellbeing. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02715544. Registered 8 March 2016.