Urban environment and preschoolers? lifestyle patterns in the LifeCycle Project

Energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs, i.e. diet, screen time, physical activity and sleep) tend to combine into lifestyle patterns early in childhood and be related synergistically to overweight/obesity. Urbanization could be one of the most important upstream actors of an obesogenic environment: how the environment is built can influence, at different levels, an individual’s opportunities to opt for optimal food and movement behaviour alternatives. We are interested in investigating which aspects of the urban environment (e.g., proximity of unhealthy food facilities or green spaces) are associated with lifestyle patterns by adopting a cross-European perspective (the “nutrition transition” being country-dependent).