UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concluded that “caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.” Aggressive marketing drives consumption and sales among young people, and a growing body of literature supports the need for energy drink regulations to protect children and teens.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides meals to over 28 million students daily and is a powerful strategy to reduce childhood food insecurity and improve diet quality. The standard “means-tested” approach to pricing provides meals to low-income students at a reduced price or no cost. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal regulations were temporarily changed to allow districts to provide free school meals to all students (i.e., Universal Free School Meals, UFSM), regardless of income.

We collectively pay for public education because we believe that it is our responsibility to our youth – but it’s hard to focus in class when you are hungry. In addition to the health benefits of reducing food insecurity and improving diet quality, UFSM protects our investment in the public education of Connecticut’s children.

As youth mobile device use, including smartphones and tablets, has grown rapidly, even among very young children – time spent on mobile devices among 0-8 year olds increased by over 1000% from 2011-2020 – so has concern about potential negative health consequences. In addition to widespread concerns about impacts on young people’s mental health, social and emotional skill development, and sleep, mobile device use also allows for exposure to marketing of health-harming products, including foods and beverages that increase the risk of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases.

This study estimates how frequently young children, who are particularly vulnerable to advertising, view food and beverage marketing while using mobile devices.

Full Citation: Kenney, E. L., Mozaffarian, R. S., Norris, J., Fleming-Milici, F., & Bleich, S. N. (2024). Estimating young children’s exposure to food and beverage marketing on mobile devices. Current Developments in Nutrition, 104505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104505

A local school wellness policy is a written document that guides local educational agency (LEA) efforts to establish a school environment that promotes students’ health, well-being, and ability to learn. These policies are required for all LEAs that sponsor the USDA National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program. Wellness policies are board-approved documents and are shared with the public.

This guide outlines the steps to create a local school wellness policy, federal requirements, and additional resources for LEAs.

The is a model local school wellness policy (LSWP) developed by the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health based on the language used in LSWPs adopted by school districts in Connecticut and elsewhere in the United States.

This model policy includes strong language for each of the 67 policy topics assessed by the Wellness School Assessment Tool, or WellSAT. WellSAT items are indicated throughout the model policy in red text in square brackets (“[IEC1]”). This allows you to refer back to the tool to determine the important elements of policy language for each item.

Please feel free to adapt this policy to meet the needs of your district.

For youth, weight stigma is most commonly experienced as teasing, bullying, or harassment, which can be referred to as ‘weight-based victimization’. This can include verbal teasing, cyber bullying, physical aggression, or relational victimization (such as being ignored, excluded, or the target of rumors). Across youth of diverse backgrounds, as many as half of girls and one third of boys report being teased or bullied about their body weight. Youth are more likely to be bullied for their weight or physical appearance than because of their race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status. While peers are common perpetrators of weight-based teasing in youth and adolescents,4 parents and family members are also common sources of weight stigma. When youth experience weight teasing from family members, they are more likely to internalize these experiences and engage in self-blame.

It is unknown if parent-targeted health messages about childhood obesity affect parental weight communication with children (e.g., encouraging a child to diet). This randomized, controlled, online experiment assessed the effects of exposure to different message frames on parental intentions to 1) engage in weight communication with their child and, 2) follow the health advice in the message.

Full Citation: Pudney, E. V., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., & Halgunseth, L. C. (2024). The effect of parent-targeted obesity messaging on parental weight talk intention: A randomized controlled experiment. Health Communication, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2386212

What is the association between universal free school meals (UFSMs) and school and student outcomes in US schools?

In this systematic review of 6 studies comprising more than 11 000 schools, implementation of UFSM was associated with increased lunch (3 studies) and breakfast (1 study) participation, no change or modestly improved attendance (2 studies), and decreased obesity prevalence (1 study) and suspensions (1 study). The association with lunch participation had a moderate certainty of evidence, while the other associations had low or very low certainty of evidence.

Full Citation: Spill, M. K., Trivedi, R., Thoerig, R. C., Balalian, A. A., Schwartz, M. B., Gunderson, C., Odoms-Young, A., Racine, E. F., Foster, M. J., Davis, J. S., & MacFarlane, A. J. (2024). Universal Free School Meals and School and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24082

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Congress authorized the US Department of Agriculture to waive a variety of school meal regulations and funded school meals daily for all students at no charge regardless of family income. Because federal Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) ended with the 2021-2022 school year, several states, including California and Maine, adopted state-level UFSM policies.

This study aimed to understand parent perceptions of school meals and the federal and new state UFSM policies in California and Maine, including potential challenges and benefits to students and households

Full Citation: Chapman, L. E., Gosliner, W., Olarte, D. A., Ritchie, L. D., Schwartz, M. B., Polacsek, M., Hecht, C. E., Hecht, K., Turner, L., Patel, A. I., Zuercher, M. D., Read, M., Daly, T. P., & Cohen, J. F. W. (2024). Universal School Meals during the pandemic: A mixed methods analysis of parent perceptions from California and Maine. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2024.05.005

Although school meals provide multiple benefits to students and their families, not all students eat breakfast and lunch at school, even if they are eligible for free or reduced-price meals (FRPM) based on their family income. Because school meals offer better nutrition than other sources of food consumed by US children, maximizing meal participation is a priority. Parents’ or caregivers’ perceptions and beliefs about school meals have been identified as a significant factor affecting student participation in school meals. Thus, this study aimed to assess the association between parent perspectives about the school meal program during the school year (SY) 2021–2022 and school meal participation in the context of UFSM, and whether this association differs by school level or FRPM eligibility.

Full Citation: Zuercher, M. D., Cohen, J. F. W., Hecht, C. A., Hecht, K., Orta-Aleman, D., Patel, A., Olarte, D. A., Chapman, L. E., Read, M., Schwartz, M. B., Ritchie, L. D., & Gosliner, W. (2024). Parent perceptions of school meals influence student participation in school meal programs. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 56(4), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2024.01.003