Taxing Soft Drinks and Restricting Access to Vending Machines to Curb Child Obesity

This paper focused on the impact changes in soft drink taxes and policies restricting school vending machine access had on soda consumption among children and adolescents. The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988-1994) and IV (1999-2006) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). They concluded that More

Food Insecurity and Risk for Obesity Among Children and Families: Is There a Relationship? A Research Synthesis

In the United States, nearly 15 percent of households are food insecure; they have limited or uncertain access to food. This research synthesis reviews studies that examine the relationship between food insecurity and obesity in the United States, particularly involving children and families. Because of the policy implications inherent in examining this issue, the authors More

Child Obesity: The Way Forward

Health Affairs published a special issue focusing on the childhood obesity epidemic and the local, state, and federal policy approaches that could have greatest impact for helping to reverse it. The March 2010 publication, which discusses findings from dozens of studies, includes articles from three Healthy Eating Research grantees: Claudia Probart, PhD, RD, Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, ScD, More

Report Card on Food-Marketing Policies: An Analysis of Food and Entertainment Company Policies Regarding Food and Beverage Marketing to Children

This 34-page report examines whether companies marketing food to children have adopted a policy on marketing to children, and if so, whether those policies are adequate in adhering to nutrition-based standards. Of the 128 companies assessed, only 32% had a policy for marketing food to children. Of the companies who did, none received a grade More

Lessons from Pennsylvania’s Mixed Response to Federal School Wellness Law

This article examines Pennsylvania’s response to the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act of 2004. The analysis reveals that improvements were made to the nutritional quality of a la carte food choices offered in conjunction with school meal programs, according to respondents. However, the implementation of wellness policies in Pennsylvania was More

‘Competitive’ Food and Beverage Policies: Are They Influencing Childhood Overweight Trends?

This article explores whether new policies restricting ‘competitive’ foods and beverages in schools affected the increasing rates of overweight children in California. While the authors find that the rate of increase of overweight children did decrease significantly since the policies’ implementation, the extent to which the policies contributed to this rate of decrease in childhood More

Are ‘Competitive Foods’ Sold at School Making Our Children Fat?

Competitive foods, or foods and beverages sold outside of the school lunch program, are often cited as a contributing factor to the high rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. This article reviews the current literature on the availability and nutritional content of competitive foods in schools and the effects of these foods on students’ More

Program Practices: An Investigation of Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Standards and Practices on Out-of-School-Time Programs

In the US, 6.5 million children attend out-of-school time (OST) programs annually, participating in roughly three hours per day of activities typically including homework, snack and gross motor play. The specific aims of this study are to: (1) build capacity for obesity prevention in OST by infusing rigorous science-based guidelines into the National Afterschool Association More

Providing Analysis and Recommendations for Safeguards on the Next Generation of TV Food Marketing Focused on Children and Youth

Powerful new forms of interactive television (ITV) advertising are being deployed in the US, reaching over 50 million homes by early 2010. Fast-food companies are among those marketers in the forefront of harnessing TV’s potential to deliver personalized and more engaging commercial messages. The introduction of ITV advertising in the US coincides with three upcoming More