Research & Publications | Healthy Eating Research

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Promoting Healthier Purchases: Ultraprocessed Food Taxes and Minimally Processed Foods Subsidies for the Low Income

Fiscal policies can shift relative food prices to encourage the purchase and consumption of minimally processed foods while discouraging the purchase and consumption of unhealthy ultraprocessed foods, high in calories and nutrients of concern (sodium, sugar, and saturated fats), especially for low-income households. The 2017–2018 packaged food purchase data among U.S. households were used to More

Date: April 2024

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Pricing & Economics

Centering equity in FDA regulation: Front-of-package food label effects in Latino and limited English proficiency populations

This project aims to determine the front-of-package label design that is most effective at helping Latino consumers identify and choose healthier products. The project also aims to explore whether the benefits of front-of-package design differ by English proficiency. Participants will include 4,000 US adults of parental age (18-55 years old) who identify as Latino. Participants More

Date: March 2024

Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary

Focus Areas: Beverages Food Marketing

Effects of front-of-package non-sugar sweetener disclosures on parents’ perceptions and selection of sweetened food and beverage products for their children

The project aims to use an online randomized experiment to 1) evaluate the impact of front-of-package (FOP) non-sugar sweetener (NSS) disclosures on a) parents’ selection of unsweetened products and b) parents’ selection of products with NSS and use focus group discussions to 2) examine parents’ understanding and perceptions of NSS and FOP NSS disclosures, 3) More

Date: February 2024

Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary

Focus Areas: Beverages Food Marketing

Evaluating the impact of state-level economic-support policies on the nutritional health of kids and families

To address ongoing concerns of child poverty across the United States, states have introduced and modified family economic security policies related to the state minimum wage (MW) and state earned income tax credit (EITC). While poor nutritional health disproportionately impacts children who experience poverty, few studies have examined the potentially beneficial effects of state-level MW More

Date: November 2023

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Areas: Diet Quality & Healthy Weight Food Access Pricing & Economics

Effects of a front-of-package disclosure on accuracy in assessing children’s drink ingredients: two randomised controlled experiments with US caregivers of young children

This study aimed to test the effects of a standardized front-of-package (FOP) disclosure statement (indicating added sugar, non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) and juice content) on accuracy in assessing ingredients and perceived healthfulness of children’s drinks. In two randomized controlled experiments, the same participants (six hundred and forty-eight U.S. caregivers of young children ages 1-5 years) viewed More

Date: November 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Beverages Food Marketing

Advertising and Stocking at Small Retailers: A Sweetened Beverage Excise Tax in Philadelphia

In 2017, Philadelphia enacted a $0.015 per ounce excise tax on SBs that covered both sugar-sweetened beverages and artificially-sweetened beverages, which reduced purchasing and consumption. This study assessed whether the tax also changed beverage advertising or stocking practices that could influence consumer behavior among stores in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Philadelphia-adjacent counties not subject to the More

Date: September 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Beverages Pricing & Economics

Increasing Water Affordability Through State Sales Tax Policy on Home Water Filter Pitchers and Replacement Cartridges

This study will compile sales tax rates for water filter pitchers, comparably priced faucet-mounted filters and replacement filter cartridges. One legal researcher will conduct primary legal research of state law for all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico using the legal databases Westlaw and LexisNexis. Tax rates will be verified by changing More

Keywords: Taxes, Water

Date: July 2023

Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary

Focus Areas: Beverages Pricing & Economics

Toddler milk: a scoping review of research on consumption, perceptions, and marketing practices

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

Date: May 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Beverages Early Childhood Food Marketing

Reducing Student Exposure to Digital Food and Beverage Marketing: Policy and Practice Recommendations

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents is pervasive, highly effective, undermines healthy eating, and contributes to health inequities. Expanded use of electronic devices and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency for policy interventions to limit digital food marketing in schools and on school-issued devices. The US More

Keywords: Digital marketing

Date: March 2023

Resource Type: Journal Article

Focus Areas: Food Marketing School & After School

Reducing Student Exposure to Digital Food and Beverage Marketing

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents is pervasive and undermines healthy eating. During the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ time spent online for both recreation and school using educational technology doubled from 3.8 to 7.7 hours per day for 12- to13-year-olds, and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities widened with children of color More

Keywords: Digital marketing

Date: July 2022

Resource Type: Report

Focus Areas: Food Marketing School & After School