Development and Validation of the Vending Evaluation for Nutrient-Density (VEND)ing Audit

Abstract

Background: This paper describes the development and validation of the Vending Evaluation for Nutrient-Density (VEND)ing audit to comprehensively evaluate vended products based upon healthfulness, price and promotion, and machine accessibility. Methods: A novel vending nutrient-density score was created to determine the healthfulness of vended snack/beverage products. Field tested in United States colleges, VENDing audit (∑nutrient-density + 10 × % healthy products) and Support sub-scores (price + promotion + accessibility) were calculated for snack/beverage machines. Higher scores indicate more healthful vending options and supports for choosing healthfully. Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Vending (NEMS-V) was used to validate the nutrient-density score for a sub-sample of machines. Sensitivity and specificity were computed by comparing the number of healthy snacks/beverages determined by NEMS-V and the VENDing nutrient-density scores. Results: Researchers conducted the VENDing audit on 228 snack/beverage vending machines at 9 universities within the United States and used both VENDing and NEMS-V on 33 snack and 52 beverage vending machines. Mean VENDing audit scores were 4.5 ± 2.0 (2.6, 3.4) and 2.6 ± 2.0 (0, 12) for snack/beverage machines, respectively. The number of products considered healthy assessed with both the VENDing nutrient-density scores and the NEMS-V were positively correlated for beverages (r = 0.687, p < 0.001) and snacks (r = 0.366, p < 0.05). The sensitivity was excellent for beverages (0.83) and moderate for snacks (0.69); while the specificity was moderate for both beverages (0.66) and snacks (0.50). Conclusions: The VENDing audit uses unique, valid, and reliable nutrient-density scoring to evaluate snacks/beverages along a continuum of healthful criteria and comprehensively evaluates the full vending environment.

Effectiveness of Nutrition Interventions in Vending Machines to Encourage the Purchase and Consumption of Healthier Food and Drinks in the University Setting: A Systematic Review

“…Vending machines are one component of the university food environment where the availability of unhealthy items is especially high. In vending machine audit studies from universities in Australia, UK, and USA, the proportion of unhealthy items available ranged from 85% to 100% for foods and from 49% to 80% for beverages [8][9][10]. Intervention strategies to improve the nutritional quality of items available in vending machines have demonstrated some success [11,12].…”

Redesign, Field-Testing, and Validation of the Physical Activity Campus Environmental Supports (PACES) Audit

“…The PACES training and practice require approximately 2-3 hours, and an audit can be completed in 25–30 mins per facility or survey. The PACES audit is part of the Healthy Campus Environmental Audit (HCEA), a series audit tools to evaluate restaurants [61], convenience stores [62], vending [63], walkability/bikeability [27], and policies [26]. The PACES audit is user-friendly and available on the internet, with training and data entry links (contact the primary author for information).…”

Assessment of the Food and Physical Activity Environment on a University Campus

“…The HCEA is composed of five audits focusing on campus environmental demographics (CA), dining environment (FRESH audit), recreation facilities (PACES audit), policies (POINTS audit), and vending machines (VENDing audit) (See Supplemental Materials for details). These audits have been validated in studies completed on various campus environments (Horacek et al, 2019a(Horacek et al, , 2019b(Horacek et al, , 2019c.…”