Margaret Allman-Farinelli

The University of Sydney · Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics Sydney Nursing School

Mobile-based ecological momentary assessment (mEMA) offers a novel method for dietary assessment and may reduce recall bias and participant burden. This review evaluated mEMA methodology and the feasibility, acceptability and validity as a dietary assessment method in young people. Five databases were searched from January 2008 to September 2021 fo...

Purpose This study examined the association of social contexts and food preparation location with the quality of meals and snacks (predominately from the five food groups (FFG) versus discretionary foods) in a sample of young Australian adults (18–30 years old) using wearable camera technology. Methods A sub-sample from the cross-sectional MYMeals...

As food intake patterns become less structured, different methods of dietary assessment may be required to capture frequently omitted snacks, smaller meals, and the time of day when they are consumed. Incorporating sensors that passively and objectively detect eating behavior may assist in capturing these eating occasions into dietary assessment me...

Online food delivery usage has soared during the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which has seen increased demand for home-delivery during government mandated stay-at-home periods. Resulting implications from COVID-19 may threaten decades of development gains. It is becoming increasingly more important for the global community to progress...

The role of portion control plates in achieving healthy diets is unclear. The aim of this scoping review was to systematically map findings from peer reviewed and grey literature to provide evidence for the use of portion control plates to promote healthy eating and nutrition-related knowledge in children and adults. A secondary aim was to review t...

Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Australian food supply with potential ramifications on food security. This scoping review aimed to synthesise current evidence on the prevalence of food insecurity and changes to factors related to food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Methods: A comprehensive search strategy was...

The study of food consumption, diet, and related concepts is motivated by diverse goals, including understanding why food consumption impacts our health, and why we eat the foods we do. These varied motivations can make it challenging to define and measure consumption, as it can be specified across nearly infinite dimensions—from micronutrients to...

The unrelenting obesity pandemic in Middle Eastern (ME) adolescents living in Australia warrants culturally responsive and locally engineered interventions. Given the influence of parents on the lifestyle behaviours of adolescents, this qualitative study aimed to capture the opinions of ME parents on the barriers and enablers to sufficient physical...

Nutrition interventions developed using behaviour theory may be more effective than those without theoretical underpinnings. This study aimed to document the number of theory-based healthy eating interventions, the involvement of dietitians/nutritionists and the behaviour theories employed from 2000 to 2020. We conducted a review of publications re...

Nutrition interventions can support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This review examines nutritional interventions aiming to improve CVD outcomes and appraises peer-reviewed interventions using an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Quality Appraisal Tool. Five electronic databas...

In patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), drinking more water could potentially reduce urine osmolality and suppress arginine vasopressin release and decrease the rate of kidney cyst growth and its associated organ dysfunction. In a 3-year trial, adults with ADPKD randomized to drink more water so as to lower urine osmo...

The unyielding obesity epidemic in adolescents from Middle Eastern (ME) backgrounds warrants culturally-responsive and co-designed prevention measures. This study aimed to capture the opinions of ME parents residing in Australia on the crisis and their enablers and barriers to healthy eating interventions given their influence on adolescent eating...

Aims This systematic review aimed to evaluate the quality of dietary assessment methods in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and its impact on the favourability of conclusions. Research Methods & Procedures MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL were searched, from inception until September 2019 for R...

The obesity epidemic in adolescents from Middle Eastern (ME) backgrounds necessitates co-designed and culturally-responsive interventions. This study’s objective was to gather the opinions, attitudes, capabilities, opportunities and motivations of ME adolescents residing in Australia on healthy eating and physical activity (PA) behaviours to inform...

Background University students may experience a high prevalence of food insecurity. The impacts of food insecurity on dietary intake and meal patterns of students have not been fully researched. Objective This systematic review aimed to examine the association between food insecurity and dietary outcomes among university students. Methods Nine el...

