Health advocates have increasingly argued for taxes on calorically sweetened beverages. However, there is little empirical research that evaluates the public health and fiscal impacts of such taxes while simultaneously accounting for consumers’ and suppliers’ likely changes in economic behavior in response to a targeted tax. The aim of this study is to use econometric More
The goal of this project is to examine how increases in family income generated by geographic- and time-varying changes in earned income tax credits (EITC) impact children’s body mass index, and how this effect may depend on their neighborhood food environment and regional food prices. Focusing on EITC-generated income changes amounts to a quasi-experimental research More
A RWJF-sponsored conference on childhood obesity and children’s body mass index (BMI) has led to a special supplement on the surveillance, screening and reporting of children’s BMI. The conference, which was held in January 2008, convened a forum of researchers and clinicians who are addressing obesity in their respective fields. The goals of the meeting More
The purpose of the supplement is to present recent findings from RWJF grantees funded under the Healthy Eating Research and Active Living Research programs, as well as from RWJF’s Bridging the Gap program and Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Supplement content focuses primarily on adolescent obesity prevention and the need for More
This paper finds that school district policies related to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and exposure to SSB in middle schools were significant predictors of student SSB consumption. The paper describes the association between: 1) exposure to SSBs in middle school and student consumption of SSB at schools and 2) school district SSB policies and exposure to More
This paper demonstrates that a 19-item beverage and snack questionnaire (BSQ) developed by researchers can effectively capture data on consumption of targeted foods as well as more lengthy food records. The questionnaire was developed and validated for use among adolescents to evaluate school nutrition policies and assess consumption of specific foods targeted by these policies. More
In this paper the authors investigate the potential for soft drink taxes to combat the rise in child and adolescent obesity levels through a reduction in consumption. Using state soft drink sales and excise tax information from 1989-2006 and National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) data, researchers find that currently practiced soft drink taxation More
This paper documents the reliability of a new coding tool developed to evaluate the quality of school wellness policies. The 96-item coding tool assesses seven goal areas, and each of these goal areas was scored on the dimensions of comprehensiveness and strength. To evaluate reliability, researchers from four states coded a sample of 60 policies More
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 mandated that school districts participating in any federally reimbursed school meal programs develop a local school wellness policy by the beginning of the 2006-07 school year. This brief, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, summarizes key results from early research on the implementation of these More
This research synthesis reviews studies that have examined the use of menu labeling in away-from-home food establishments, such as restaurants and cafeterias, and the potential impact of labeling on consumers’ food and beverage selections.
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