Research & Publications | Healthy Eating Research

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State Earned Income Tax Credit and Food Security: Results Among Economically At-Risk Households With Children

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the state Earned Income Tax Credit on food insecurity among economically at-risk U.S. households with children and explore differential effects across sociodemographic groups. The authors used an intent-to-treat causal inference design and household-level data from all 50 U.S. states available from the Current Population More

Date: July 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Pricing & Economics

Community Engaged Research Strategies Used in Food Retail Interventions: A Scoping Review

The purpose of this scoping review is to identify what community engagement (CE) research approaches have been applied by researchers in the retail food environment (RFE) intervention literature and how they vary by type of retail settings, phase of intervention, year of intervention, and key domains of equity. A total of 98 RFE interventions reported More

Date: June 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Retail

Implementation Insights and Equity: Considerations for Summer EBT in 2024

In 2024, the US Department of Agriculture introduced a new federal nutrition initiative, the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program—also known as SUN Bucks. This program offers grocery benefits to low-income families with children during the summer months to help address gaps in summer food assistance. In 2024, 37 states, all 5 US territories, and More

Keywords: Food insecurity

Date: May 2025

Resource Type: Report

Focus Areas: Food Access

State Minimum Wage and Food Insecurity Among US Households With Children

This study aimed to assess whether state minimum wage generosity was associated with change in food insecurity among households with children and explore differential policy impacts across sociodemographic groups. This cross-sectional study of a national sample of US households from the Current Population Survey used a 2-way fixed effects modeling approach to test whether increases More

Date: March 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Pricing & Economics

More States and Sponsors Are Providing Grab-and-Go Meals to Children during Summer

In 2023, to respond to increased rates of child food insecurity during the summer Congress authorized states to opt in to allowing noncongregate, or “grab-and-go,” summer meal services for students in rural areas. In the summer of 2023, 46 states and DC opted in, and in the summer of 2024 all 50 states and DC More

Date: February 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access School & After School

Beyond Food Assistance: A Scoping Review Examining Associations of Nonfood Social Safety Net Programs in the United States With Food Insecurity and Nutrition Outcomes

This scoping review aims to summarize the state of the evidence on associations between participation in nonfood social safety net programs (eg, income assistance, housing assistance) in the United States and food- and nutrition insecurity–related outcomes. Six databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles. Included articles (n = 65) reported on studies that examined 10 unique social More

Date: January 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Access Healthy Communities

Simulated retail food environments: A literature review of systems science approaches to advance equity in access to healthy diets

As researchers increasingly utilize systems science simulation modeling (SSSM), little is known about how and by whom SSSMs are being leveraged to address inequities in access to healthy diets. We evaluated the extent to which studies (n = 66) employing SSSM to examine retail food environments (RFEs): included three pillars of equity (social position, human capital, socioeconomic More

Keywords: Grocery store

Date: January 2025

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Retail

Understanding how changes to the Community Eligibility Provision’s threshold impacts school meals

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) eligibility expansion intends to offer benefits to more students, yet leaders of eligible districts may choose not to apply for CEP to avoid related fiscal challenges, such as covering the cost of meals and potential loss of state aid. This project is the first to examine characteristics of the eligible More

Date: November 2024

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: School & After School

Examining implementation of universal free school meals in Colorado and the effects on students at highest risk for food and nutrition insecurity

Universal free school meals (UFSMs) can reduce disparities in food and nutrition security by addressing barriers to accessing nutritious food. Eight states have passed permanent UFSMs policies and others are underway; however, existing research mainly considers the effects of UFSMs without examining their implementation. This study aims to: 1) Describe how UFSMs have been implemented More

Date: November 2024

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: School & After School

Updating and synchronizing national measures of school wellness policies and practices

The aim of this project is to update and synchronize two measures: the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT), which is a quantitative measure of written district wellness policies, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index (SHI), which is a self-report measure of school-based practices. The WellSAT and SHI are the leading More

Date: November 2024

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: School & After School