Building a National Research Agenda

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

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

Identifying policy, system, and environment approaches to promoting safe and dignified healthy food access at urban grocery stores

Urban grocery stores are facing operational challenges due to crime and are instituting crime mitigation strategies. These strategies may have unintended consequences that limit healthy food access among families with children and create threats to social dignity. This community-driven study aims to: 1) quantify modifiable community characteristics associated with crime at grocery stores; 2) examine More

Online retail nudges to help parents with lower-income choose healthy beverages for their children: A randomized clinical trial

Nudges offer a promising tool to reduce sugary drink intake among children who are most at risk for diet-related disease. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of online store nudges on purchases of sugary drinks for children in lower-income households. Caregivers with lower-income were recruited to an online shopping experiment and More

Understanding the Chasm in the Diffusion of Online Food Benefit Ordering: A Service Ecosystem Approach

Although consumers used online grocery shopping more frequently to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus during the pandemic, the participants of some federal nutrition assistance programs lacked the option to redeem their food benefits online. Some retailers were pilot-testing online food benefit ordering for the participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, More

Recommendations to Promote Healthy Retail Food Environments: Key Federal Policy Opportunities for the Farm Bill

The goal of this report is to make recommendations for policy, voluntary actions, and research areas to support in-store and online food environments that make healthy food and beverage choices easier for all consumers. All shoppers face barriers to purchasing nutritious food in a retail environment that disproportionately promotes unhealthy food products. However, retail marketing More

Structural racism and geographic access to food retailers in the United States: A scoping review

This scoping review summarized findings and key measures from U.S.-based studies that 1) examined associations between geographic indicators of structural racism (e.g., redlining, racial segregation) and access to food retailers (e.g., supermarkets, convenience stores) or 2) documented disparities in access by neighborhood racial/ethnic composition. In 2022, relevant scientific literature was reviewed using Covidence software. Independent More

Policy Opportunities and Legal Considerations to Reform SNAP-Authorized Food Retail Environments

Research was conducted using Lexis+ to evaluate statutes, regulations, and case law to determine the legal feasibility of requiring retail-based SNAP signage and nutrition disclosures, healthy endcaps and checkout aisles, and tying advertising restrictions to the licensing of SNAP retailers. Requiring retailers that designate certain foods or locations as SNAP-eligible to consistently do so in More