Megan Whatnall

• PhD (Nutrition & Dietetics), BNutrDiet (Hons I), APD
• PostDoc Position at University of Newcastle Australia

Since the last edition of the Handbook of Food and Addiction, published in 2012, research on this topic has progressed in many ways. Evidence is growing that certain foods, particularly highly processed foods with high levels of refined carbohydrates and/or added fats, can trigger addictive processes. Ultra-processed versions of these products may...

Aims To evaluate relationships between diet quality and cardiovascular outcomes. Methods Six databases were searched for studies published between January 2007 and October 2021. Eligible studies included cohort studies that assessed the relationship between a priori diet quality and cardiovascular disease mortality and morbidity in adults. The Aca...

Background: Accurate anthropometric measurement is important within epidemiological studies and clinical practice. Traditionally, self-reported weight is validated against in-person weight measurement. Objective: This study aimed to 1) determine the comparisonof online self-reported weight against images of weight captured on scales in a young a...

Objective: To explore young adult's experiences of how starting university influenced their physical activity, diet, sleep, and mental well-being, and barriers and enablers to health behavior change. Participants: University students aged 18-25 years. Methods: Three focus groups were conducted in November 2019. Inductive thematic approach was utili...

Introduction Many university students have poor mental health, and co-occurring health risk behaviors. Targeting health behavior change in this population may improve mental health outcomes. This scoping review describes the extent and range of randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating interventions targeting health risk behaviors and measuring...

Aims: Dietary modification is essential for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited published evidence syntheses to guide practice in the cardiac rehabilitation (CR) setting. This systematic review's objective was to assess effectiveness and reporting of nutrition interventions to optimize dietary intake in a...

Introduction Codesign is a meaningful end-user engagement in research design. The integrated knowledge translation (IKT) framework involves adopting a collaborative research approach to produce and apply knowledge to address real-world needs, resulting in useful and useable recommendations that will more likely be applied in policy and practice. In...

Issue addressed Many university students have unhealthy dietary intakes. The food environment on university campuses is a potentially important contributor to students’ diet. This study aimed to describe on-campus food purchasing behaviours; satisfaction with the cost and availability of foods and beverages on-campus; and preferences for the on-cam...

Aim This scoping review aimed to explore the extent of the evidence of experimental studies evaluating the cost effectiveness of dietary interventions in individuals with mental disorders. Methods Five databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Scopus) were searched to October 2020 for cost-analysis studies of interventions aiming to improve...

Childhood obesity is a public health concern. Electronic and mobile health (e-&mHealth) approaches can facilitate the delivery of interventions for obesity prevention and treatment. Synthesizing reviews of e-&mHealth interventions to improve weight and weight-related behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet) is useful to character...

University students have high rates of health risk behaviours, and these may be predictive of academic success. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between individual and multiple health risk behaviours and academic achievement in a sample of Australian university students. Data from the University of Newcastle Student Hea...

A vast body of evidence regarding eHealth interventions for nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and obesity exists. This scoping review of systematic reviews aimed to evaluate the current level of evidence in this growing field. Seven electronic databases were searched for systematic reviews published until October 27, 2019. The syste...

The symptoms of addictive eating are often debated, with some overlap in symptoms with substance addictions or other disorders such as binge eating disorder. This study explored the levels of agreement with symptoms of addictive eating among different health professions, the conditions they provide advice for, and the population group/s they work w...

University food environments are typically dominated by unhealthy food choices. The aim was to investigate associations between on-campus food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake in an Australian university student sample. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017–2018 with students (n = 362, 71.0% female, mean age 27.5 ± 10.5 yea...

Objective To describe strategies used to recruit and retain young adults in nutrition, physical activity and/or obesity intervention studies, and quantify the success and efficiency of these strategies. Design A systematic review was conducted. The search included six electronic databases to identify RCTs published up to 6 th December 2019 that ev...

Physical activity (PA) participation declines from adolescence to young adulthood. This review evaluates the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve PA among healthy young adults (17–35 years), and the effectiveness of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) used. Six electronic databases were searched up to December 2019, for randomized co...

Background: Disordered eating habits, poor dietary intake and nutritional status, and altered body composition are highly prevalent among individuals with substance use disorders. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary interventions in adults with substance use disorders for illicit substances or illicit use of pharmaceut...

University students have high rates of health risk behaviors and psychological distress. This study explores patterns of health behaviors among a sample of Australian university students, and determines whether patterns of health behaviors are associated with psychological distress and demographic characteristics. Cross-sectional data from the Univ...

Addictive eating prevalence is estimated at 15–20% in studied populations, and is associated with concurrent mental health conditions and eating disorders as well as overweight and obesity. However, few evidence-based interventions targeting addictive eating are available. The further development of evidence-based interventions requires assessment...

