UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

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

Adequate nutrition is an essential component of healthy aging. This study documents the quality of diets among older Americans and implications of healthy eating for their physical and mental health. Using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of adults aged ≥50 years, from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) 2010–2016 and food intake data from the 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study (HCNS), the study evaluates the onset of health problems along the spectrum of diet quality measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015.

Full citation: Zhao, H., Andreyeva, T. Diet Quality and Health in Older Americans. Nutrients 2022, 14, 1198. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14061198

In 2019, Healthy Eating Research convened a panel of nutrition, charitable food system and food policy experts to create a set of evidence-based nutrition standards. Standards were developed based on a review of the literature and existing nutrition ranking systems, while also considering the operational needs and capacity of the charitable food system. This paper outlines the expert panel’s approach and summarizes the barriers and opportunities for implementing these standards across the charitable food system.

Full citation: Levi, R., Schwartz, M., Campbell, E., Martin, K., & Seligman, H. (2022). Nutrition standards for the charitable food system: challenges and opportunities. BMC public health,22(1), 495. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12906-6

The USDA summer food programs provide meals for children when school is not in session. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for food distribution programs, many regulations have been waived, providing opportunities for new approaches to meal distribution. The aim of this study was to identify practices designed to increase program participation during the summer of 2021.

Full citation: Bennett BL, Gans KM, Burkholder K, Esposito J, Warykas SW, Schwartz MB. Distributing Summer Meals during a Pandemic: Challenges and Innovations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(6):3167. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063167

Weight-based disparities in mental health impair the well-being of youth with overweight and obesity, who comprise a growing majority of young people in the United States. This review summarizes research regarding the extent of weight-based disparities in youth mental health and describes the social underpinnings of these disparities across contexts.

Full citation: Lessard L., Lawrence S. Weight-Based Disparities in Youth Mental Health: Scope, Social Underpinnings, and Policy Implications. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2022; Vol. 9(1) 49–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/23727322211068018

Despite expert recommendations, US 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.

Full citation: Fleming‐Milici, F., Phaneuf, L., & Harris, J. L. (2022). Marketing of sugar‐sweetened children’s drinks and parents’ misperceptions about benefits for young children. Maternal & Child Nutrition, e13338. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13338