Background: There are numerous guidelines developed for bone health. Yet, it is unclear whether the differences in guideline development methods explain the variability in the recommendations for vitamin D and calcium intake. The objective of this systematic review was to collate and compare recommendations for vitamin D and calcium across bone he...

Objectives Diet is critical in diabetes management and new nutritional interventions are continuously being tested in randomized controlled trials. However, to make meaningful conclusions about the efficacy of dietary treatments, it is critical to be certain that the participants adhered to the dietary intervention and the dietary changes are valid...

Objectives Tertiary education students have been found to experience a higher prevalence of food insecurity than the general population. This systematic review aims to examine the existing evidence on the association between food insecurity and dietary outcomes among higher education students. Methods Nine electronic databases and gray literature...

New technologies may improve the validity of dietary and physical activity assessment and thereby associated findings for lifestyle-related bone health research. This scoping review mapped the evidence for the validity of new technologies that measure bone-related dietary and physical activity risk factors in adolescents and young adults. A systema...

Technology-enhanced methods of dietary assessment may still face common limitations of self-report. This study aimed to assess foods and beverages omitted when both a 24 h recall and a smartphone app were used to assess dietary intake compared with camera images. For three consecutive days, young adults (18–30 years) wore an Autographer camera that...

Young adults are the highest consumers of food prepared outside home (FOH) and gain most weight among Australian adults. One strategy to address the obesogenic food environment is menu labelling legislation whereby outlets with >20 stores in one state and >50 Australia-wide must display energy content in kJ. The aim of this study was to assess the...

The food environment in New Caledonia is undergoing a transition, with movement away from traditional diets towards processed and discretionary foods and beverages. This study aimed to develop an up-to-date food composition database that could be used to analyze food and nutritional intake data of New Caledonian children and adults. Development of...

There are numerous guidelines developed for bone health. Yet it is unclear the differences in guideline development methods explain the variability in recommendations for vitamin D and calcium intakes. The objective of this systematic review was to collate and compare recommendations for vitamin D and calcium across bone health guidelines, assess m...

Airline passengers experience a range of symptoms when travelling on long flights. This review evaluated the efficacy of functional foods, beverages, and supplements claiming to address the effects of air travel for healthy adults. Products were identified in a scoping review of electronic databases, search engines, and grey literature (March to Au...

Online food delivery (OFD) platforms have changed how consumers purchase food prepared outside of home by capitalising on convenience and smartphone technology. Independent food outlets encompass a substantial proportion of partnering outlets, but their offerings’ nutritional quality is understudied. Little is also known as to how OFD platforms inf...

Background Smartphone apps have shown potential in enhancing weight management in Western populations in the short to medium term. With a rapidly growing obesity burden in Asian populations, researchers are turning to apps as a service delivery platform to reach a larger target audience to efficiently address the problem. Objective This systematic...

BACKGROUND Smartphone apps have shown potential in enhancing weight management in Western populations in the short to medium term. With a rapidly growing obesity burden in Asian populations, researchers are turning to apps as a service delivery platform to reach a larger target audience to efficiently address the problem. OBJECTIVE This systematic...

A 2011 review associated eating out with increased energy intake. Popular outlets, nutrient composition, and menus may have changed since 2011. This study aimed to investigate relative contributions of foods prepared outside of home to total energy, total and saturated fat, sugars, and sodium intakes. Studies were included if they were observationa...

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables has been associated with a lower risk of various chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, obesity, and certain cancers. Recently, fruit and vegetable intake has also been linked with mental health, including depression; however, this area is largely unexplored studies in young people and adults....

Associations between diet and cardiometabolic outcomes are often based on a single measurement of diet in adulthood. Dietary exposures in childhood are thought to influence cardiometabolic disease development and individuals’ diets can change over time, therefore dietary exposure in childhood and over long periods are both important to consider. Th...

Diet is central to the management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and better outcomes are achieved when the dietary intervention is delivered by a dietitian. Yet, many people with T2D never see a dietitian. It has been proposed that doctors prefer to provide the dietary advice themselves or rely on medication to treat their patients instead of referring t...

