This award will support a natural experiment that will (1) examine the change in free drinking water access in Food Service Areas in California public schools from before to after Senate Bill 1413/Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act implementation; (2) assess changes in the proportion of schools with excellent water access and barriers and facilitators to providing excellent water access in a subsample of schools that have excellent and poor water access; and (3) investigate the addition of water language to district wellness policies over the past five years and if the strength/comprehensiveness of water language in the district wellness policy correlates with excellence in water access at the school.
Examining Policies Providing Access to Free Water in Schools and the Health Impact of an Alternative to Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Start Date: December 2015
ID #: 73248
Principal Investigator: Anisha Patel, MD, MSPH, MSHS
Organization: Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
Funding Round: Round 9
Focus Areas: Beverages, School & After School
Age Groups: Elementary-age children (grades K to 5), Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8), Adolescents (grades 9 to 12)
Resource Type: Grant Summary
Race/Ethnicity: Multi-racial/ethnic
State: California
Keywords: Food service, Nutrition standards, School meal programs, School wellness policies, Sugar-sweetened beverages, Water
Related Research
September 2020
Drinking water access in California schools: Room for improvement following implementation of school water policies
This study aimed to investigate how access to free drinking water in California public schools changed after implementation of 2010 federal and state school water policies. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted with administrators in a random sample of California public schools, stratified by school type and urban-centric geography, from 2010 … More
September 2020
Schools Find Success in Reducing Sodium in Meals
Strong nutrition standards for school meals, consistent with evidence-based recommendations, position children for optimal health and wellbeing. Strong science supports the link between lowering sodium intake and better health. This new issue brief from Healthy Eating Research examines the recent history of sodium standards for school meals. It highlights current sodium intake … More
September 2020
Urban School Food Infrastructure: Current Issues, Challenges, and Solutions
In the next year, an estimated 1 in 4 children will experience food insecurity (up from 1 in 6, pre-pandemic), disproportionately impacting children in low-income households and racial/ethnic minorities. To mediate loss of school meals during closures and reduce COVID-19 exposure, Congress authorized the USDA to permit local education authorities … More