Using Rewards-Based Incentives to Increase Purchase of Fruit and Vegetables in Lower-Income Households: Design and Start-Up of a Randomized Trial

This paper reports the design and baseline results of a rewards-based incentive program–the Frequent Buyer Rewards Study–in a large full-service supermarket located in a predominately minority community in Philadelphia, Penn. The Frequent Buyer Rewards Study is a four-phase randomized trial designed to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables in lower-income households. Baseline data indicates More

Soda Tax Debates in California: How Were They Framed?

The purpose of this project is to understand public debates regarding proposed local soda taxes based on experiences during 2012 in the cities of Richmond and El Monte, California, so that future ballot initiatives might better anticipate what to expect when sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are presented to local voters. News media content and online More

Convenience Stores are the Key Food Environment Influence on Nutrients Available from Household Food Supplies in Texas Border Colonias

This paper examines spatial access to retail food stores, including traditional (supercenters, supermarkets, grocery stores), convenience (convenience stores and food marts), and non-traditional (dollar stores, discount stores) stores, as well as food shopping habits, and nutrients available in household food supplies among 50 Mexican-origin families residing in Texas border colonias. Researchers found significantly greater access More

Evaluating the Impact of the Veggie Van Program in Underserved Communities on Youths’ Dietary Intake

This study will evaluate an intervention delivered by community partners, the “Veggie Van” mobile market, a van service that sells weekly boxes of reduced-cost, fresh, North Carolina-grown fruits and vegetables and provides nutrition education, taste testing, and cooking demonstrations. Specific aims of the study are to: 1) determine the impact of the Veggie Van on More

Planning for Food Access and Community-Based Food Systems: A National Scan and Evaluation of Local Comprehensive and Sustainability Plans

This report evaluates current local comprehensive and sustainability plans across the United States and their impact on local policies, regulations, and standards to reduce food access disparities and improve community-based foods systems. Of 888 local government responses to a national web-based survey, only 11.8 percent of respondents (105 jurisdictions) indicated that their local plans address More

Evidence for Validity of Five Secondary Data Sources for Enumerating Retail Food Outlets in Seven American Indian Communities in North Carolina

This study compared the results of direct, on-site observations of a wide range of food outlets in multiple American Indian communities in North Carolina, without a list guiding the field observation, to several secondary data sources. Researchers identified 699 food outlets during primary on-site data collection. The match rate for primary and secondary data differed More

Obesity Prevention and National Food Security: A Food Systems Approach

Although food insecurity and obesity have historically been viewed as separate public health issues, there is growing interest in the seemingly contradictory association between these two issues. In this paper, authors discuss the findings from research examining associations between food insecurity and obesity in the U.S. and the need for greater synergy between food insecurity More

Fruit and Vegetable Availability and Selection: Federal Food Package Revisions, 2009

This article describes the results of a study that examined changes in fruit and vegetable (FV) availability and selection at Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) vendors before and after implementation of the 2009 revised WIC food packages in Illinois. Overall, availability and selection of commonly consumed fresh FV and availability More