Background Diet is central to treatment of type 2 diabetes. This review aimed to compare the effectiveness of nutrition therapy delivered by dietitians to nutrition advice delivered by other healthcare professionals in adults with type 2 diabetes on metabolic parameters. Methods Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO were searched...

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables has been associated with a lower risk of various chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, obesity, and certain cancers. Recently, fruit and vegetable intake has also been linked with mental health, including depression. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the association between fruit and ve...

Device-based assessments are frequently used to measure physical activity (PA) but contextual measures are often lacking. There is a need for new methods, and one under-explored option is the use of wearable cameras. This study tested the use of wearable cameras in PA measurement by comparing intensity classifications from accelerometers with weara...

Aim Breakfast consumption may be associated favourably with cardiometabolic health. Most studies only measure breakfast consumption at one timepoint, whereas repeated measures allow for associations to be explored from a life course perspective. This systematic review assessed evidence from cohort studies on associations between breakfast consumpti...

PurposeWeight loss and poor food intake have been shown to affect several outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. This review aims to examine the effect of pre-, post- or perioperative nutrition interventions focused on increasing oral energy or protein intake in patients undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer....

Objective Determine the effectiveness and acceptability of a text message intervention (DTEXT) on HbA1c and self-management behaviors for Australian adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods Using intention to treat analysis and generalized estimating equations, this randomized controlled trial of 395 adults determined change in HbA1c at 3 and 6 months...

Objectives The number of international students within tertiary education facilities continues to increase globally, but the challenges for this population in achieving a healthy diet in an unfamiliar environment receives insufficient attention. This scoping review aimed to synthesize current literature that investigated dietary changes and food se...

The excess intake of dietary sodium is a key modifiable factor for reducing disease progression in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the scored salt questionnaire (SSQ; a frequency questionnaire of nine sodium-rich food types) is a valid instrument to identify high dietary sa...

Objective To describe the experiences and perspectives of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) regarding dietetic services and to suggest improvements for their access and delivery. Design Semistructured telephone interviews. Setting Urban and rural Australia. Participants A total of 30 English-speaking adults with T2DM recruited by means...

Background The management of diabetes costs in excess of $1.3 trillion per annum worldwide. Diet is central to the management of type 2 diabetes. It is not known whether dietetic intervention is cost effective. This scoping review aimed to map the existing literature concerning the cost effectiveness of medical nutrition therapy provided by dietiti...

Jetlag and travel fatigue can impair functioning, but it is unknown what strategies are used by travelers to minimize these consequences. Passengers on Qantas Airways flights were invited to take part in online surveys. Long-haul flights of ≥8 h into and out of Australia were targeted, which involved time differences of 1 to 18 h between the origin...

The escalating obesity among adolescents is of major concern, especially among those from an ethnic minority background. The adolescent period offers a key opportunity for the implementation of positive lifestyle behaviours as children transition to adulthood. The objective of this review was to examine the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions...

Background Diet is central to treatment of type 2 diabetes. This review aimed to compare the effectiveness of nutrition therapy delivered by dietitians to nutrition advice delivered by other healthcare professionals in adults with type 2 diabetes on metabolic parameters. Methods Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO were searched...

Obesity in adolescence is associated with stigma during school years, early emergence of co‐morbidities in adulthood and premature mortality. Adolescence presents a key window of opportunity to intervene for building healthy eating and physical activity routines and prevent weight gain. This review of reviews assesses the evidence on the effectiven...

Introduction. The success of family-based community programs for childhood obesity may be increased by promoting social-cognitive factors that influence motivation and participant engagement. Incentivizing behavior can potentially enhance engagement and encourage behavior change. This research investigated motivators to engagement with a multicompo...

Background: Food consumption, sleep duration and overweight were assessed in rural and urban Melanesian adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 312 rural and 104 urban adolescents (11-16 years old) was conducted. Food intakes were assessed by a 26-item food frequency questionnaire and then categorised into the number of serves from eac...

