UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

Despite existing policies and programs, significant gaps remain for achieving equity in nutrition security across the life span. In this policy statement, recommendations for expanding and improving current food assistance policies and programs to achieve nutrition security are presented. Future advocacy, innovation, and research will be needed to expand existing food assistance policies and programs and to develop and implement new policies and programs that will improve cardiovascular health and reduce disparities in chronic disease.

Full citation: Thorndike, A.N., Gardner, C.D.,  Kendrick, K.B., Seligman, H.K., Yaroch, A.L, Gomes, A.V., Ivy, K.N.,  Scarmo, S., Cotwright, C.J., & Schwartz, M.B. (2022). Strengthening US Food Policies and Programs to Promote Equity in Nutrition Security: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation, https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001072

The current study examined factors associated with caregivers’ provision of sweetened drinks to their young child. An online cross-sectional survey of U.S. caregivers (n 1763) with a young child (ages 1–5) was conducted. Results showed the majority (74 %) of caregivers provided sweetened fruit-flavoured drinks to their child in the past month; 26 % provided them daily. Moreover, misunderstanding of product healthfulness and other marketing attributes contribute to frequent provision of sweetened drinks to young children.

Full citation: Choi, Y. Y., Jensen, M. L., Fleming-Milici, F., & Harris, J. L. (2022). Caregivers’ provision of sweetened fruit-flavoured drinks to young children: importance of perceived product attributes and differences by socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics. Public Health Nutrition, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980022000751

A qualitative formative approach was used to explore food pantry clients’ needs, preferences, and recommendations regarding food received from food pantries. Fifty adult clients of six Arkansas food pantries were interviewed in English, Spanish, or Marshallese. Three themes emerged: clients need increased quantities of food, particularly more proteins and dairy; clients desire higher quality food, including healthy food and food not close to expiration; and clients desire familiar foods and food appropriate for their health needs.

Full citation: Long, C.R., Bailey, M.M., Cascante, D.C., Purvis, R.S., Rowland, B., Faitak, B.M., Gittelsohn, J., Caspi, C.E., English, E.S. and McElfish, P.A .(2022). Food Pantry Clients’ Needs, Preferences, and Recommendations for Food Pantries: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2022.2058334

Childcare settings are important environments for influencing child eating and physical activity. This study assessed the efficacy of the cluster-randomized trial, Healthy Start/Comienzos Sanos (2015–2019) in family childcare homes (FCCH) on diet quality and physical activity. Results showed the multicomponent Healthy Start intervention was effective in improving diet quality and sedentary behavior of children in FCCH, which demonstrates the promise of obesity prevention interventions in this setting.

Full citation:Gans, K.M., Tovar, A., Kang, A., Ward, D.S., Stowers, K.C., von Ash, T., Dionne, L., Papandonatos, G.D., Mena, N., Jiang, Q. and Risica, P.M.(2022). A multi-component tailored intervention in family childcare homes improves diet quality and sedentary behavior of preschool children compared to an attention control: results from the Healthy Start-Comienzos Sanos cluster randomized trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 19(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-022-01272-6

Research suggests that many parents make comments about their child’s weight, which is associated with negative adolescent health outcomes. The present study carried out a comprehensive investigation of two diverse samples of U.S. parents (n = 1936) and adolescents (n = 2032), who completed questionnaires about their experiences and perspectives of parental weight communication. Although the majority of parents communicated positive messages of body diversity and respect, 44% and 63% of adolescents said they never want their mothers and fathers, respectively, to talk about their weight. Findings have implications for health professionals working with families to promote supportive health communication at home.

Full citation: Puhl, R. M., Lessard, L. M., Foster, G. D., & Cardel, M. I. (2022). A Comprehensive Examination of the Nature, Frequency, and Context of Parental Weight Communication: Perspectives of Parents and Adolescents. Nutrients, 14(8), 1562. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14081562

Accurately estimating portion sizes remains a challenge in dietary assessment. The current study examined the accuracy of portion size estimation by women with low incomes who completed 24-hour dietary recalls using the online Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24) in the Food and Eating Assessment STudy (FEAST) II. On average across foods and beverages, reported portion sizes were 7.4 grams and 6.4 grams higher than observed portion sizes in the independent and assisted conditions, respectively.

Full citation: Kirkpatrick, S.I., Guenther, P.M., Durward, C., Douglass, D., Zimmerman, T.P., Kahle, L.L., Atoloye, A.T., Marcinow, M.L., Savoie-Roskos, M.R., Herrick, K.A. and Dodd, K.W. (2022). The accuracy of portion size reporting on self-administered online 24-hour dietary recalls among women with low incomes. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2022.03.018

Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) regularly publishes a list of products that meet its revised nutrition criteria and that companies indicate may be advertised to children under age 12. The UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health evaluated the nutrition quality of the products that were included on this list as of August 2020. Overall, CFBAI is failing to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, which negatively impacts their food preferences, diets, and health.

Full citation: Jensen, M. L., McCann, M., Fleming-Milici, F., Mancini, S., & Harris, J. L. (2022). FACTS 2022 In Brief Food industry self-regulation: Changes in nutrition of foods and drinks that may be advertised to children. UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health. https://uconnruddcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2909/2022/05/CFBAI-Two_Pager_Revised.pdf

In the United States, food and beverage companies have voluntarily pledged to limit unhealthy food advertising to children through industry self-regulatory programs, such as the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). Previous analyses of the CFBAI have identified limitations in its effectiveness at protecting children from unhealthy food marketing and recommended improvements, including stricter nutrition standards. This report shows there are few meaningful improvements to the food and beverages marketed to children based on the CFBAI Revised Nutrition Criteria in 2020, and several issues continue to limit the effectiveness of the CFBAI to better protect children from exposure to unhealthy food marketing.

Full citation: Jensen, M. L., McCann, M., Fleming-Milici, F., Mancini, S., & Harris, J. L. (2022). FACTS 2022 Food industry self-regulation: Changes in nutrition of foods and drinks that may be advertised to children. UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health. https://uconnruddcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2909/2022/05/FACTS2022-Full-Report.pdftps://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab151

Few studies to date have examined the degree to which school policies represent a comprehensive and integrated approach to creating safe, healthy, and supportive school environments. Fifty-four Connecticut public school districts’ policies were evaluated using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model to assess areas of strength and need. School district policy coverage of the WSCC model within Connecticut varies by domain and is often fragmented, showing the need for more comprehensive and coordinated efforts.

Full citation: McKee, S. L., Thorne, T., Koslouski, J. B., Chafouleas, S. M., & Schwartz, M. B. (2022). Assessing district policy alignment with the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model in Connecticut, 2019 to 2020. Journal of School Health. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13183

Family members are some of the most common sources of weight stigma reported by youth and adults with higher body weight; however, little is known about the ways in which weight stigma manifests from different family members. To better understand the nature of weight stigma by family members, the current study qualitatively examined women’s retrospective accounts of these experiences. Participants were 410 U.S. adult women engaged in a commercial weight management program who described an experience of weight stigma by a family member in response to an open-ended survey question.

Full citation: Lawrence S.E., Puhl R.M., Schwartz M., Watson R.J. & Foster G.D. (2022) “The most hurtful thing I’ve ever experienced”: A qualitative examination of the nature of experiences of weight stigma by family members. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100073