Evaluating Healthy Vending Policies Affecting Youth in Five Cities

The purpose of this mixed-method evaluation is to complete a series of case studies in five cities to identify best practices, barriers, recommendations, and other considerations for healthy vending policies and initiatives affecting children and youth. Vending machines that are accessible to children and adolescents will be the focus of this evaluation. Semi-structured interviews will More

Exploring the Effects of School Transformation and Redesign of Cafeterias (STARCafé)

The purpose of this project is to conduct an exploratory, pilot study with three schools to determine how school cafeteria renovations that create choice-based serving lines, a variety of inviting and comfortable seating options, and nutrition education messaging may impact school lunch consumption, seated time, attitudes, and school lunch participation rates. To measure the potential More

No Fat, No Sugar, No Salt…No Problem? Prevalence of “Low-Content” Nutrient Claims and Their Associations with the Nutritional Profile of Food and Beverage Purchases in the United States

Nutrient content claims, which characterize the level of a nutrient in a food (e.g., “low-sugar”), are a commonly used marketing tactic. The association between claims, the nutritional quality of products, and consumer purchases is unknown. This study examined low-content nutrient claims on more than 80 million packaged food and beverage purchases from a transaction-level database More

Investigating How to Align Schools’ Marketing Environments With Federal Standards for Competitive Foods

The goal of this study was to determine how to improve school marketing environments so that they align with new federal competitive food standards. The research team assessed the food marketing environments in three schools in Portland, Maine, using the food and beverage marketing in schools (FMBS) survey, and provided schools with technical assistance to More

Consumer Underestimation of Sodium in Fast Food Restaurant Meals: Results From a Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Restaurants are key venues for reducing sodium intake in the United States but little is known about consumer perceptions of sodium in restaurant foods. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the accuracy of consumer estimates of sodium in restaurant meals. In 2013 and 2014, meal receipts and questionnaires were collected from adults More

Studying the Novel Approach of Using Electronic Health Records From Pediatric Primary Care to Measure Children’s Consumption of Sugary Beverages

Electronic health record (EHR) screening for sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake may be a novel intervention for reducing SSB intake in children, and would result in longitudinal databases of individual-level consumption that could enhance the ability the evaluate local or regional SSB policies. This study aims to: 1) implement and evaluate the uptake of a single More

Examining Differences by Social and Demographic Characteristics of Schools in the Implementation of Water-Quality Practices and Water-Access Policies

Ensuring safe, accessible drinking water in schools is a national health priority. Students in schools that provide free water consume more water, potentially replacing sugar-containing beverages and promoting a healthy weight. The aims of this study are to: 1) identify whether practices related to school water quality, availability, and education are being implemented in schools More

Examining the Reach and Impact of California Legislation to Promote Healthy Eating in Out-of-School-Time Programs

In 2014, California became the first state to authorize an out-of-school-time (OST) health promotion program. The Distinguished After School Health (DASH) program awards a 2-year certificate to OST programs that implement its nutrition and physical activity standards. RTI is partnering with the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to More

Studying the Impact of Food Reformulation on Child and Adolescent Obesity and What Motivates Manufacturers to Reformulate Foods

Improvements in the healthiness of packaged foods and beverages consumed by children and adolescents could have an impact on obesity through improved dietary intake patterns. Food manufacturers have new incentives to reformulate foods in response to changes in the Nutrition Facts label (NFL) and serving sizes scheduled to go into effect in 2018. The overall More

Studying the Impact of State and Federal Child Nutrition Policies on Understudied Population Subgroups with the Highest Rates of Obesity

To date, limited studies have examined the impact of federal and state nutrition policies targeting foods and beverages in schools on obesity, and none have specifically focused on children in populations with highest obesity rates: Filipinos, Pacific Islanders and Native American children and those in rural areas. This quasi-experimental study will examine the California competitive More