Healthy Eating Research is proud to announce 8 new research teams funded through our 2020 special solicitation on beverage consumption in early childhood. This call for proposals focused exclusively on beverage consumption among children ages 0-5, and the resulting projects focus on a range of topics, including child care, sugary drink taxes, and beverage marketing.

We look forward to working with these teams over the next two years and sharing the results of their projects.

 

1. Changes in beverage availability and targeted marketing associated with the Philadelphia beverage tax

President and Fellows of Harvard College, PI: Erica Kenney

This project will study whether the Philadelphia beverage tax is associated with changes in beverage availability and targeted marketing, with a focus on drinks commonly consumed by children ages 0-5 and Black and Latinx households with young children. Learn more.

 

2. Examining the effects of taxes and warning labels on parents’ purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages using a choice experiment   

Research Triangle Institute (RTI), PI: Dallas W Wood

The purpose of this study is to conduct a discrete choice experiment to investigate whether warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) alter the effectiveness of a tax on SSBs, especially among parents who are Black, Latinx and lower income. Learn more.

 

3. Using online food retail “nudges” to promote healthier beverage intake among children whose parents participate in SNAP   

New York University School of Medicine, PI: Pasquale Rummo

This study seeks to develop and test the impact of “nudges” in an online grocery store on purchases of fruit drinks and healthier substitutes among a sample of parents of children ages 1-5 years who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Learn more.

 

4. Expanding reach of a health system intervention for family beverage choice by partnering with a local WIC program         

Wake Forest University Health Sciences, PI: Kristina H Lewis

This study seeks to partner with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) in North Carolina to pair an electronic health record (EHR)-based sugar-sweetened beverage screener with a technology-based intervention in order to improve intervention reach and uptake in nutritionally at-risk infants and young children. Learn more.

 

5. Understanding and increasing water availability and accessibility in family child care homes to improve young children’s water and sugary beverage intake          

University of Connecticut, PI: Kim Gans

This study seeks to explore the barriers, facilitators, and feasible strategies to increase drinking water access, availability, and intake in family childcare homes (FCCH). Learn more.

 

6. Developing policy and environmental approaches to sustain an Early Head Start healthy beverage program among Hispanic families of infants and toddlers

George Washington University, PI: Uriyoán Colón-Ramos

The study uses a systems science approach to identify upstream strategies that can support sustained changes in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and water in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic community. Learn more.

 

7. SHIFT: Testing culturally appropriate messaging for the Black community to limit children’s sugary-beverage intake and increase water consumption 

University of Georgia Foundation, Inc., PI: Caree J Cotwright

The project’s goal is to conduct a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a culturally appropriate social behavior change communication campaign on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and water consumption among black families with children aged 0-5 years. Learn more.

 

8. Long-term impact of home-visiting on SSB intake and early childhood obesity, and effects of emergency COVID-19 water equity efforts on the Navajo Nation         

Johns Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health, PI: Summer Rosenstock

This research extends follow up on Native American children enrolled in the Prevention of Early Childhood Obesity 1 (PECO1) study 2017-2019 to determine whether positive impacts of the Family Spirit Nurture intervention on infant sugar sweetened beverage intake and infant growth are sustained through 5 years of age. Learn more.