The food environment is a critical place in the food system to implement interventions to support sustainable diets and address the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change, because it contains the total scope of options within which consumers make decisions about which foods to acquire and consume. In this paper, we build on existing definitions of the food environment, and provide an expanded definition that includes the parameter of sustainability properties of foods and beverages, in order to integrate linkages between food environments and sustainable diets. We further provide a graphical representation of the food environment using a socio-ecological framework. Next, we provide a typology with descriptions of the different types of food environments that consumers have access to in low-, middle-, and high-income countries including wild, cultivated, and built food environments. We characterize the availability, affordability, convenience, promotion and quality (previously termed desirability), and sustainability properties of food and beverages for each food environment type. Lastly, we identify a methodological approach with potential objective and subjective tools and metrics for measuring the different properties of various types of food environments. The definition, framework, typology, and methodological toolbox presented here are intended to facilitate scholars and practitioners to identify entry points in the food environment for implementing and evaluating interventions that support sustainable diets for enhancing human and planetary health.

To systematically review evidence for the effectiveness of policies, including self-regulation, aimed at reducing industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFAs) in food. The Medline, Embase and Cinahl databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed articles examining the effect of TFA policies. In addition, the first 20 pages of Google searches were examined for articles from the grey literature. A study was included if: (i) it was empirical and conducted in a "real-world" setting (i.e. modelling studies were excluded); (ii) it examined a TFA policy involving, for example, labelling, voluntary limits or bans; and (iii) it examined a policy's effect on TFA levels in food, people's diets, blood or breast milk. Twenty-six articles met the inclusion criteria: 5 involved voluntary self-regulation; 8, labelling alone; 4, labelling and voluntary limits; 5, local bans and 4, national bans. Overall, the TFA content of food decreased with all types of policy intervention. In general, saturated fat levels increased or decreased, depending on the product type, and total fat content remained stable. National and local bans were most effective at eliminating TFAs from the food supply, whereas mandatory TFA labelling and voluntary TFA limits had a varying degree of success, which largely depended on food category. Policies aimed at restricting the TFA content of food were associated with significant reductions in TFA levels, without increasing total fat content. Such policies are feasible, achievable and likely to have an effect on public health.

The World Health Organization has recommended that Member States consider taxing energy-dense beverages and foods and/or subsidizing nutrient-rich foods to improve diets and prevent noncommunicable diseases. Numerous countries have either implemented taxes on energy-dense beverages and foods or are considering the implementation of such taxes. However, several major challenges to the implementation of fiscal policies to improve diets and prevent noncommunicable diseases remain. Some of these challenges relate to the cross-sectoral nature of the relevant interventions. For example, as health and economic policy-makers have different administrative concerns, performance indicators and priorities, they often consider different forms of evidence in their decision-making. In this paper, we describe the evidence base for diet-related interventions based on fiscal policies and consider the key questions that need to be asked by both health and economic policy-makers. From the health sector's perspective, there is most evidence for the impact of taxes and subsidies on diets, with less evidence on their impacts on body weight or health. We highlight the importance of scope, the role of industry, the use of revenue and regressive taxes in informing policy decisions.

ObjectiveTo determine the association between physical activity (PA) intensities and cardiometabolic risk factors in youth.DesignCross-sectional study using data from the 2008 Healthy Hearts Prospective Cohort Study of Physical Activity and Cardiometabolic Health in Youth.SettingRural and urban communities in Alberta, Canada.ParticipantsA convenience sample of 605 youth aged 9 to 17 years. Youth were on average aged 12.1 years, 248 were boys (41%), and 157 were overweight or obese (26%).Main ExposureActical accelerometer–measured PA intensity.Main Outcomes MeasuresThe primary outcome was body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) z score. Secondary outcome measures included waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and cardiorespiratory fitness (maximal oxygen consumption [[Vdot]O_2max]).ResultsBody mass index z score, waist circumference, and systolic blood pressure decreased and [Vdot]O_2max increased in a dose-response manner across tertiles of vigorous PA (adjusted P < .001). No significant differences in cardiometabolic risk factors were seen across tertiles of moderate or light PA in multivariable analyses. Achieving more than 7 minutes of vigorous PA daily was associated with a reduced adjusted odds ratio of overweight status (0.56; 95% CI, 0.33-0.95) and elevated systolic blood pressure (0.36; 95% CI, 0.16-0.79). The odds of overweight status and elevated blood pressure decreased with increasing time and intensity of PA.ConclusionsOnly vigorous PA was consistently associated with lower levels of waist circumference, body mass index z score, systolic blood pressure, and increased cardiorespiratory fitness in youth. These findings underscore the importance of vigorous PA in guidelines for children and adolescents.