Objective: To evaluate the effect of a high‐protein diet on anthropometry, body composition, subjective appetite, and mood sensations in overweight and obese children attending a residential weight‐loss camp. Research Methods and Procedures: Children (120; BMI, 33.1 ± 5.5 kg/m2; age, 14.2 ± 1.9 years) were randomly assigned to either a standard or high‐protein diet group (15% vs. 22.5% protein, respectively). All children were assessed at baseline and at the end of the camp for anthropometry, body composition, blood pressure, biochemical variables (n = 27), and subjective appetite and mood sensations (n = 50). Results: Attendance at the weight‐loss camp resulted in significant improvements in most measures. Campers lost 5.5 ± 2.9 kg in body weight (p < 0.001) and 3.8 ± 5.4 kg in fat mass (p < 0.001) and reduced their BMI standard deviation score by 0.27 ± 0.1 (p < 0.001) and their waist circumference by 6.6 ± 2.8 cm (p < 0.001). Subjective sensations of hunger increased significantly over the camp duration, but no other changes in appetite or mood were observed. There were no significant differences between the two diets on any physical or subjective measures. Discussion: Weight‐loss camps are effective in assisting children to lose weight and improve on a range of health outcomes, independently of the protein content of the diet. The implications of an increase in hunger associated with weight loss needs to be considered. Further work is warranted to investigate whether higher levels of dietary protein are feasible or effective in longer‐term weight‐loss interventions of this type.

The present study identified that, although pupils from MSESS consume a significantly higher intake of energy and macronutrient compared to a nearby HSESS, the percentage of energy contribution of saturated fat and sugar is above government recommendations for pupils from both schools. Additionally, the majority of pupils from both schools substantially over-rated their diet quality compared to a HEI.

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Background: Dietary behaviours of adolescence are concerning, and this may impact long-term well-being. Aim: This study examined the socio-ecological determinants of dietary behaviours in a national prospective cohort study of English adolescents. Methods: Latent class analysis was used to identify the typologies of eight dietary behaviours: fruit, vegetable, breakfast, sugar-sweetened beverages, artificial-sweetened beverages, fast-food, bread, and milk from 7402 adolescents aged 13–15 years (mean 13.8 ± 0.45 years) (50.3% female and 71.3% white ethnicity) participating in the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study (sixth survey). Multinomial logistic regression and path analysis predicted associations between personal characteristics, individual, influential others, social environment and physical environment determinants and three distinct diet typologies: (1) healthy, (2) less-healthy and (3) mixed, (reference category = mixed). Results: Within Path analysis, the magnitudes of coefficients were small to moderate suggesting a relatively weak relationship between the variables. Model 1 reported adolescents within the less-healthy compared to mixed typology had lower levels of physical activity (β = 0.074, 95% CI = −0.115, −0.033), and have siblings (β = 0.246, 95% CI = 0.105, 0.387). Model 2 reported adolescents within the healthy compared to mixed typology had lower screen time (β = 0.104, 95% CI = 0.067, 0.141), and lower social media usage (β = 0.035, 95% CI = 0.024, 0.046). Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of considering multiple dietary determinants. These findings are likely to be useful in supporting the development of multi-faceted interventions. They emphasise the need to move away from investigating silo behaviours on individual diet components and a step towards more systems thinking to improve adolescent eating behaviours.