Background Leaving school and developing independence from the family food environment may lead to unhealthy diets, and interventions to promote healthy eating among young adults are needed. A series of messages informed by theory and prior research were designed for smartphone delivery via social media or texts. Objective The current research eva...

Dietary behaviors during adolescence and emerging adulthood have important consequences for peak bone mass (PBM) attainment. This study aimed to examine dietary factors that are either beneficial or detrimental to bone health and determine the major sources of calcium in the diets of a sample of young adults. A cross-sectional survey was conducted...

Mobile food logging is important but people find it tedious and difficult to do. Our work tackles the challenging aspect of searching a large food database on a small mobile screen. We describe the design of the EaT (Eat and Track) app with its Search-Accelerator to support searches on >6,000 foods. We designed a study to harness data from a large...

Background Young adults gain more weight annually than other adults and may be destined for future obesity. Effective interventions are needed, and social support may be a key element for success. The present study explores how best to leverage social media to support young adults with their health goals in a healthy lifestyle programme. Method Yo...

Effective treatment interventions for childhood obesity involve parents, are multicomponent and use behavior change strategies, but more information is needed on the mechanisms influencing behavioral outcomes and the type of parental involvement that is efficacious in behavioral treatment interventions with school-age children. This review aimed to...

This ePoster was presented in June 2020 at the annual conference of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the "Nutrition 2020". Initially planned to take place in Seattle USA, this conference was rendered virtual due to COVID-19, attracting 29,598 registrants from 164 countries.

Background Mobile phone text message interventions have the potential to improve the health of people with type 2 diabetes at a population level. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness and acceptability of a mobile phone text message intervention (DTEXT) on diabetes control and self-management behaviours for Australian adults with type 2 d...

Objectives Nutrition therapy is crucial for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Preliminary data indicate that nutrition therapy delivered by accredited dietitians achieves better clinical outcomes than when delivered by other healthcare professionals. We compared dietetic intervention provided by accredited dietitians with nutrition advice provided...

It is the position of Dietitians Australia that clients can receive high‐quality and effective dietetic services such as Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) delivered via telehealth. Outcomes of telehealth‐delivered dietetic consultations are comparable to those delivered in‐person, without requiring higher levels of additional training nor compromisin...

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has emerged as a major public health concern in Bangladesh. Diet is an established risk factor for CVD but a tool to assess dietary intake in Bangladesh is lacking. This study aimed to validate a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) using the 24-h dietary recall method and corresponding nutritional biological...

Objective: This scoping review aims to synthesize existing evidence on dietary changes and food security status of international students who attend tertiary education facilities. Factors affecting nutrition and health, academic and psychological outcomes will also be examined. Introduction: More and more students choose to complete higher educa...

Young adults are among the lowest consumers of calcium-rich foods. As young adults move out of home and commence university, meal skipping, food budgets and poor cooking skills may contribute to low intakes. This research aimed to develop and evaluate cooking videos to educate young adults about calcium-containing foods and provide demonstrations f...

Background Airline passengers often experience symptoms when travelling on long and ultra-long flights. These range from minor discomforts such as gastrointestinal symptoms to more serious life-threatening clinical conditions such as deep vein thrombosis. The food and supplement industry have responded with a plethora of products that claim to prev...

We thank Drs. Ebadi, Moctezuma-Velazquez, Bhanji and Montano-Loza [1] for their interestand comments on our recent paper [2] [...]

Sleep is emerging as a modifiable risk factor in counteracting harmful weight gain. Electronic and mobile devices offer a channel for wide‐reaching intervention delivery. This systematic review aimed to determine the efficacy of interventions that included sleep behaviour as part of health promotion for preventing weight gain. Seven databases were...

Aims: Dietetic intervention improves glycaemic control of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this study was to explore the views of Australian dietitians with respect to the nutritional management of people with T2DM, patient access to dietitians and any suggested improvements for access to and delivery of dietetic se