Establishing healthy beverage patterns during early childhood (ages 0 to 5 years) is important for promoting healthy growth and development in childhood and reducing risk of chronic diseases as an adult. Health care providers play an essential role in identifying and addressing unhealthy beverage consumption patterns in young children and helping families develop healthy beverage More

The Applied Research Framework aims to help external researchers (e.g., academic or nonprofit researchers) plan, communicate, execute and disseminate research related to WIC. This framework provides a checklist to guide research projects, including advice for building relationships with WIC agencies, descriptions of publicly available WIC-related datasets, and more! WIC agencies may also use this framework More

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has well-documented benefits for low-income mothers and children. Yet, coverage of eligible individuals is incomplete, participants do not fully utilize benefits, and dietary disparities persist. It is unknown whether COVID-related changes to WIC, particularly the increase in the value of the fruit and vegetable More

SNAP and WIC benefits increased in 2020-2021 to combat food insecurity due to COVID-19. Understanding these policies’ impact on household food purchase quality is crucial to guide future recommendations for these nutrition assistance programs. This study aims to assess the effect of changes to SNAP and WIC benefits implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on the More

Systematic evaluations based on objective measures and longitudinal data are needed to demonstrate long-term impacts of the WIC fruit and vegetable cash value benefit (CVB) increases instituted in March 2021, especially among populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and experiencing high rates of food insecurity and barriers to WIC participation. This study will assess More

During the COVID-19 pandemic, policies either mitigated or exacerbated inequities in child health. Existing research has focused on evaluating the effects of federal and state COVID-19-related policies; however, understanding the role of local county policies is also critical to informing current and future policymaking to support child nutrition and health. This study will link data More

This study seeks to identify effective food assistance policies based on evidence from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program with regard to child health and health equity. The study will examine whether, how, and for whom, the P-EBT and SNAP emergency allotments impacted food insecurity and health outcomes More

Toddler milk is an ultra-processed beverage consisting primarily of powdered milk, caloric sweeteners, and vegetable oil. Pediatric health authorities do not support the use of toddler milk, and emerging evidence suggests that toddler-milk marketing practices may mislead consumers. However, studies have not synthesized the extent of toddler-milk marketing practices or how these practices affect parents’ More

In 2019, Healthy Eating Research (HER) developed recommendations on what children ages 0 to 5 should drink as part of a healthy diet, in partnership with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Heart Association. Having one set of uniform recommendations provided More

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally-regulated feeding program that reimburses early care and education (ECE) programs for providing nutritious meals to low-income children. Participation in CACFP is voluntary and varies widely across states. This study assessed barriers and facilitators of center-based ECE program participation in CACFP and identified potential strategies More