Despite increasing research on the concept of addictive eating, there is currently no published evidence on the views of health professionals who potentially consult with patients presenting with addictive eating behaviours, or of students training to become health professionals. This study aimed to explore the views and understanding of addictive...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Background: Young adulthood has become synonymous with the development of poor lifestyle behaviours associated with an increased risk of preventable chronic disease in later years. Interventions aiming to improve health behaviours may be more engaging and effective if they are targeted to males or females than interventions with a gender-neutral a...

University food environments typically offer an abundance of unhealthy foods, including through vending machines. This review evaluated the effectiveness of nutrition interventions in vending machines in the university setting. Ten databases were searched for experimental studies published up to July 2019, evaluating nutrition interventions that ai...

Young adulthood is associated with the highest rate of weight gain compared with any other adult age group. This review evaluates the effectiveness of interventions with adiposity outcomes among young adults and identifies which behaviour change techniques (BCTs) are most effective. BCT utilization was assessed using Michie's 93‐item BCT Taxonomy v...

Food insecurity is much higher among university students than the general population, and is linked with poorer mental health, diet and academic achievement. The aim of this study was to explore the level of food insecurity among a sample of Australian university students and determine which socio-demographic and student characteristics predict foo...

Aim: This study aimed to explore clustering among individual eating behaviours in a sample of Australian university students, and explore associations between clustered eating behaviours and demographic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data from the University of Newcastle (UON) Student Healthy Lifestyle Survey 2017 was co...

University students report unhealthy diets and experience poorer mental health than the general population. This study explores the association between psychological distress and resilience with dietary intake in a sample of Australian university students. Cross-sectional data from the University of Newcastle Student Healthy Lifestyle Survey 2017 w...

Objective: To describe lifestyle behaviors (fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol intake, physical activity, sitting time, smoking, drug use, sleep, sexual health) and health risk factors (body mass index, food insecurity, mental health) in a sample of Australian university students. Participants: 3,077 students from the University of Newcastle (UON)...

Young adult university students are a priority population for nutrition intervention. This study assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the EATS (Eating Advice to Students) brief (i.e., single use) web-based nutrition intervention for young adult university students. A 3-month pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with...

Poor eating habits are common during young adulthood and influence chronic disease morbidity. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve dietary intake among young adults and, identifies which behaviour change techniques (BCTs) are most effective. Six electronic databases were searched for RCTs published u...

Background: Young adults are a priority population for nutrition interventions because of the high prevalence of unhealthy eating behaviors, high risk of weight gain, and the importance of this life stage for developing lifelong eating behaviors. Innovative intervention strategies are needed to reach and engage young adults, whereas more detailed r...

Background Unhealthy diets are typical of university students and the effects may be wider reaching than health. The present study aimed to describe the association between dietary intake and academic achievement in a sample of Australian university students. Methods A cross‐sectional analysis of data from an online survey of 278 students from the...

Objective To describe and compare body composition and fat distribution of Australian women 18–44 years from an urban and rural location. Design Cross‐sectional survey and collection of anthropometric and body composition measurements. Setting Newcastle and Tamworth in New South Wales. Participants Convenience sample of women recruited through m...

Background Young adults are a priority population for nutrition interventions because of the high prevalence of unhealthy eating behaviors, high risk of weight gain, and the importance of this life stage for developing lifelong eating behaviors. Innovative intervention strategies are needed to reach and engage young adults, whereas more detailed re...

Young women are gaining weight rapidly. Evidence for effective weight loss interventions targeting young women is lacking. This randomized controlled trial assessed the efficacy and acceptability of a six-month targeted and tailored eHealth weight loss program for young women (Be Positive Be Healthe (BPBH)). Women aged 18–35 years were randomized t...

The impact of diet on academic achievement is a growing area of research. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the current evidence examining dietary intake and academic achievement in college/university students. Eight electronic databases were searched for studies published in English to January 2016. To be included, studies must hav...

Brief interventions are effective in improving health behaviours including alcohol intake, however the effectiveness of brief interventions targeting nutrition outcomes has not been determined. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of brief nutrition interventions in adults. Seven databases were searched for RCT/pseud...

Background/Aims: Brief interventions are effective in improving health behaviours including alcohol intake, however the utility of this approach for nutrition outcomes has not been determined. The objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness of brief interventions aiming to improve nutrition outcomes in adults. Methods: A systematic rev...

Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours are known modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This cross-sectional analysis aimed to describe lifestyle behaviours and CVD risk markers in young overweight and obese Australian women and explore associations between individual and combined lifestyle behaviours with CVD risk markers. Lifestyle beh...

Objectives: This cross-sectional analysis aimed to describe lifestyle behaviours and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk markers in young overweight and obese Australian women, and explore the associations between individual and combined lifestyle behaviours with CVD risk markers. Methods: Baseline data from a randomised controlled trial of young (18...