Researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, partnered with researchers at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Stanford University, and Nutrition Policy Institute's Christina Hecht, investigated factors associated with the intake of drinking water among US high school students. Data on 10,698 students was obtained from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative sample of US high school students. Because adolescents are the highest consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and many drink little water, the study sought to understand the associations between plain water intake and youths' demographics, academic grades and other behavioral factors. The understandings gained may inform interventions to increase consumption of water in place of SSBs among US adolescents. Almost half (48.7%) of high school students reported little plain water consumption (only two or fewer times per day) and nearly one-quarter (24.6%) drank plain water less than once per day. Analysis using logistic regression found that factors most strongly associated with low plain water consumption were regular consumption of soda (≥1 time per day) and low consumption of vegetables (report was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion on March 18, 2020.
The Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) submitted on April 22, 2020 comments in strong opposition to the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) “Simplifying Meal Service and Monitoring Requirements in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs” proposed rule. The proposed rule would roll back nutrition standards in both the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. For nearly twenty years, researchers at the NPI and its predecessor organization have engaged in research and evaluation to improve nutrition policy in California and the nation, with special emphasis on the challenges for low-income children in accessing a healthy diet. "Today, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges have been greatly magnified," commented NPI Policy Director Ken Hecht. "The numbers of unemployed low-income families whose children need nutrition assistance has grown exponentially at the very time when schools, the operating site for most child nutrition programs, are closed. Fortunately, Congress and the USDA have acted quickly to expand and ease access to the essential food programs. Unfortunately, the proposed rules to which these comments are addressed seem largely counterproductive to children's health and well being and unresponsive to the pandemic."
Nutrition Policy Institute Senior Researcher and Policy Advisor Wendi Gosliner along with her colleagues Professor Lia Fernald at the University of California (UC), Berkeley School of Public Health and Dr. Rtia Hamad of UC San Francisco received a $10,000 grant from the Berkeley Population Center to conduct a study entitled, “Effects of COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies on Economically Disadvantaged Children and Families in California." They will be interviewing 30 families with young children in Alameda, Merced, and Los Angeles counties to capture the impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mitigation strategies -- shelter-in-place orders and school closures -- as well as safety net responses -- increased CalFresh benefits for some and changes in school meals -- on families' well being and food security. The study aims to capture knowledge, perceptions, and utilization of various supports during the crisis and ways in which current and future policy response measures could better meet families' needs.
Christina Hecht, senior policy advisor for the UC ANR Nutrition Policy Institute, was the keynote speaker at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Food and Nutrition Public Policy Day. The all-day event was hosted online on Monday, April 2020 by the CSUN Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics. The theme was 'Legislation for All', and attendees learned from a variety of experts about the critical food and nutrition issues affecting California communities as well as how to make an impact through advocacy and public policy.
Nutrition Policy Institute associate researcher, Lauren Au, is the honored recipient of the 2020 Tufts University Friedman Rising Star Award for making significant contributions to the nutrition field and demonstrating a continued commitment to effect change. Lauren is described as “an exceptionally capable researcher, mentor, and colleague, who has consistently demonstrated her commitment to the pursuit of a research career”. Lauren graduated with her PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts in 2013.
