Age Group: Adults and Families

Potential Prevalence of Front-of-Package Labels on Packaged Foods in a Supermarket Chain in the Northeast United States Under Two Proposed Labeling Systems

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed a mandatory “Nutrition Info” label be placed on the front of packaged foods, showing whether products have low, medium, or high amounts of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar. The agency has also considered a “High-In” labeling system, which would require labels on products with high levels More

“It’s confusing as hell”: A qualitative study of barriers accessing poverty alleviation benefits through the US Earned Income Tax Credit

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The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest U.S. poverty alleviation program, with positive effects on health equity. Over 20% of eligible households do not receive benefits. In this qualitative study, researchers explored benefits of and barriers to EITC receipt among EITC-eligible families through analysis of 40 semi-structured interviews with EITC-eligible parents in California More

Measuring the impact of charitable food program cuts on the nutritional quality of foods

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This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will More

Informing equitable implementation of SNAP food restriction waivers

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SNAP is the largest federally funded nutrition assistance program in the U.S., providing support to more than 40 million Americans. This study aims to provide tangible information, insights, and resources grounded in SNAP participants’ preferences and feedback to support the implementation and communication of SNAP Food Restriction waivers, minimizing barriers to SNAP participation and benefit More

Unveiling the Layers of Stigma Related to Utilization of Food Assistance and Free Food Programs

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This study conducted a comprehensive literature review to understand the dimensions of stigma associated with both government food program utilization (i.e., SNAP, WIC) and non-profit administered free food programs (i.e., emergency food programs such as food banks, pantries, and cupboards) and to examine the effectiveness of existing stigma reduction interventions in the context of food More

Building a National Research Agenda

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) commitment to child obesity ends in December 2025, marking the conclusion of a two-decade investment in Healthy Eating Research (HER). As part of our RWJF legacy, HER is developing a national research agenda for policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) interventions and strategies to promote food and nutrition security, optimal More

The Current State of Knowledge on SNAP Restrictions and Disincentives

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Little is known about the impacts of SNAP restrictions on the health of program participants. This brief provides a narrative review of published evidence on SNAP restrictions and combined incentive-disincentive approaches, highlighting the approaches’ historical context, perceptions among program participants, and evidence of impact on SNAP participants’ purchases and health. The studies reviewed found mixed More

Food Insecurity-Related Stigma Among Adults in the United States: A Scoping Review

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This review aimed to characterize individual- and structural-level stigma associated with utilization of government (i.e., SNAP, WIC) and emergency food programs (i.e., food banks, pantries, cupboards, soup kitchens) in the U.S. The review included original peer-reviewed articles or systematic reviews published between January 2004 – June 2024, in the U.S., in English. Included studies reported More

Developing Recommendations for Policies to Regulate Ultra-processed Foods in the United States

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HER is convening an expert panel—chaired by Dr. Jim Krieger and Dr. Lindsey Smith Taillie—to develop evidence-informed recommendations for policymakers and advocates to support policies regulating UPF that positively impact nutrition and health, are feasible to implement in a variety of settings, are equitable, and are easy for consumers to understand. The panel is composed More