Age Group: Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8)

Implementation of Competitive Food and Beverage Standards in a Sample of Massachusetts Schools: The NOURISH Study (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health)

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During 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards that closely align with Institute of Medicine recommendations and Smart Snacks in School national standards. The NOURISH study examined middle and high schools’ compliance with the Massachusetts standards after the first year of implementation. Employing an observational cohort study with a pre-/post-test design, researchers More

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage-Related Public Service Advertisements and Their Influence on Parents

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There is substantial evidence that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with weight gain in both children and adults. As a result, Public Service Announcements (PSAs) have been produced to both increase knowledge about the amount of sugar in drinks and to highlight the harmful effects of their overconsumption. This article explores the impact More

Analyzing the Associations between Price Promotions and Health Claims on the Nutrient Profile of Food Purchases

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Despite substantial literature on how to improve the food environment for children, there has been little work examining how price promotions, nutrient-related claims, and their interactions might be associated with the nutrient profile of food purchases, particularly for lower-income and racial/ethnic minority populations. This study will address these gaps using 2008-2012 data for a demographically More

Testing the Effectiveness of a Double-Dollar Incentive Program to Increase Purchases of Fruits and Vegetables

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Currently there is much interest in incentivizing the purchase of healthier food items among lower-income populations. The purpose of this project is to pilot test a double-dollar incentive program traditionally used at farmers’ markets to increase purchases of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables in a large grocery store retail setting (Hannaford). Approximately 400 More

Do Emotional Appeals in Public Service Advertisements Influence Adolescents’ Intention to Reduce Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages?

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Mass media campaigns are a commonly used and often effective public health strategy. However, it is unknown how health messages about sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), widely accepted and advertised products, will be perceived by teen audiences. This study investigated the direct and mediated effects of emotional appeals in beverage-related public service advertisements (PSAs) that aired between More

The Michigan Healthy School Action Tools Process Generates Improvements in School Nutrition Policies and Practices, and Student Dietary Intake

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The Michigan Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT) is an online self-assessment and action planning process for schools seeking to improve their health policies and practices. This study evaluated whether undertaking the Michigan HSAT process and receiving assistance from a facilitator and a small amount of grant funding resulted in (1) improvements in school nutrition practices More

Evaluating Industry Self-Regulation of Food Marketing to Children

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In response to growing concern about children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertising, the food industry adopted a program of self-regulation – the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) – with participating companies pledging to limit child-targeted advertising to healthier products. This study assesses the efficacy of industry self-regulation by comparing advertising content on children’s More

An Accountability Evaluation for the Industry’s Responsible Use of Brand Mascots and Licensed Media Characters to Market a Healthy Diet to American Children

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This study explored diverse stakeholders’ accountability expectations and actions for industry policies and practices that used cartoon brand mascots and media characters to market foods and beverages to American children. A companion paper examined how media characters may influence diet-related outcomes for children younger than 12 years. Investigators used a four-step accountability framework to identify More