The prevalence of childhood obesity is escalating rapidly and it considered to be a major public health problem. Diet is a recognised precursor of fatness, and current evidence supports the premise that in Westernised countries, the dietary intakes of children are likely to be important in obesity genesis. However, we have a relatively poor understanding of the environments in which a child’s eating is learnt and maintained. Much of the existing work in this area is based on small-scale or experimental studies, or has been derived from homogeneous populations within the USA. Despite these limitations, there is evidence that aspects of the child’s family environment are likely to be important in determining obesity risk in children. This thesis examines the impact of the family food environment on a child’s eating through two related studies. The first study, titled the Children and Family Eating (CAFÉ) study comprised three phases. Phase one involved qualitative interviews with 17 parents of 5-6 year-old children to explore parental perceptions regarding those factors in a child’s environment believed to influence the development of their child’s eating habits. These interviews were used to inform the development of quantitative measures of the family food environment. The second phase involved the development of a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) to assess dietary intake in 5-6 year-olds. The FFQ was informed by analysis of 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey data. In the final phase the relationships between dietary intakes of 5-6 year-old children, and potential predictors of dietary intake were examined in a cross-sectional study of 560 families. Predictors included measures of: parental perceptions of the adequacy of their child’s diet; food availability and accessibility; child-feeding; the opportunities for parental modelling of food intake; a child’s television exposure; maternal Body Mass Index; and maternal education. Analysis of the CAFÉ data provides unique information regarding the relationships between a child’s family food environment and their food consumption. Models developed for a range of dietary outcomes considered to be predictive of increased risk for obesity, including total energy and fat intakes, vegetable variety, vegetable consumption, and high-energy (non-dairy) fluid consumption, explained between 11 and 20 percent of the variance in dietary intake. Two aspects of the family food environment, parental perception of a child’s dietary adequacy, and the total minutes of television viewed per day, were frequently found to be predictive of dietary outcomes likely to promote fatness in these children. The second study, titled the Parent Education and Support (PEAS) Feeding Intervention Study, was a prospective pre/post non-randomised intervention trial that assessed the impact of a feeding intervention to 240 first-time mothers of one-year-old children. This intervention focused on one aspect of the family food environment, child-feeding, which has been proposed as influential in the development of obesogenic eating behaviours. In this study, Maternal and Child Health Nurses (MCHNs), using a ‘Division of Responsibility’ model of feeding, taught parents to provide nutritious food at regular intervals and to let children decide if to eat and how much to eat. Thus parents were encourages to food their child without exerting pressure, or employing coercion or rewards (controlling behaviours). The aim was to influence parental attitudes and beliefs regarding child-feeding. Through the use of these feeding techniques, this intervention also aimed to increase the variety of fruits and vegetables a child consumed by teaching parents to persist with offering these foods, over the year of the intervention, in non-emotive environments. Fruits and vegetables were chosen in this intervention because they are likely to be protective in the development of obesity. Analysis of the PEAS data suggests that this low-level feeding intervention, delivered through existing Maternal and Child Health services, was modestly effective in changing parental attitudes and beliefs regarding the feeding of young children. Further, the validity of fruits offered to intervention group children increased. This thesis expands the existing knowledge base by providing a comprehensive analysis of the relative impact of aspects of the family environment on dietary intakes of 5-6 year-olds. Further, the analysis of a feeding intervention in first-time parents provides important insights regarding the potential to influence child-feeding and the impact this may have on the promotion of eating behaviours protective against obesity.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The purpose of this work was to evaluate the vegetative development, yield and income, leaves macro and micronutrients content from the Acaiá Cerrado cultivar, trait MG- 1474, cultivated under fertilizers formulations applied over the leaves during the period from 2007 to 2009. The experiment was conducted at Pedra Branca´s Farm, situated at the km 14 by MG265, and has an altitude of 912 m, localized at Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais, Brasil, under Red Oxisol with medium texture. The weather is the type of Aw, with a dry winter and a hot and rainy summer. The experimental delineation used was a randomized block, with three replication and eight treatments, being T1 (Plantin CaB2 + Plantin II), T2 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin II), T3 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty- Mould + Plantin II), T4 (Plantin II + Ferty-Mould), T5 (Plantin II), T6 (salt combination), T7 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin Plus + Plantin II), T8 (control). The planting was done on January 2004, and after three years (coffee plant in formation) there were done the spraying over the leaves. The plots were composed of two rows and eight plant each, space of 0, 8 m between plants and 4, 0 m between rows, having as boarder two plants on each side. Annually, there were measured the yield, coffee plant height, crown and trunk diameter, plagiotrophycal branch length and the number of internodes on the ortotrophycal branch and leaves nutrients content. The coffee leave fertilization did not favored for a higher average plants height, branch diameter, internodes number, and plagiotrophycal branch length on the two seasons evaluated. The use of amino acids on the coffee plant did not contribute for a higher yield and vegetative development, as well as for a higher nutrient concentration on the leaves. The leaves fertilizers Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin II, presented higher yields on the two evaluated seasons, although it was no sufficient to differ from control. / Objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar o desenvolvimento vegetativo, produtividade e renda, teores foliares de macro e micronutrientes no cafeeiro Acaiá Cerrado, linhagem MG-1474, cultivado sob diferentes formulações de fertilizantes aplicados via foliar no período de 2007 a 2009. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Pedra Branca, situada na margem da MG 265, km 14, com uma altitude de aproximadamente 912 m, localizada no município de Uberlândia, em Minas Gerais, Brasil, sob Latossolo amarelo distrófico de textura média. O clima local é do tipo Aw, sendo o inverno seco e o verão quente e chuvoso. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados, com três repetições e oito tratamentos, sendo T1 (Plantin CaB2 + Plantin II), T2 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin II), T3 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin II), T4 (Plantin II + Ferty-Mould), T5 (Plantin II), T6 (combinação de sais), T7 (Plantin CaB2 + Ferty- Mould + Plantin Plus + Plantin II), T8 (testemunha). O plantio foi realizado em janeiro de 2004, e após três anos (café em formação) foram realizadas as aplicações foliares. As parcelas foram constituídas por 2 linhas de 8 plantas em cada, espaçadas de 0,8 m entre plantas e 4,0 m entre linhas, considerando como bordadura 2 plantas em cada extremidade. Anualmente, foram mensurados a produtividade, altura do cafeeiro, diâmetros de copa e de caule, comprimento de ramos plagiotrópicos e número de entrenós no ramo ortotrópico e teores foliares. A adubação foliar no cafeeiro não favoreceu para uma maior altura média de plantas, diâmetro de caule, número de internódios e comprimento de ramos plagiotrópicos nas duas safras avaliadas. O uso de aminoácidos na cultura do café não contribuiu para uma maior produtividade e desenvolvimento vegetativo, bem como, para um maior acúmulo de nutrientes nas folhas. Os fertilizantes foliares Plantin CaB2 + Ferty-Mould + Plantin II, resultaram produtividade maiores nas duas safras, porém não foram suficiente para diferir significamente da testemuha. / Mestre em Agronomia