This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will More

WIC serves more than 50% of all infants born in the U.S. The goal of this study is to build a forecasting model to estimate national WIC funding needs under various policy and economic conditions through fiscal year 2027. The model will also be designed to allow for updates to forecast funding needs for future More

This study conducted a comprehensive literature review to understand the dimensions of stigma associated with both government food program utilization (i.e., SNAP, WIC) and non-profit administered free food programs (i.e., emergency food programs such as food banks, pantries, and cupboards) and to examine the effectiveness of existing stigma reduction interventions in the context of food More

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) commitment to child obesity ends in December 2025, marking the conclusion of a two-decade investment in Healthy Eating Research (HER). As part of our RWJF legacy, HER is developing a national research agenda for policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) interventions and strategies to promote food and nutrition security, optimal More

Nutritional exposures during pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life influence growth and risk for obesity. Upstream interventions that involve policy, systems, and/or environmental approaches may support equitable nutrition and healthy growth early in life. Yet little is known about application of these interventions in clinical settings. This scoping review characterized the More

This study investigated whether demographic, social, and economic determinants of health, including length of time participating in safety net programs, are associated with diet quality and weight status in early childhood. Using the WIC infant and toddler feeding practices study-2, classification and regression tree identified the sequence of binary splits that best differentiated the sample More

Addressing structural racism requires structural solutions. Racial and/or health equity impact assessments (R/HEIAs) help predict how a proposed policy, action, budget, or decision is likely to create, worsen, prevent, or reduce racial inequities. R/HEIAs are similar to fiscal notes or environmental impact assessments except that they focus on racial inequities. They analyze how a proposed More

On 18 April 2024, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published the first food package changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in over a decade, which reduced some food benefits (juice, milk, canned fish, and infant fruits and vegetables) and offered substitutes (cash-value vouchers (CVVs) or cash-value More

Fruit drinks are the top sources of added sugar in young children’s diets, increasing their risk of chronic disease. It is unclear to what extent front-of-package (FOP) marketing and disclosures influence parents’ perceptions of fruit drinks and their intentions and decisions to purchase them. These data are needed to inform regulatory and legal action to More

Given the importance of beverage consumption throughout the lifespan and the need for comprehensive and consistent evidence-based recommendations, Healthy Eating Research (HER) convened an expert panel representing four key national health and nutrition organizations to develop recommendations for beverage consumption consistent with a healthy diet for children and adolescents ages 5 to 18 years. The More