Reducing Student Exposure to Digital Food and Beverage Marketing: Policy and Practice Recommendations

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents is pervasive, highly effective, undermines healthy eating, and contributes to health inequities. Expanded use of electronic devices and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency for policy interventions to limit digital food marketing in schools and on school-issued devices. The US More

Evaluation of U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods Programs for Households Using Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods programs for households are designed to provide nutritious foods at no cost to income-eligible individuals in the United States. Our aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of the foods available from 3 USDA Foods programs for households (ie, The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian More

Healthy Snacks and Drinks for Toddlers: A Qualitative Study of Caregivers’ Understanding of Expert Recommendations and Perceived Barriers to Adherence

Despite expert recommendations, most toddlers consume sugary drinks and more sweet and salty snack foods than fruits and vegetables as snacks. Studies have examined toddler caregivers’ reasons for providing sugary drinks, but few have examined the reasons for providing nutritionally poor snack foods. Researchers conducted focus groups in one low-income community to assess caregivers’ familiarity, More

Evaluation of WIC Online Ordering during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from an Oklahoma Grocery Store Chain

The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the disparities in food access in the United States. As consumers have been increasingly using grocery online ordering services to limit their exposure to the COVID-19 virus, participants of federal nutrition assistance programs lack the online benefit redemption option. With the support of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), retailers More

Policy, system, and environmental interventions addressing obesity and diet-related outcomes in early childhood education settings: A systematic review

Early childhood education (ECE) settings play an important role in child dietary intake and excess weight gain. Policy, systems, and environment (PSE) approaches have potential to reduce disparities in children at higher risk for obesity. The purpose of this review was to (1) characterize the inclusion of populations at higher risk for obesity in ECE More

A Systematic Review of Marketing Practices Used in Online Grocery Shopping: Implications for WIC Online Ordering

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) plans to allow participants to redeem their food package benefits online, i.e., online ordering. As grocery shopping online has become more common, companies have developed strategies to market food products to customers using online (or mobile) grocery shopping platforms. There is a significant knowledge More

Protecting Low-Income Consumers in the Era of Digital Grocery Shopping: Implications for WIC Online Ordering

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is now expected to allow participants to redeem their food benefits online, i.e., via online ordering, rather than only in-store. However, it is unclear how this new benefit redemption model may impact participants’ welfare since vendors may have an asymmetric information advantage compared with More

Encouraging Healthier Food and Beverage Purchasing and Consumption: A Review of Interventions within Grocery Retail Settings

This review identifies the most promising intervention strategies for promoting the purchase and consumption of healthier items within U.S. grocery retail settings, with a particular focus on those strategies that may be most effective when implemented within SNAP-authorized retail settings. Searches of nine electronic databases, as well as forward and backward searches, yielded 1942 studies. More

Experiences pertaining to child nutrition and care provision among early care and education stakeholders, sponsors, and center directors during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-method study

This study used multiple methods (interviews, survey) to assess the experiences of stakeholders, sponsors, and center-based early care and education (ECE) program directors pertaining to child nutrition and the provision of child-care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected across four states. Thematic analyses of interviews and descriptive methods were used to analyze the data More

Integration and coordination across public benefit programs: Insights from state and local government leaders in the United States

Identifying opportunities for program linkages and coordinating service delivery is critical to increasing program access, improving the experience of participating families, and, ultimately, improving health equity. This study provides an updated analysis of in-depth qualitative perspectives from state-level stakeholders on facilitators and barriers to integrated program enrollment across public benefit programs with a focus on More