Association between Nutrition Policies and Student Body Mass Index

Dietary Supplement Use among Iranian Households during COVID-19 Epidemic Lockdown: Less Access in Those Who May Need More National Food and Nutrition Surveillance

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic elicited the general population to use various dietary supplements (DSs) and nutraceuticals as a protective means against the disease. The present study aimed to evaluate changes and certain determinants of DS intake during the COVID-19 lockdown among Iranian households.

Methods

This nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted from April 4 to April 25, 2020, during which Iran was in lockdown. To collect data, a web-based electronic self-administered questionnaire was created. The data were compared among provinces based on their food security situations.

Results

A total of 21,290 households were included in the analyses. Approximately 27% of the households were using DSs after the epidemic. The most common DSs used were vitamin D (42%) and vitamin C (20%), followed by multi-vitamin (16%), zinc (9%), omega-3 (6%), vitamin A (4%), and probiotics (3%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that DS intake was directly associated with the household income but inversely with household size and the food security status of the provinces. DS intake was positively associated with the presence of high-risk persons in the households, the education of the households' head, and the presence of a person with a history of COVID-19 within the household.

Conclusions

During epidemic lockdown, DS use was remarkably increased among the Iranian households. Apart from the debatable usefulness of DSs against COVID-19, the inverse association of DS use with a household's income and provincial food security well indicates inequity in accessibility to DS. Actions to improve the nutritional status of the under-privileged populations including targeted supplementation are strongly recommended.

Expanding school wellness policies to encompass the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model

Schools influence children’s developmental outcomes across multiple domains, including academic, social, emotional, behavioral, and physical. School district wellness policies are powerful mechanisms that set clear expectations for health-related practices in school buildings and the surrounding community. A current challenge is that many health-related school policies are narrow, siloed, and reactive instead of proactive. In this paper, we: (a) describe how written food, nutrition, and physical activity district and state policies were strengthened in the United States in response to specific concerns about childhood obesity; (b) present how schools have historically addressed policies concerning children’s social, emotional, and behavioral health; and (c) propose using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model to strengthen the coordination and integration of school wellness policies. We conclude by describing recently developed tools to assist school districts in implementing the WSCC model. The Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT) WSCC is a quantitative measure that districts can use to code their current written policies for alignment with the WSCC model. The WSCC Policy and Practice Blueprints are action planning tools that lead school and district leaders through a series of activities to strengthen the implementation of coordinated and integrated policies and practices. By using the WSCC model and accompanying implementation tools, schools can support the development of the whole child.