KC Whitsett joined the Nutrition Policy Institute at the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources on March 25, 2024, as a project policy analyst. Originally from Virginia, KC earned a BS in Kinesiology and Health Sciences from the College of William & Mary. KC also holds a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley, with an interdisciplinary concentration on research and evaluation methods for food access and nutrition programs. Her previous professional experiences include program and grant management and community health education. She has expertise in the evaluation of physical activity and food access programs—healthy corner store initiatives, mobile markets, SNAP incentives—and farmworkers' access to health care services. In her role at NPI, KC will support qualitative data collection and analysis for projects related to school meals, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children—commonly known as WIC.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Danielle Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Milk provides various nutrients such as calcium, protein, and vitamin D, which are essential for health and brain development. In the US, it is advised that children switch from the recommended whole cow's milk from ages 1-2 to low-fat or non-fat milk after age 2 to reduce saturated fat and calorie intake, however, few studies support this recommendation. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers and Anisha Patel with the Stanford Medicine Department of Pediatrics recently received funding for a research study from the National Institute of Health. The study, Milk Type in Toddlers or Milk-TOT, includes a randomized controlled trial that will investigate how whole and low-fat 1% milk affect child adiposity, dietary intake, and health outcomes, aiming to provide evidence-based recommendations for dietary guidelines. The California Dairy Research Foundation provided additional funding to include the assessment of the impacts of varying milk types on participating children's gut microbiota diversity, in collaboration with Justin Sonnenburg with the Stanford Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Parents or caregivers with children between 23-30 months old living in the San Francisco Bay Area may be eligible to participate in the study. The four-year project began in January 2024 and is estimated to end in June 2028. The project is led by Lorrene Ritchie as the principal investigator, and NPI researchers, Kassandra Bacon, Ryan Williams, Suzanne Rauzon, Celeste Felix, Hannah Thompson, Fanta Jimissa, Reka Vasicsek and Meirong Liao.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
A recent research brief from researchers at Merrimack College and the Nutrition Policy Institute highlights the impact of the Massachusetts Healthy School Meals for All policy on families. The policy was implemented in 2022, aiming to alleviate financial burdens for families by providing free school meals for all students. A sample of 284 parents selected to be representative of the state completed a survey, revealing strong support for the policy across all income brackets. Families reported numerous benefits of the policy, including financial savings, time efficiency, and reduced stress as well as improved student behavior and academic achievement. Moreover, survey results demonstrated that if the policy ended, parents believe there would be an increase in the stigma associated with receiving meal assistance which could prevent some children from consuming school meals. This research brief helps support the continuation of the Healthy School Meals for All policy as well as future efforts to expand access to nutrition programs in schools. This research brief was developed by Juliana Cohen with Merrimack College and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Wendi Gosliner, Christina Hecht, Ken Hecht, Monica Zuercher, and Lorrene Ritchie, and Marlene Schwartz from the University of Connecticut Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, and. This research was funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research and Project Bread.
Caitlin French joined the Nutrition Policy Institute at the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources on March 1, 2024 as an Assistant Project Scientist. Caitlin earned her PhD in Nutritional Biology with an emphasis in Global Nutrition from UC Davis. Her previous and current research endeavors focus on dietary analysis methods, dietary biomarkers, and evaluating the impacts of nutrition programs, such as produce prescriptions and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC. Her primary research interests center on informing policies and programs that aim to achieve equity in access to healthy foods and environments and to reduce diet-related chronic diseases. In her role at NPI, she will support the evaluation of California's Universal School Meals Program.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Danielle Lee
California Agriculture, the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources research journal, has published a special issue on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to inform Cooperative Extension programming and local, state, and federal policy to improve population health, food security, economic resilience, equity, and sustainability throughout the state and food system. The special issue was developed by Nutrition Policy Institute director, Lorrene Ritchie alongside Marcel Horowitz a UC Cooperative Extension community nutrition and health advisor, and Gail Feestra, UC ANR emerita and the former UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program director. Published in December 2023, the issue includes nine articles on studies conducted within the first two years of the pandemic. The articles emphasize the importance of infrastructure investments and offer new strategies to improve resilience in the face of future challenges, based on results found during COVID-19. The issue includes a published research article on the results of school meal consumption during COVID-19, written by Nutrition Policy Institute researchers, Kaela Plank, Amanda Linares, Sridharshii Hewawitharana, and Gail Woodward-Lopez.