Association Between School Food Environment and Practices and Body Mass Index of U.S. Public School Children

Using data from the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study, this study estimates the association between school food environments and practices and children’s likelihood for obesity. (Obesity was defined as having a body mass index greater than the 95th percentile for their age.) The national study involved more than 2,200 children in 287 schools. The More

The Federal Child Nutrition Commodity Program: A Report on Nutritional Quality

This report found that school districts fail to take advantage of healthier foods offered by the federal child nutrition commodity program, despite improvements in the nutritional quality of foods offered to schools by USDA. The study found that, in California, meat and cheese products accounted for more than 82% of the dollars spent on commodity More

Statewide Assessment of Local Wellness Policies in Pennsylvania Public School Districts

This paper assesses Pennsylvania public school district local wellness policies, compares the policies to local wellness policy mandate requirements and provides information about the local wellness policy development process. Researchers found that all required school districts in the state established a local wellness policy and almost all (85.6%-100%) met each mandate requirement (e.g., included goals More

Evaluating the Impact of Competitive Food and Beverage Policies on Body and Weight Patterns Among California Children and Adolescents

Capitalizing on a natural experiment and existing data, this project will investigate the impact of competitive food and beverage policies on child and adolescent weight status. This work specifically includes the evaluation of the impact of competitive food and beverage policies adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on patterns in BMI and More

Analyzing the Financial Impact of Selling Healthy Versus Unhealthy Foods on a Small Store in a Low-Income Neighborhood

To better understand how to improve healthy food access in low-income neighborhoods, the aim of this study is to examine financial incentives around selling specific types of food. Specifically, this research will: (a) analyze the financial benefits of selling healthy and unhealthy food items from the perspective of a small food store business in a More