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Optimal nutrition is critical for children’s short- and long-term health including maintaining a healthy weight and prevention of chronic diseases, as well as physical development, cognitive development, early learning, and academic success. Many communities across America are changing public policy, community environments, and industry practices to better support healthy eating, physical activity, and healthier choices for kids and families so that all children have a healthy start in life and are able to grow up at a healthy weight. Research in this area focuses on monitoring and improving eating patterns and overweight and obesity trends, and understanding how policies, systems, and environments impact food and beverage choices and weight status.
Research & Publications See all
January 2025
Healthy Beverage Consumption in School-Age Children and Adolescents: Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations
Given the importance of beverage consumption throughout the lifespan and the need for comprehensive and consistent evidence-based recommendations, Healthy Eating Research (HER) convened an expert panel representing four key national health and nutrition organizations to develop recommendations for beverage consumption consistent with a healthy diet for children and adolescents ages 5 to 18 years. The More
January 2025
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
January 2025
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
January 2025
A Systematic Review: The Impact of COVID-19 Policy Flexibilities on SNAP and WIC Programmatic Outcomes
The objective of this study was to explore the impact of policy flexibilities deployed during the COVID-19 public health emergency on access, enrollment/retention, benefit utilization, and perceptions of SNAP and WIC. The review identified 37 eligible articles. Twelve studies evaluated policy flexibilities in SNAP only, 21 in WIC only, and 4 in both programs. Across More