State: Connecticut

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

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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

Marketing of sugar-sweetened children’s drinks and parents’ misperceptions about benefits for young children

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Despite expert recommendations, U.S. parents often serve sugar-sweetened children’s drinks, including sweetened fruit-flavored drinks and toddler milks, to young children. This qualitative research explored parents’ understanding of common marketing tactics used to promote these drinks and whether they mislead parents to believe the drinks are healthy and/or necessary for children. We conducted nine focus groups More

Understanding and increasing water availability and accessibility in family child care homes to improve young children’s water and sugary beverage intake

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This study seeks to explore the barriers, facilitators, and feasible strategies to increase drinking water access, availability, and intake in family childcare homes (FCCH). Specific aims include: (1) Conduct provider focus groups to determine barriers and strategies to improve water access/intake in FCCH; (2) Conduct intervention pilot with 40 providers operating FCCH in low income More

Prioritizing Health in State ESSA Plans and Report Cards to Support the Whole Child

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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law on December 10, 2015, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. ESSA created an opportunity to broaden accountability beyond traditional subjects, such as math, to potentially focus on health and wellness in schools. States could select health and wellness-related indicators, and identify strategies More

Predictors of Nutrition Quality in Early Child Education Settings in Connecticut

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This study assessed the dietary quality of lunches and feeding practices in Connecticut child care centers and made comparisons by center participation in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Specifically, overall energy, macronutrient intake, and intake by CACFP meal component were compared with CACFP requirements and recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. More

Consumer Underestimation of Sodium in Fast Food Restaurant Meals: Results From a Cross-Sectional Observational Study

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Restaurants are key venues for reducing sodium intake in the United States but little is known about consumer perceptions of sodium in restaurant foods. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the accuracy of consumer estimates of sodium in restaurant meals. In 2013 and 2014, meal receipts and questionnaires were collected from adults More

Prioritizing Transportation Equity through Complete Streets

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Complete Streets is a transportation and design concept in which streets are designed to be safe and accessible to all users and modes of transportation. This report summarizes findings from a qualitative study of eight communities that had identified equity as a priority in their Complete Streets policy to identify how equity is being implemented More

Testing Variations on Family-Style Feeding To Increase Whole Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Preschoolers in Child Care

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National data show that preschool-age children in the U.S. do not eat the recommended amount of whole fruit and vegetables (FV). Child-care settings are an important place to influence children’s diets, since over 80 percent of preschool-age children receive care outside the home, and many children eat most of their meals while in child care. More

Assessing Nutrition Quality in CACFP Participating Child-Care Centers Prior to Implementation of Revised Meal Patterns

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In January 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a proposed rule detailing potential changes to the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) regulations, which are expected to improve the nutritional quality of foods served in CACFP-participating child-care centers. This study will collect baseline data for Connecticut CACFP-participating child-care centers to document More