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Aims: As the proportion of elderly increases rapidly in all industrialised countries, more knowledge is needed on how to enable this group to stay active and live home longer in older years. In this study, importance of health-related aspects and eating contexts for daily food related behaviour is addressed. Methods: A quantitative web survey (N=782, 65-89 years) and an exploratory qualitative study (N=15, 67-84 years) were conducted among active home-living Norwegian older adults. Results: The study showed that health considerations such as changes in consumption of foods and ingredients influence eating behaviour for Norwegian older adults. Eating context was important for their daily routines and eating behaviour. Conclusion: This study focused on exploring how health aspects and daily routines influence eating behaviour of active home-living older adults. The results implicate that using the meal context as a venue for improving eating behaviour as well as providing information may be a way towards upholding health among less healthy and active older adults. The study was funded by the Norwegian Fund for Research Fees for Agricultural Products (FFL).

In Sweden, as most parts of the world, the proportion of elderly is increasing. Thenumber of the elderly will shortly exceed the number of younger people. Between2010 and 2030, the number of Europeans aged over 65 will rise by nearly 40%.According to the UN, the increase in life expectancy is mainly due toimprovements in nutrition and hygiene. The growing number of older peopleposes major challenges, but also opportunities for society, business andentrepreneurship.Health issues, primarily food, and quality of life are in focus and strongly relatedto autonomy. It should be possible to live an active and independent life, andpossible to make independent choices, regardless of age, disease and disability.This adds to Quality of Life! To achieve this we created a project in collaborationbetween partners from academia, research institutes, business, industry andsociety. The idea was in a first step to identify target groups along with their needsand desires. Then to design foods and meals adapted to the elderly’s needs andpreferences. Further to develop packaging of the meals that can be used forinformation as well as in the distribution chain. The project invented value chainsfor different types of ordering and distribution of the foods and meals as well as toinclude waste management. The outcome of the project are new knowledge aswell as food products available on the market and other products soon ready to beput on the market.

In Sweden, as most parts of the world, the proportion of elderly is increasing. Thenumber of the elderly will shortly exceed the number of younger people. Between2010 and 2030, the number of Europeans aged over 65 will rise by nearly 40%.According to the UN, the increase in life expectancy is mainly due toimprovements in nutrition and hygiene. The growing number of older peopleposes major challenges, but also opportunities for society, business andentrepreneurship.Health issues, primarily food, and quality of life are in focus and strongly relatedto autonomy. It should be possible to live an active and independent life, andpossible to make independent choices, regardless of age, disease and disability.This adds to Quality of Life! To achieve this we created a project in collaborationbetween partners from academia, research institutes, business, industry andsociety. The idea was in a first step to identify target groups along with their needsand desires. Then to design foods and meals adapted to the elderly’s needs andpreferences. Further to develop packaging of the meals that can be used forinformation as well as in the distribution chain. The project invented value chainsfor different types of ordering and distribution of the foods and meals as well as toinclude waste management. The outcome of the project are new knowledge aswell as food products available on the market and other products soon ready to beput on the market.

According to socio-cultural perspectives, adults are seen as mediators of cultural believes, values and practices. Qualitative analyses of teachers’ mediation of peer relations based on video-recordings in 9 toddler-groups indicate that meal-time represents opportunities for teachers to facilitate togetherness and peer-relations between toddlers. The teachers might facilitate sharing, passing food, routinized practices such as singing, and conversations. The results indicate variations between child- and group-oriented approaches, and accomplishing meals in an effective way. The child- and group-oriented approaches are marked by encouragement of toddlers’ initiatives and teachers supporting peer-interactions. Raising teachers’ consciousness about their contributions to children’s development of peer-relations and togetherness in group settings might contribute to enhance reflected practices in working with toddlers in groups.

Matematik är ett begrepp som många kopplar till skolverksamhet och teoretisk räkning i matematikböcker. Under vår verksamhetsförlagda utbildning har vi gjort observationer på två förskolor för att kartlägga vilken funktion måltider kan ha för barnens matematikutveckling. Läroplanen för förskolan tar upp mål som verksamheten ska sträva mot för att barnen ska få den kunskap och möjlighet till utveckling som de har rätt till. Den synliggör även det ansvar pedagogerna har för att ge barnen den kunskap som behövs för de ska kunna utveckla sina matematiska förmågor. Vår studie visar att matematik är ständigt förekommande under måltider i de båda förskolorna. Matematik kan ha olika uttrycksformer, som när barnen delar frukt eller jämför potatisar med varandra. För att kunna använda måltider och andra situationer som ett verktyg för barnens matematiska utveckling är det viktigt att pedagogen har kompetens och medvetenhet inom det matematiska området. Har pedagogen tidigare erfarenheter och kunskaper inom matematik kan hon/han skapa stora möjligheter för barnen att utvecklas inom det matematiska området, detta genom att ta vara på barnens tidigare erfarenheter för att skapa nyfikenhet och lust att lära.

A pre-school-based dietary survey, using seven-day records, focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews, was carried out in a suburban area of Stockholm. The overall objective was to investigate the individual food and nutrient intake of pre-school children at all meals during the day, as well as factors that might influence children’s intake. The average energy and nutrient intake per day for the whole week was satisfactory for the 109 pre-school children, but the temporal distribution throughout the day was skewed. The energy and nutrient intakes of food at the pre-school were lower than recommended. This was, however, compensated for by meals eaten at home. The children had a more varied food intake during weekdays than weekend days. This study has not provided any evidence to support the selection of water versus milk as a preferable lunch beverage in terms of pre-school children's total milk consumption and general dietary quality. However, the dietary analyses showed that there could be a reason to limit pre-school children’s daily milk and fermented milk intake to half a litre, according to the existing guidelines. The children associated food and eating with rules and norms. They did not categorise food as good or bad, as adults often do, but as "food" and "non-food"; for example, sweets were not food. The method used in this study, the focus group interview, was judged to be a useful tool for exploring how children think about and jointly reflect upon food. The role of the teacher had changed over the past years and they had not yet found a solid ground for integrating food and meals into their everyday work.