UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

Public health experts raise concerns that extensive exposure to advertising for calorie-dense nutrient-poor food negatively influences adolescents’ diets, but few studies have explored how food advertising affects children over age 12. This study examines adolescents’ attitudes about highly targeted unhealthy food brands and assesses the hierarchical relationship between TV exposure, intermediary measures of advertising effects, and healthy and unhealthy food consumption.

Full citation: Harris J, Sacco S, Fleming-Milici F. TV exposure, attitudes about targeted food ads and brands, and unhealthy consumption by adolescents: Modeling a hierarchical relationship. Appetite. 2022, ISSN 0195-6663, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105804.

Against expert recommendations, sugar-sweetened beverages, especially fruit drinks, are consumed by young children. To assess caregivers’ reasons for serving sweetened fruit-flavored drinks and unsweetened juices to their young children (1–5 y) and perceptions of product healthfulness and drink ingredients, a cross-sectional online survey was administered to caregivers (n = 1614). Participants’ top reasons for providing sweetened drinks included child liking it, being inexpensive, child asking for it, and being a special treat.

Full citation: Jensen, M. L., Choi, Y. Y., Fleming-Milici, F., & Harris, J. L. (2022). Caregivers’ Understanding of Ingredients in Drinks Served to Young Children: Opportunities for Nutrition Education and Improved Labeling. Current Developments in Nutrition, 6(1), https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab151

School meals can play an integral role in improving children’s diets and addressing health disparities. Initiatives and policies to increase consumption have the potential to ensure students benefit from the healthy school foods available. Research evidence supports the following strategies to increase school meal consumption. These findings are based on a paper supported by Healthy Eating Research, 7 a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Negative health consequences of excessive sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption have prompted recommendations for SSB taxation to improve diet and health. Over 40 countries and 8 local US jurisdictions have implemented SSB taxes to date. There is considerable interest in state SSB taxes in the USA, but state-level data on SSB consumption levels is lacking. This article uses proprietary data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation on beverage sales across all US retail channels to estimate state-level per capita SSB purchases in 2021.

Full citation: Andreyeva T., Large State Variation in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Purchases: What We Learn from the Beverage Industry Data, Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 5, Issue 12, December 2021, nzab128, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab128

One in eight people in the U.S. experience food insecurity (FI). To date, the food banking sector has been at the forefront of efforts to address FI, but the healthcare sector is becoming increasingly involved in such efforts. The extent of collaboration between the two sectors remains unclear. We explored food banking stakeholders’ views on the current state of partnerships between the two sectors.

Full citation: Abebe Gurganus E, Marfo NYA, Schwartz MB, Cooksey Stowers K. Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Current Status of Partnerships between the Food Banking and Healthcare Systems to Address Food Insecurity in the U.S. Nutrients. 2021; 13(12):4502. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124502.

Dr. Rebecca Puhl and host Phil Wagner discuss how to identify weight stigma, how best to promote health at every size, what workplaces can do to be more inclusive for people of varying sizes, and more.

This study assesses facilitators and barriers to participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program(CACFP) and estimates foregone federal funds because of CACFP underuse. Foregone federal funding due to CACFP underuse among eligible Connecticut centers was estimated at $30.7 million in 2019, suggesting that 20,300 young children from low-income areas missed out on CACFP-subsidized food.

Full citation: Andreyeva A, Sun X, Cannon M, Kenney E. The Child and Adult Care Food Program: Barriers to Participation and Financial Implications of Underuse, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2021. ISSN 1499-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2021.10.001.

In collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Education, the Rudd Center conducted a study that examined the 2021 USDA Summer Meal Program’s open sites in Connecticut. In order to learn more about the families who participate and their perception of the meal program, surveys were distributed at open meal sites across the state.

This research review summarizes the differences in school meal operational characteristics among rural, suburban, and urban school districts; discusses the specific challenges that impact the operation of rural school meal programs; and articulates opportunities for innovation in school meal programs in rural areas.

Children and adolescents living in rural communities are at increased risk of obesity and food insecurity. Schools can play an essential role in addressing diet-related disparities, but multiple factors can impact the cafeteria environment and student participation in school meal programs. This summary of the research review Rural Schools: Challenges and Opportunities for School Meal Programs highlights how school meal operational characteristics in rural schools compare to urban and suburban schools; identifies challenges that impact the operation of rural school meal programs; and presents opportunities for innovation.