- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
- Editor: Lauren Au Brinkmeyer
The first years of life present an optimal window to establish healthy eating behaviors and support childhood development. However, there are limited measurement tools to assess diet quality during infancy. Researchers at UC Davis and the Nutrition Policy Institute, created a novel Infant Diet Quality Index (IDQI) to assess diet quality using data on 2,858 infants from birth up to 12 months old from the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study. The IDQI consists of 16 components related to infant feeding, including, but not limited to: breastfeeding, age of first introduction of solids, and frequency of consuming fruit and vegetables. IDQI scores were predictive of diet quality and weight outcomes in U.S. children 2-4 years of age of low-income.The study published in The Journal of Nutrition, was authored by Dr. Lauren Au and Charles Arnold of the University of California, Davis, Department of Nutrition, Dr. Lorrene Ritchie of the Nutrition Policy Institute, and Dr. Edward Frongillo from the University of South Carolina, Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. Research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R03HL154986 and the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project #CA-D-NTR-2689-H.
In a recent CNN article, Lauren Au, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis in the Department of Nutrition and an affiliated researcher with the Nutrition Policy Institute, shared her thoughts on the proposed changes to school nutrition standards. The United States Department of Agriculture has proposed new rules that would allow flavored milk in school but also place gradual limits on the added sugars and sodium in school foods and strengthen the Buy American requirements encouraging schools to use more locally grown food. Au was quoted in the article, “It's a step forward in terms of promoting healthy nutrition in schools. The reduction of added sugar is a big deal. Reducing added sugars for this age range is so important.” The article also cited Au's research, which she conducted during her time at NPI, which showed that children who eat meals at school ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy, compared with those who ate at school less frequently. The article titled “Proposed changes to school lunches aim to reduce sugar and sodium, but flavored milk stays” was published on February 3, 2023. Au was also quoted in a The New York Times article on February 3 titled “Agriculture Dept. Proposes Limits on Sugar and Salt in School Meals.” The comment period for the proposed USDA rule is open through April 10, 2023.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Current recommendations encourage caregivers of young children to delay the introduction of sugar-sweetened beverages–beverages with added sugars such as soda, sweetened fruit drinks like lemonade, sweetened teas, and sports drinks–until after the child turns two-years old. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior by University of California researchers further supports this. When researchers evaluated the diet of over 2200 young children across the nation enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children–also known as WIC–they found that those given SSBs during the first two years of life had lower diet quality at three years old. In contrast, the researchers found that delaying the introduction of 100% fruit juice during the first two years of life was not associated with lower diet quality. Study authors include Isabel Thompson, Patrick Bradshaw, and Mahasin Mujahid from UC Berkeley, Lorrene Ritchie from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute, and Lauren Au from UC Davis. Researchers used data from the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2, a federal study conducted with funding from the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Nutrition Policy Institute researchers evaluated parent perception of neighborhood produce availability in a large study of over 5000 children between the ages of 4-15 years in more than 130 communities across the US. Results suggest that parents who reported higher neighborhood produce availability–having access to a large selection of produce, produce being high quality, and produce being easy to purchase–were more likely to report having fruits and vegetables available in their home. Children living in homes with higher reported produce availability had higher fruit and vegetable intake, which was also associated with lower rates of child obesity measured by body mass index. However, these relationships were weaker in children living in households experiencing poverty and food insecurity. This suggests that efforts to improve childhood obesity through optimizing neighborhood and home fruit and vegetable access may be less effective in neighborhoods and households experiencing high rates of poverty and food insecurity. The study–part of the Healthy Communities Study project funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine community impacts on child obesity–was published in October 2021 in the journal Nutrients. Authors include Laurel Moffatt of Washington State University Extension Youth and Families Program Unit, Lauren Au of UC Davis Department of Nutrition, and Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Lorrene Ritchie, Wendi Gosliner and Kaela Plank.
Researchers at the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), University of California, Davis, and the University of South Carolina published a new study describing the use of factor analysis methods to evaluate the effectiveness of school nutrition environments on child health outcomes. Given the complexity of school food environments, factor analysis can be a useful method in identifying latent or unmeasured factors underlying observed environmental characteristics to determine which have the largest influence on child health outcomes. Researchers applied this method to data collected from the Healthy Communities Study which included 4,635 children in the US between the ages of four and 15 years from 386 elementary and middle schools in 2013–2015. Although the findings from the study were mixed, results suggest that restriction of unhealthy foods in school is associated with lower added sugar intake by children. The study was published online in March 2021 in The Journal of Nutrition. Co-authors include Marisa Tsai, Lorrene Ritchie, and Gail Woodward-Lopez from NPI, Lauren Au from the University of California, Davis, and Edward Frongillo from the University of South Carolina. The study was funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.