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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
December 2025
From Policy to Plate: Implications of 2025 U.S. Federal Policy Changes on School Meals
School meals are a cornerstone of the United States’ nutrition safety net for children from low-income families, providing nearly 30 million lunches daily. However, recent U.S. policy actions may limit access to school meals for children who need them most. This commentary, published in the Nutrients Special Issue The Influence of School Meals on Children More
December 2025
Ultra-Processed Foods in School Meals: Challenges and Opportunities
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are ubiquitous in the U.S. food supply, while growing evidence shows that UPFs harm children’s health. Schools offer a promising setting to introduce UPF regulation and reduce the availability of UPFs. This brief explores the issue of UPFs in school meals and identifies opportunities and challenges to replace UPFs with more fresh More
November 2025
The implications of banning synthetic food dyes on the food purchase quality of families with children
This study examines how removing synthetic dyes from the food supply impacts the nutritional quality of grocery purchases among families with children, focusing on the 7 dyes targeted by FDA for phase-out by the end of 2026 (some of which are required (i.e., red dye #3), while the removal of others are voluntary). Aim 1 More
November 2025
Measuring the impact of charitable food program cuts on the nutritional quality of foods
This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will More