Competitive foods are foods and beverages that compete with school meal programs. They are sold through vending machines, a la carte cafeteria lines, school stores and other venues. Given that the foods and beverages available in schools have a significant impact on children’s diets and their weight, it is important to understand how competitive foods More
This study examined 151 written district school wellness policies in Connecticut and found that significant improvement in school-level implementation of policies was reported after written policies were adopted. Stronger and more comprehensive written policies predicted significantly greater implementation of practices and policies at the school level. Some sociodemographic characteristics predicted the strength of wellness policies. More
In a 2005 report, “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?”, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) expert committee concluded that prevailing food and beverage marketing practices did not support a healthful diet and provided recommendations for diverse stakeholders to promote a healthful diet to children and adolescents. This paper reviews the available evidence More
Children and adolescents are not consuming enough water. Since children spend most of their day in school and child care settings, ensuring that safe, potable water is available in these settings is essential. This article identifies challenges that limit access to drinking water, including deteriorating drinking water infrastructure, limited drinking water availability, insufficient federal meal More
Few U.S. studies have investigated school drinking water access and policies and practices related to school drinking water. This project will investigate drinking water availability, policies and practices, and barriers to implementing programs and policies to improve drinking water access and intake in California public schools. If pending California state legislation to improve drinking water More
Point-of-purchase nutrition labeling policies are proposed as a mechanism to increase awareness of nutrient content, modify food selection decisions, reduce selections of energy dense foods and increase selections of nutrient dense foods. School meal programs offer an opportunity to extend these benefits to children, especially lower-income children, but there has been little research to support More
This paper examines student-involvement goals in local wellness policies by analyzing the characteristics of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania. Researchers found that the majority of LEAs in Pennsylvania included policy goals that address student involvement in various activities related to wellness policy, food service and role modeling. LEAs with comprehensive and strong policies were More
This paper describes the initial influence of Local Wellness Policies (LWPs) on the school nutrition environments and policies in lower-income, rural Colorado elementary schools. Overall, the researchers found that the LWPs were weakly worded and rarely addressed energy content, but researchers observed three improvements after the LWP mandate went into effect: 1) an increase in More
The Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT) is an online evaluation of school wellness policies that address nutrition education and promotion, physical activity/physical education, school meals and competitive foods. It is the first instrument of its kind, providing a quantitative assessment that can be used to track progress over time.
Health Affairs published a special issue focusing on the childhood obesity epidemic and the local, state, and federal policy approaches that could have greatest impact for helping to reverse it. The March 2010 publication, which discusses findings from dozens of studies, includes articles from three Healthy Eating Research grantees: Claudia Probart, PhD, RD, Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, ScD, More
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