Facts Up Front Versus Traffic Light Food Labels: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The U.S. food and beverage industry recently released a new front-of-package nutrition labeling system called “Facts Up Front” that will be used on thousands of food products. This article discusses the results of a randomized controlled study to test consumer understanding of the Facts Up Front system compared to the Multiple Traffic Light system. The More

Obesity and Food Insecurity at the Same Table: How Head Start Programs Respond

This paper describes the results of the first national study to describe Head Start program practices in three areas: assessing body mass index (BMI), addressing food insecurity, and determining children’s portion sizes. Researchers found that nearly all programs (99.5%) reported obtaining height and weight data, but not all calculated BMI or discussed height and weight More

Observations of Drinking Water Access in School Food Service Areas Before Implementation of Federal and State School Water Policy, California, 2011

This article discusses the results of a study that examined the provision of water and student water consumption in food service areas (FSA) in a random sample of San Francisco, California Bay Area schools. Barriers to and strategies for implementing federal and state drinking water requirements were also examined. Researchers found that 14 of 24 More

Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?

This article examines prominent cases from corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts by soda industry leaders PepsiCo and Coca-Cola and compares them with tobacco industry CSR campaigns. Researchers found that major soda manufacturers have recently employed elaborate, expensive, multinational CSR campaigns. The campaigns echo the tobacco industry’s use of CSR to focus responsibility on consumers rather More

The New Threat of Digital Marketing

This article provides an overview of the growing digital media and marketing landscape, focusing on four developments that are shaping marketing strategies and techniques: 1) the growth of interactive games and increasing sophistication of augmented realities and other immersive features of digital media; 2) the rapid explosion of social media and the emergence of marketing More

Participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program is Associated with More Nutritious Foods and Beverages in Child Care

This article discusses the results of a study that compared foods and beverages served to 2- to 5-year-olds by type of child-care site and participation in the federally-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Results from a statewide survey of California child-care providers suggest that CACFP child-care sites in general, and Head Start centers More

Differential Associations Between the Food Environment Near Schools and Childhood Overweight Across Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Grade

This paper discusses the results of a study that tested whether the associations between franchised fast-food restaurants or convenience store density near schools and childhood overweight varied by race/ethnicity, sex, and grade. Using data for 926,018 racially/ethnically diverse children in fifth, seventh, or ninth grade in 6,362 public California schools, researchers documented four findings in More

Strength and Comprehensiveness of District School Wellness Policies Predict Policy Implementation at the School Level

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

Picturing Obesity: Analyzing the Social Epidemiology of Obesity Conveyed Through U.S. News Media Images

This paper discusses the results of a study which analyzed the images of overweight and obese individuals in Time and Newsweek magazine coverage over a 25-year period (1984-2009), comparing the depictions with the actual national prevalence of obesity within key populations of interest during the same period. Researchers found that over one-third of depicted individuals More