The majority of U.S. children are placed in some form of non-parental care during their preschool years, in arrangements such as child-care centers and family child-care homes, preschools, and Head Start programs. These early care and education settings provide numerous opportunities to promote healthy eating at a young age, when dietary habits are forming. Compared to research regarding schools, there has been limited research to date about federal, state, and local policies and practices that affect food choices or offerings in these settings. This research aims to identify policy and environmental changes for the child-care and preschool settings that can help prevent childhood obesity.
Fast Fact
Early Childhood
Research & Publications
June 2019
Engaging Fathers in Early Obesity Prevention During the First 1,000 Days: Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Strategies
Fathers are critical stakeholders in childhood obesity prevention but are difficult to engage. This review presents a new approach to engaging fathers in obesity prevention during the first 1,000 days. The review focuses on five existing health and social service programs, including prenatal care, pediatric care, the Special Supplemental Nutrition … More
April 2019
Parental and Provider Perceptions of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Interventions in the First 1,000 Days: A Qualitative Study
Novel approaches to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption during the first 1,000 days – pregnancy through age 2 years – are urgently needed. This study examined perceptions of SSB consumption and acceptability of potential intervention strategies to promote SSB avoidance in low income families in the first 1,000 days. Themes … More
March 2019
The Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions for Reducing Obesity among Young Children through Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Screen Time
Early childhood is an important period for interventions to prevent obesity, before poor diet and physical activity behaviors become entrenched and related chronic diseases develop. To date there are still few programs that have been evaluated using experimental study designs that demonstrate impacts on young children’s weight. As a result, … More
March 2019
Studying the Impact of Ecological Momentary Interventions on Sugary-Beverage Consumption by Children Through Age 2 in Low-Income Families
The first 1,000 days describes the period from pre-pregnancy through age 2 years, and is increasingly recognized as a critical period for development of childhood obesity. The overall goal of this study is to test mobile technology-based ecologic momentary interventions (EMIs) to deliver policy-relevant health messages among families living in … More