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
Obesity published its first supplement focused on community-based solutions to childhood obesity. The aims of the supplement are to highlight evidence from recent community-based intervention studies and provide unique perspectives on where the field needs to go in the future. Healthy Eating Research director, Mary Story, PhD, RD, was a guest editor of the supplement.
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
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
The impact of menu labeling is unclear. A menu labeling law (beginning 1/1/09) in Seattle-King County, WA provides an opportunity to evaluate policy effectiveness. The Seattle-King County policy is different from regulations elsewhere in two important ways. First, not only do restaurants need to have calorie labels, they have to provide information on saturated fat, More
This article finds that mobile food vendors contribute to after-school snacking among children, and should be considered part of the school food environment. Based on data collected in Oakland, CA in the spring of 2008, researchers found a wide variety of vendors near schools. They include vendors who sell low-nutrient, calorie-dense items, such as ice More
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by adolescents and children in the United States has been linked to less healthy diets, excessive caloric intake and weight gain, increased obesity rates, and associated adverse health effects, including increased rates of type 2 diabetes in adults. This research synthesis reviews evidence regarding the health effects of SSB consumption, More
This study provides data on what children purchase in corner stores located near their schools. The investigators collected data on 833 purchases that students made before and after school at 24 different corner stores. (Surveys were conducted immediately outside the stores after the students exited.) The students purchased an average of 356.6 calories per corner-store visit, More
Through cooperation between the food service industry and public health, this project aims to improve nutritional quality of kids’ menus in fast food restaurants. This study will examine pooled sales data from 10 Taco Time restaurants showing items sold from the kids’ menu over three exposure periods: a 6-month baseline, a 3-month period following introduction More
As digital media become ever more present in children’s lives, public health researchers and policy-makers need to understand how the new marketing ecosystem infiltrates and influences consumers. Yet specialized, commercially-sponsored digital marketing research remains obscured from public view because much of it occurs outside the academy. This study will make highly accessible and visible an More
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