- Author: Danielle L. Lee
Sugar-sweetened beverages, including chocolate milk, are the leading source of added sugars in youths' diets. During the 2017-18 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) implemented a policy removing chocolate milk from school lunches as part of a district-wide strategy to reduce students' intake of added sugars. A new research brief from the University of California, Nutrition Policy Institute (UC NPI) describes the impact of this policy on students' intake of milk and its associated nutrients. This impact was measured by UC researchers in a study of students' milk selection and consumption in 24 SFUSD middle and high schools during one lunch period at each school during each study year. The study included 3,158 students in 2016 before the policy and 2,966 students after the policy was implemented in 2018. Study results showed that after chocolate milk was removed, milk taking at lunch declined, but average per-student intake of key nutrients from milk did not. In addition, students' intake of added sugars from milk declined significantly. The study suggests that removing chocolate milk from school cafeterias may improve student nutrition. The research brief encourages schools to consider eliminating chocolate milk to help reduce students' added sugar intake. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the UC NPI, UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Berkeley Food Institute, and SFUSD Student Nutrition Services. This work is supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant no. 2015-68001-23236 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The research brief is available online. The full research study is also available online.
The USDA granted states multiple operational waivers to continue to deliver the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services during the COVID-19 pandemic and these waivers have enabled our ability to serve participants remotely. With funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Nutrition Policy Institute and Public Health Foundation Enterprise WIC gathered information from WIC participants about their experiences with WIC during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first brief based on information gathered from WIC participants in Los Angeles County is now available online, with more to come soon from interviews with participants and local agency staff from across California in the months to come.
The California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) provides CalFresh shoppers a dollar-for-dollar match when purchasing California-grown fruits and vegetables at participating Certified Farmers Markets and small food stores. Over 4.6 million Californians with low-income receive money to spend on food through CalFresh, also known as the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers conducted an evaluation of the CNIP program operating at California farmers' markets in 2018. Interviews were conducted with 386 CalFresh shoppers from ten farmers' markets offering maximum incentives ranging from $0 to $20, and from nine nearby supermarkets not offering incentives. Researchers found that CalFresh CNIP shoppers who reported using more of the match incentive reported lower levels of food insecurity. Additionally, farmers' market shoppers consumed more fruits and vegetables than supermarket shoppers, though no differences in consumption were found between CNIP and non-CNIP shoppers. Program participants expressed consistent and overwhelmingly positive appreciation for the CNIP program. “I'm eating better because I can afford to get fresh food, fresh vegetables and fruit that I wouldn't get otherwise,” said one CalFresh shopper about the CNIP program, “It gives me a chance to taste and to eat foods that I might not otherwise be exposed to, and foods that I wouldn't feel like I could afford." Despite the overwhelming support for the CNIP program from those using it, researchers found that fewer than one-in-five supermarket shoppers were aware of the CNIP program; after learning about CNIP, nearly all said they would be likely to use it. Findings from the evaluation are available in an online research brief. The research was led by NPI researchers Wendi Gosliner, Ron Strochlic, and Sridharshi Hewawitharana and included UC Berkeley graduate student researchers Celeste Felix and Caroline Long. The evaluation was funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
At fast food and sit-down restaurants across California, kids' meals come with water or milk automatically. At least, that should be the case since state law requires restaurants to offer the healthy beverages by default to reduce the amount of sugary beverages served to children. California Senate Bill 1192, authored by Sen. Bill Monning (D-San Luis Obispo), went into effect in January 2019, but research by the UC ANR Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) has found that implementation has not been universal. The results, along with results from a similar study in Wilmington, Del., were published in an issue brief Aug. 20 on HealthyEatingResearch.org. Before the law, 10% of menu boards observed by the researchers in California list only the healthy beverages. Data collected after the law went into effect showed 66% of menu boards list the healthy default beverages. NPI researchers also collected data on the proportion of cashiers who verbally offered only healthy beverages with kids' meals when orders were placed. This happened only 5% of the time before the law was enacted, and dropped to 1% after. The law doesn't specify whether the cashier must offer the default beverages, but the spirit of the law suggests they should, as it would likely have a greater impact on the selections that children and parents make. In interviews with NPI researchers, most restaurant managers expressed support for the legislation, but didn't know much about it. The research brief was written by NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie, Phoebe Harpainter, Marisa Tsai, Gail Woodward-Lopez and Wendi Gosliner in collaboration with lead author Allison Karpyn and Laura Lessard, Jesse Atkins, Kathleen McCallops and Tara Tracy of the University of Delaware. The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and by the California Department of Public Health with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture. Read the full research brief online.
/span>Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the largest single source of added sugars in the U.S. diet. Consumption of SSBs is a major contributing factor to excessive weight gain in young children and is linked to increased risk of dental decay, type-2 diabetes, metabolic dysfunction and heart disease later in life. For over 10 years, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers have been working closely with child care stakeholders and advocates from the California Food Policy Advocates to improve the beverages served in licensed child care settings. The implementation of California's Healthy Beverages in Child Care Act (CA AB 2084) in 2012 was a major milestone for this long-term collaboration, which requires all licensed child care providers in California to serve only healthy beverages and serve no SSBs to children in their care. NPI's latest research brief shares results from state wide surveys conducted in 2012 and 2016 in collaboration with CFPA and the Sarah Samuels Center for Public Health Research & Evaluation that suggests only 45% of California child care providers are fully adherent to all four components of CA AB 2084:
- Serve only low-fat or non-fat milk to children aged 2 years or older.
- Limit juice to no more than one serving daily of 100% juice.
- Serve no beverages with added sweeteners, either natural or artificial.
- Make safe drinking water available and readily accessible throughout the day.
The research brief also shares how NPI researchers collaborated with the UCSF School of Nursing and the California Child Care Health Program, UC Cooperative Extension, and UC Merced to develop and evaluate a free, on-demand online training in English and Spanish to support child care providers to offer healthy beverages. The research brief is available online.