State: National

Child Care as an Untapped Setting for Obesity Prevention: State Child Care Licensing Regulations Related to Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Media Use for Preschool-Aged Children in the United States

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There are 8.6 million preschool-aged children enrolled in child-care facilities in the United States. The licensing regulations for these facilities in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, and media use (e.g., television, videos, computers) show that there are many potential opportunities to prevent obesity among these children.

Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School: 5-Year Update

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Elementary school children in communities with high produce prices are more likely to gain weight than those areas with low produce costs, according to a study published in Public Health. The study, Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School: 5-year Update, showed that children who lived in the 15 areas where fruits and vegetables More

The Federal Child Nutrition Commodity Program: A Report on Nutritional Quality

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This report found that school districts fail to take advantage of healthier foods offered by the federal child nutrition commodity program, despite improvements in the nutritional quality of foods offered to schools by USDA. The study found that, in California, meat and cheese products accounted for more than 82% of the dollars spent on commodity More

The Effect of Soft Drink Availability in Elementary Schools on Consumption

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A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association finds that limiting the availability of soft drinks in elementary schools may not significantly affect overall soda consumption by children. The study found that limiting soft drink availability in elementary schools was associated with only a 4 percent reduced likelihood of any consumption in the More

Evaluating Nutrition Policies and Practices in U.S. Secondary Schools

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This aim of this work is to evaluate disparities in school-level nutrition policies and practices across the U.S. More specifically, the objective of this research is to (a) determine the prevalence of school-level nutrition policies and practices in a large sample of schools across multiple states stratified by school-level socioeconomic status, geographic location, and racial/ethnic More

Assessing How Agricultural Policy Can Be Changed to Help Farmers Succeed in Producing and Distributing Healthy Food to Children and Their Communities

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This project will identify laws and policies affecting production and distribution of healthier foods to local communities’ schools, institutions, farmers’ markets, and grocery stores. It will analyze policies that currently discourage farmers from producing and distributing healthy foods, and identify policies that could encourage farmers to produce and distribute healthy foods in a community-based system, More

Examining Higher and Lower Income Household Food Purchasing Behavior and Whether It May Be Responsible for Childhood Obesity

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This project will examine the extent to which household food purchasing behavior differs between higher- and lower-income households and whether these differences may be partly responsible for socioeconomic differences in childhood obesity. In addition, investigators will use econometric models of household food purchases to simulate the extent to which pricing policies, such as taxes on More

Reviewing Current State Child Care Regulations Related to Healthy Eating and Developing Model Healthy Eating Regulations

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The overall goal of this project is to develop relevant, evidence-based resources to guide the creation or revision of state-level child care regulations aimed at promoting healthy eating. Investigators will systematically review and categorize data on state regulations for child-care centers and family child-care homes, and states will receive a ‘report card’ outlining their grade More