COVID-19 ignited a revolution in retail. Family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals, including students of retail and consumer sciences, can be the change agents that create the post-pandemic retail future. Massive disruptions to traditional retail practices for both consumers and retailers will result in changed retail environments as the…

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)…

Communication campaigns are expected to contribute to increase the efficacy of nutritional warnings. In this context, the aims of the present work were (a) to evaluate how citizens perceive different types of messages for a communication campaign and (b) to determine if personal characteristics such as gender, age, and educational level, as well…

Nudging is increasingly used in public health interventions in Western societies to produced health-promoting behavior changes; however, there is lack of clarity as to what constitutes a nudge, scant knowledge of the effectiveness of nudging techniques in public health lifestyle interventions and a number of ethical and value-based concerns. The…

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that…

Nutritional warnings are intended to enable citizens to make informed choice by clearly identifying food products with excessive content of nutrients associated with noncommunicable diseases. The efficacy of this public policy is expected to improve if accompanied by communication campaigns that raise awareness of the existence of nutritional…

Objective: Home food environments are important contexts for children and their food intake. It is unknown whether neighborhood economic context plays a role in explaining the association between a national economic crisis and children's home food environments. This study attempts to investigate neighborhood economic changes after the Great…

Background: Place-based efforts offer promise in reducing childhood obesity. Yet, lack of public demand and support may hinder implementation. Aims: This study aimed to assess whether the emphasis on place-based solutions, community-wide strategies, and multisector engagement in the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities (HSHC) initiative would shift…

Aims: Examine intervention effects among mothers involved in a healthy eating randomized controlled trial. Furthermore, examine the mediating roles of individual and familial influences on observed outcomes. Methods: Between 2009 and 2011, 361 families were recruited; half were assigned to an 11-session community health worker-delivered…

Objective: This study sought to determine the feasibility of (a) engaging college students in experiential learning through a 10-day whole foods plant-based diet intervention, (b) bringing pertinence to the course topics that had an emphasis on chronic conditions and (c) understanding how the intervention influenced students' perceptions and…

As young adults transition from secondary education to post-secondary education, they enter a time of life when they are able to independently and potentially for the first time make all of their own food decisions. This shift from childhood to young adulthood and the new-found freedom to make food decisions makes students vulnerable to weight…

Heavy drinking among college students has been identified as a major public health concern in the United States. While research on college drinking is extensive, it is almost exclusively focused on white non-Hispanic populations, with minimal attention to ethnic minority groups--particularly the Hispanic college student. The aim of this study was…

Obesity and excess weight are significant clinical and public health issues that disproportionately affect African Americans because of physical inactivity and unhealthy eating. We compared the effects of alternate behavioral interventions on obesity-related health behaviors. We conducted a comparative effectiveness education trial in a…

Licensed child care providers, and the early care and education settings in which they operate, are uniquely situated to influence children's healthy eating and physical activity through practices, attitudes, and supportive physical and social environments. However, preliminary research indicates that child-, family-, and provider-level…

The interdisciplinary "Foodways and Futures" project (2013-2016) is based on a pilot study which found no improvement in the nutritional state of formerly homeless young people (16-25), now in supported accommodation at a charitable youth organization. Because a healthy food intake during adolescence is important, and because young…