Singapore

INFORMAS in Singapore is led by Dr. Salome A. Rebello with advice from a Steering Committee consisting of A/Prof Rob M van Dam, Prof Chia Kee Seng, and A/Prof Helena Legido-Quigley.

Singapore completed the data collection and analyses for the Food-EPI  in Singapore in 2018. We are validating a tool to assess the healthfulness of eateries such as hawker centres in Asian setting that can be potentially implemented in other Asian countries. We are characterizing marketing around schools and on digital media and testing the use of ecological momentary assessment methods for data collection.

We hope to successively implement the protocols for other modules in the future.

Acknowledgements / Funders

  • Health Promotion Board, Singapore
  • PANDA programme, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Ministry of Education, Academic Research Fund – Tier 1
No information currently available.

Module

Status (as at February 2020)

 Outputs
Public Sector (Food EPI)
  • Manuscript in preparation
  • Reports are published online and available at the following links:
  1. Full Report  https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blog.nus.edu.sg/dist/e/9343/files/2019/04/Food-EPISingapore-2018-Full-Report_final-5.pdf
  2. Executive Summary  https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blog.nus.edu.sg/dist/e/9343/files/2019/04/Food-EPISingapore-2018-Executive-Summary_final-4.pdf
 1,2,3
Private Sector
  • Planning. On hold for now.
  
Food Composition
  • We are looking at the use of monitoring food composition using online data from large supermarkets. We have collected some preliminary data.
  
Food Labelling    
Food Promotion
  • Our main focus in on the digital marketing environment:
  • We have finished data collection and coding for a digital environment scan. The manuscript is in preparation.
  • We have completed collecting advertising exposure data using EMA methods in 100 people. Data coding is ongoing.
  • Outdoor advertising: data collection completed
 4
Food Prices    
Food Retail
  • Tool developed for assessing the healthfulness of hawker centres environments.
  • Validation data has been collected, and is currently being analyzed.
  • Poster presentation.
  
Food Provision
  • Validation of tools to assess hawker food environment underway
 5
Food Trade & Investment    

Leu J, Tay Z, van Dam RM, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Lean MEJ, Nikolaou CK, Rebello SA. “You know what, I’m in the trend as well” – Understanding the inter-play between digital and real-life social influences on the food and activity choices of young adults. Public Health Nutr. 2022 Feb 21:1-50. doi: 10.1017/S1368980022000398. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35184791.

Seah SSY, van Dam RM, Tai BC, Tay Z, Wang MC, Rebello SA. An evaluation of the healthier dining programme effects on university student and staff choices in Singapore: A cluster-randomized trial. Food Policy, 2022 107, 102211. 

Tan JY, Ong SG, Teng A, Ng B, Yao J, Luo N, Rebello SA. Perspectives of Adult Singaporeans toward Potential Policies to Reduce the Consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages-A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients. 2021 Nov 25;13(12):4231. doi: 10.3390/nu13124231. PMID: 34959783; PMCID: PMC8706143.

Tay Z, Whitton C, van Dam RM, Chia KS, Swinburn B, Vandevijvere S, Rebello SA. Identifying implementation gaps and priorities for the Singapore government to improve food environment policies: perspectives from a local expert panel. Public Health Nutr. 2020 Oct 13:1-8. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020003468. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33046170.

Benchmarking the implementation of policies to create healthy food environments compared to best practice: A case study from Singapore Z Tay, C Whitton, RM van Dam, KS Chia, S Vandevijvere, B Swinburn, SA Rebello, Oral Presentation, International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Meeting, Prague Czeech Republic, 2019

Monitoring the online food and beverage marketing environment in Singapore. S Seah, C Whitton, XH Chua, YT See, NA Syed Hussain, PX Ng, FA Malek, SA Rebello, Poster Presentation, International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Meeting, Prague Czeech Republic, 2019

Development of a tool to measure the healthfulness of common food service environments in Singapore- the Food Environment Assessment in Singapore Tool (FEAST) study Z Tay, RM van Dam, J Ho, CS Tan, SA Rebello, Poster Presentation, International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Meeting, Prague Czeech Republic, 2019

Tay Z, Whitton C, van Dam RM, Rebello SA, Food EPI Singapore Report Benchmarking policies in creating healthier food environments: Current policies and recommended actions. National University of Singapore, 2018. Available at: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blog.nus.edu.sg/dist/e/9343/files/2019/04/Food-EPI-Singapore-2018-Full-Report_final-5.pdf

Tay Z, Whitton C, van Dam RM, Rebello SA, Food EPI Singapore Executive Summary Benchmarking policies in creating healthier food environments: Current policies and recommended actions. National University of Singapore, 2018. https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blog.nus.edu.sg/dist/e/9343/files/2019/04/Food-EPI-Singapore-2018-Executive-Summary_final-4.pdf

Naidoo N, van Dam RM, Ng S, Tan CS, Chen S, Lim JY, Chan MF, Chew L, Rebello SA. Determinants of eating at local and western fast-food venues in an urban Asian population: a mixed methods approach. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017 May 25;14(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0515-x. PMID: 28545458; PMCID: PMC5445485.

Additional Publications

  • Health Promotion Board, Singapore
  • PANDA programme, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Ministry of Education, Academic Research Fund – Tier 1