Keyword: School meal programs

Barriers to Equity in Nutritional Health for U.S. Children and Adolescents: A Review of the Literature

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This review summarizes growing evidence of disparities in the social and physical environments of U.S. children and adolescents that likely contribute to increased risk for obesity and poor nutrition. The review examines literature on disparities in nutrition and healthy food access in school, child-care, and residential neighborhood environments, food production and marketing practices, and cultural More

Is Scratch-Cooking a Cost-Effective Way to Prepare Healthy School Meals with U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods?

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This paper examines whether school lunch entrees made in a district from basic or raw U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods ingredients can be healthier and/or less expensive to prepare than those sent to external processers. Information on the nutritional content and cost to prepare entrees was gathered through interviews with school food service personnel and More

Children’s School-Related Food and Physical Activity Behaviors are Associated with Body Mass Index

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This paper examines the associations between the food and physical activity environment in schools and body mass index (BMI) for lower-income boys and girls when they were in the 8th grade during 2007. Analyzing secondary data from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K), researchers found that a number of More

Evaluating School Wellness Policies Following Implementation of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010: Updating the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT)

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The primary aim of this project is to revise and update the content and format of the WellSAT (Wellness School Assessment Tool, www.wellsat.org), an online quantitative measure for evaluating the quality of school wellness policies. Originally launched in 2009, the website has had thousands of visitors across all 50 states, and is used by policy-makers, More

Examining Student Reactions to Varied Strategies for Presenting and Promoting Healthy and Unhealthy School Lunch Offerings

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The aim of this project is to examine how varied changes to the school food environment affect children’s food choices and dietary intake, lunchroom waste, and overall financial costs. The following environmental interventions will be investigated: 1) removing unhealthy choices from the school lunchroom and promoting the remaining healthy options (Healthy Choices condition); 2) maintaining More

Assessing the Potential Effectiveness of Food and Beverage Taxes and Subsidies for Improving Public Health: A Systematic Review of Prices, Demand and Body Weight Outcomes

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Given the obesity epidemic in the United States, taxes and subsidies are increasingly being considered as potential policy instruments to incentivize consumers to improve their food and beverage consumption patterns and related health outcomes. This paper discusses the results of recent U.S. studies on the price elasticity of demand for sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, and More

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

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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

Obesity Prevention and National Food Security: A Food Systems Approach

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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