School nutrition programs are integral to academic success. To support the whole child, teachers must appreciate what role nutrition plays in academic success. Studies of food insecurity reveal there are degrees of severity. Although the key determinate of food security is poverty, employment is not necessarily a shield. One can eat and still be…

This Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance" provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)…

Objective: To extend findings from experimental price elasticity studies by examining these effects in a field setting and identifying gender differences in purchasing behaviour in response to variations in the cost of lower energy-dense (ED) and higher ED foods. Setting: Data were collected from low- and median-income male and female grocery…

This Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions to SNAP-Ed State and implementing agencies for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans, and preparing and submitting the…

This Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) expectations regarding State…

This Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) expectations regarding State…

Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables helps to reduce childhood obesity and improves academic achievement and attendance. However, providing fresh fruits and vegetables is challenging for some schools due to cost, administrative burden, and concern for food waste. To address these challenges, the Fruit and Vegetable Access for Children Act…

Competitive foods in schools have historically been scrutinized for their ubiquity and poor nutritional quality, leading many states to enact legislation limiting the availability and accessibility of these items. Evaluations of these policy approaches show their promise in improving the healthfulness of school food environments, considered an…

Engaging youth from racial and ethnic minority communities as leaders for change is a potential strategy to mobilize support for addressing childhood obesity, but there are limited curricula designed to help youth understand the complex influences on obesity. Our aim was to develop and pilot test a systems science curriculum to elicit rural…

Objective: Patterns of overweight and obesity have an unequal geographic distribution, and there are elevated rates in Appalachia. Perceptions of Appalachian youth toward healthful eating and influences on food choice were examined as part of formative research to address these disparities. Methods: Eleven focus groups, averaging 6 youth (n = 68)…

Introduction: The year 2015 marks the fourth year of a drought in California. With no signs of the drought improving, communities in California are left to prioritize their water usage. In the Central Valley, the limited water supply has forced farmers to prioritize on acreage and planting, decisions that trickle down and may impact farmworker…

Objective: To identify barriers and facilitators for improving the after-school organized physical activity (PA) and snack quality. Methods: After-school staff (Year 1, n = 20; Year 2, n = 17) participated in qualitative, semistructured interviews about the implementation of an after-school obesity prevention intervention. Interviews were…

The authors of this research brief were co-principal investigators on a grant awarded by the IRP RIDGE Center for National Food and Nutrition Assistance Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in partnership with the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their project, summarized here, was one of five proposals…

This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a long-term workplace health promotion programme on physical activity (PA) and nutrition. In total, 924 participants enrolled in a 2-year cluster randomized controlled trial, with departments (n = 74) within companies (n = 6) as the unit of randomization. The intervention was compared with a…

Objective: To determine and compare the perspectives of the general public and health care providers (HCPs) on obesity and its treatment in rural West Virginia (WV) and Baltimore, MD. Method: Surveys were completed in both locations by the general public (WV: "n" = 200; Baltimore: "n" = 171) and HCPs (WV: "n" = 25;…