Only four in ten US children engage in the recommended amount of physical activity on a weekly basis, making a lack of physical activity among children a serious public health concern. Researchers at the University of Michigan, Batelle Memorial Institute, and Nutrition Policy Institute studied the relationship between the perceived quality of the neighborhood social environment and children's physical activity levels in non-Hispanic white children and Hispanic children. The study included 2,749 children in 130 communities across the US as part of the Healthy Communities Study, a project funded by the National Institutes of Health designed to examine community impacts on child obesity. Child physical activity levels were self-reported by the child or parent and the child's perception of their neighborhood social environment was captured with four questions: “It is safe to walk or jog in the neighborhood during the day,” “There is so much traffic that it makes it hard to walk in the neighborhood,” “There is a lot of crime in the neighborhood,” and “There are lots of loose or scary dogs in the neighborhood”. Researchers found that Hispanic children engaged in more physical activity when their perception of the quality of their neighborhood social environment was better, but this association was not found in non-Hispanic white children. These findings suggest that policymakers should focus on improving the quality of neighborhood social environments where Hispanic children live to support improved physical activity. The study was published online in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Study co-authors include Yeonwoo Kim of the University of Texas, Lorrene Ritchie of the Nutrition Policy Institute, Andrew Landgraf of the Battelle Memorial Institute, and Rebecca Hasson and Natalie Colabianchi of the University of Michigan.
Child care sites, schools, and out-of-school programs are important targets for health promotions and practices to support children in healthy eating and physical activity. Cooperative Extension programs often partner with these settings to implement the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) policy, systems, and environment (PSE) interventions. Researchers at the Nutrition Policy Institute have developed a new set of tools to support Extension professionals in measuring and supporting SNAP-Ed program planning and evaluation efforts. The tools, called the site-level assessment questionnaires (SLAQs), assesses institutional healthful eating and physical activity practices in child care sites, schools, and out-of-school programs. In their latest study published in Journal of Extension titled "Assessing Healthful Eating and Physical Activity Practices in Places Children Learn", NPI researchers describe the development and feasibility testing of the new SLAQs tools. The questionnaires are available in two formats: a printable Word document that can be shared by multiple staff involved in completing the questionnaire (recommended for schools) and an online survey which can be completed live or from a pre-filled Word document questionnaire. Visit the NPI SLAQs website to gain access to the questionnaires and training materials. The questionnaire developed for schools can be used by schools to self-assess alignment with the final rule of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which outlines school wellness requirements for local educational agencies and schools participating in the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Study co-authors include NPI researchers Carolyn D. Rider, Amanda Linares, Janice Kao, Christina Becker, and Gail Woodward-Lopez. The study was funded by a grant from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education.
Nearly half of young children in the United States participate in licensed child care settings, where they can consume up to two-thirds of their daily dietary intake. Thus, these are important settings in which young children are provided beverages that support their health. A recent study conducted by Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) in collaboration with the Public Health Law Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health suggests that family child care homes have fewer state regulations that support breastfeeding and healthy beverage provision compared to child care centers. This is of concern as low-income families are more likely to rely on home child care providers than on centers to provide care for their young children. The authors conclude the study by encouraging policymakers to ensure state child care regulations are in place to help child care providers support breastfeeding families and to provide healthy beverages to all children, regardless of whether they are in a center or home. The study, titled "Alignment of State Regulations With Breastfeeding and Beverage Best Practices for Childcare Centers and Family Childcare Homes, United States", was published online on November 9, 2020 in the journal Public Health Reports. Study co-authors include NPI researchers Danielle Lee, Raquel Traseria, Sophia Navarro, Lorrene Ritchie, and policy director Ken Hecht; Natasha Frost of the Public Health Law Center; Sara Benjamin Neelon of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Angie Cradock of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Not all child care settings have nutrition standards for infants as they transition to toddlerhood. Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers, in collaboration with Nourish California (previously known as California Food Policy Advocates), convened a group of science advisors and child care community advisors in 2015 to develop infant and toddler nutrition standards feasible for family child care home providers to implement. The process of developing nutrition recommendations on what foods and beverages to serve and how to feed infants and toddlers in licensed family child care home settings was published online on November 9, 2020, in a chapter featured in the Nestle Nutrition Institute Workshop Series, volume 95, titled "Building Future Health and Well-Being of Thriving Toddlers and Young Children". The 95th Nestlé Nutrition Institute Workshop, which took place as a 3-day virtual workshop in September 2020, explored the current scientific research of creating a healthy foundation for life in toddlers and young children. Co-authors of the chapter included NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie and Danielle Lee, Elyse Homel Vital of the Childcare Food Program Roundtable (formerly with California Food Policy Advocates), and NPI-affiliated researcher Lauren Au of the University of California, Davis, Department of Nutrition. Ritchie's presentation from the workshop is also available online.
Extensive efforts to review the evidence of childhood obesity prevention programs have been made by the scientific community. However, most meta-analyses have included only randomized, control trials, do not allow for examination of sub-components of interventions, and do not examine sub-populations that may be impacted (or not) by interventions. Lorrene Ritchie, director and cooperative extension specialist of the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), collaborated with researchers from across the United States to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to fill these gaps. The systematic review and meta-analysis, and an accompanying paper describing the methods used to develop a taxonomy for childhood obesity interventions to use in the meta-analysis, were published in the journal Childhood Obesity. The review includes 51 studies evaluating 58 interventions that, overall, showed a lower BMI for preschool children participating in the interventions compared to children who did not receive interventions. The review and meta-analysis also suggest that the childhood obesity interventions that were most successful included engaging caregivers in praise/encouragement for positive health-related behavior; providing education about the importance of screen time reduction to caregivers; and engaging pediatricians and health care providers. The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted in collaboration by Lori Scott-Sheldon, Larry Hedges, Chris Cyr, Deborah Young-Hyman, Mackenzie Magnus, Heather King, Sonia Arteaga, John Crawley, Christina Economos, Debra Hair-Joshu, Christine Hunter, Bruce Lee, Shiriki Kumanyika, Thomas Robinson and Marlene Schwartz. The taxonomy methods paper was written in collaboration by Heather King, Mackenzie Magnus, Larry Hedges, Deborah Young-Hyman, Laura Kettel Khan, Lori Scott-Sheldon, Jason Saul, Sonia Arteaga, John Cawley, Christina Economos, Debra Haire-Joshu, Christine Hunter, Bruce Lee, Shiriki Kumanyika, Thomas Robinson, and Marlen Schwartz.