Healthy Characters? An Investigation of Marketing Practices in Children’s Food Advertising

This article assesses the nutritional quality of foods that are advertised with familiar children’s characters. It also examines how frequently familiar characters are paired with health messages in these advertisement. A total of 577 food advertisements that were aired on the most popular broadcast and cable channels during 2011 were included in the study. Researchers More

Impact of the Revised Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food Package Policy on Fruit and Vegetable Prices

In 2009, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was modified to align the WIC food packages with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. As part of the revisions, WIC added a fruit and vegetable (F/V) voucher to the food packages. This paper describes a quasi-experimental study that examined whether F/V More

A Model to Drive Research-Based Policy Change: Improving the Nutritional Quality of Emergency Food

This article discusses the process a nonprofit policy advocacy organization (California Food Policy Advocates) and an academic research center (Center for Weight and Health at University of California, Berkeley) went through to develop policy and practice recommendations aimed at improving the nutritional quality of emergency foods. In February 2012, these two organizations convened a one-day More

Improving the Nutritional Quality of Emergency Food: A Study of Food Bank Organizational Culture, Capacity, and Practices

This paper highlights the results of a national online survey of 137 U.S. food banks and qualitative interviews with senior staff at six California food banks in 2011 regarding the current state of food banks’ nutrition-related organizational culture, capacity, and practices. Researchers found that the majority of U.S. food banks reported having a substantial level More

Improving Healthy Eating Among Children Through Changes in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Policies: An Economic Microsimulation

Over 10 million children participate in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Recent proposed policy changes have suggested banning or taxing the use of SNAP benefits for sugar-sweetened beverage purchases and/or subsidizing fruit and vegetable purchases with SNAP benefits. Several uncertainties about these proposed policies remain unanswered: 1) How will substitution of some products More

Nutritional Quality at Eight U.S. Fast-Food Chains: 14-Year Trends

This article assesses trends in the nutritional quality of menu offerings in eight U.S. fast-food restaurant chains from 1997/1998 to 2009/2010. Researchers calculated Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005 scores for each restaurant as a measure of the extent to which menu offerings were consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and compared the scores over time. More

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