Details of included studies (cohort studies)
| Study and country | Design and duration | Population and age at the time of outcome assessment | Aim | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desire for highly palatable foods | ||||
| Reilly et al19 the UK | Longitudinal 4 years | Children aged 7 years (n=8234) | To identify risk factors in early life for obesity in children | Junk food dietary pattern at age 3 years was associated with obesity at 7 years though the effect was no longer significant when adjusted for other factors (p=0.083) |
| Demand for easy to prepare and individual meals | ||||
| Anderson et al 20 the USA | Longitudinal 6 years | Children aged 11 years (n=4471) | To assess the effect of maternal employment on childhood obesity | 10 h increase in work/week by mother increased child overweight by 0.5–1% |
| Gable et al 21 the USA | Longitudinal 3 years | Children aged 7–8 years (n=8459) | To identify eating and activity factors associated with overweight | Children who ate more family meals in early school years were less likely to become overweight by 3rd grade (OR 0.93; p<0.001) |
| Hawkins et al 22 the UK | Longitudinal 2 years 3 months | Children aged 3 years (n=13 113) | To examine risk factors for overweight in children | Children were more likely to be overweight for every 10 h a mother worked per week (OR=1.10, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.1.7) |
| Food promotion | ||||
| No studies | ||||
| Large portions | ||||
| No studies | ||||
| High-energy snack foods | ||||
| Francis et al 35 the USA | Longitudinal 4 years | Caucasian girls at ages 5, 7 and 9 years (n=173) | To assess whether TV viewing was related to snacking frequency and obesity in children | Change in BMI from age 5–9 was significantly correlated with fat intake from snacks in children with overweight parents (0.26) but not in those with non-overweight parents (0.14) (p<0.05) |
| Sugar-sweetened soft drinks | ||||
| Welsh et al 38 the Netherlands | Longitudinal 35 months | Children aged 2–3 years (n=10 904) | To examine whether sweet drink intake is associated with obesity risk in preschoolers | Children at risk of overweight and consumed 1-<2 drinks /day were 2.0 (95% CI 1.3 to 3.2) times likely to become overweight and this risk was dose-dependent |
| Alexy et al 39 Germany | Longitudinal 2 years | Children aged 3–5 years (n=205) | To examine relation between fruit juice consumption and anthropometric indices | Neither the BMI (r=−0.117, p=0.095) nor growth velocity (r=−0.0977, p=0.163) correlated with the consumption of fruit juice |
| Restaurants, fast food outlets and coffee bars | ||||
| Thompson et al 43 the USA | Longitudinal median 6 years | Girls aged 8–12 years (n=101) | To examine relation between eating food purchased away from home and change in BMI | Weekly consumption of quick-service food was positively associated with change in BMI z-score (F=3.37, p<0.05) |
| Galvez et al 44 the USA | Longitudinal 3 years | Children aged 6–8 years (n=323) | To determine whether presence of convenience stores and fast food outlets near a child's home is associated with increased risk for childhood obesity | Children living in proximity of one or more convenience stores were more likely to have BMI percentile in the top tertile compared to children who had no convenience stores near their residence (OR=1.90, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.15) |
| School and nursery catering | ||||
| No studies | ||||
BMI, body mass index.