Objective: Evaluate the impact of the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grant program on self-reported fruit and vegetable (FV) expenditures. Design: Pre-post quasi-experimental study design. Setting: Farmers markets and grocery stores in states with FINI projects. Participants: A total of 2,471 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households in 4 intervention groups who lived near a FINI retailer (farmers market or grocery store) and 4 matched comparison groups who did not live near a FINI retailer. Main Outcome Measures: Awareness and use of point-of-sale incentives and changes in self-reported monthly household FV expenditures. Analysis: Ordinary least squares intent-to-treat regression model using lagged dependent variable model framework.Results: Awareness of FINI was higher among households who were near a FINI retailer and had shopped there before FINI than those who lived near a FINI retailer but had not shopped there before FINI; the number of information sources from which SNAP participants heard about FINI was positively associated with incentive receipt (P < 0.05). Among those who received incentives, the average amount of incentives received at the last shopping trip ranged from $15 to $23. The FINI program had a positive impact on the average monthly FV expenditures for those in the farmers market shopper, grocery store shopper, and grocery store general intervention groups-increases ranged from $9 to $15 (P < 0.05). Conclusions and Implications: Point-of-sale incentives were associated with an increase in FV expenditures among SNAP households. Further research is needed to examine (1) effective messaging strategies to increase incentive awareness and (2) the long-term impact of incentives on FV expenditures.
THE URBAN INSTITUTE D epression in parents poses serious risks to millions of children in the United States each day, yet very often goes undetected and untreated. The risk can be very great for babies and toddlers, who are completely dependent on their parents for nurturing, stimulation, and care-and for poor families that do not have the resources to cope with depression. But depression is treatable and opportunities to reach these families and connect them to help already exist within multiple systems. In this brief, we take a first-time national look at the characteristics, access to services, and parenting approaches for infants living in poverty whose mothers are depressed (we focus on mothers as they are often the primary caregivers). We also identify current service systems that could intervene and help depressed mothers find support.
BACKGROUND In response to the Healthy, Hunger‐Free Kids Act of 2010, the US Department Agriculture updated the nutrition standards for school meals to improve nutrition‐related health outcomes for children. This study assesses the association between implementation of the updated nutrition standards and child weight. METHODS A quasi‐experimental design and multivariate regression analysis is used to compare longitudinal changes in BMI z‐scores for school lunch participants and nonparticipants across 2 nationally representative third grade cohorts of children—those exposed to the updated standards (N = 5480) and those not exposed (N = 9240). RESULTS Boys who ate school lunches after implementation of the updated standards experienced slower BMI z‐score growth than did nonparticipants; participants' BMI z‐scores increased by 0.10 compared with 0.18 for nonparticipants. We find no relationship between school lunch participation and BMI z‐scores for girls. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence that the updated nutrition standards for school meals are associated with improved weight outcome for boys, but have no effect for girls, 1 year after implementation. These findings are encouraging and provide support for continued focus on improving the nutritional quality of school meals.
Childhood obesity is emerging as a considerable public health problem with no clear antidote. The school food environment is a potential intervention point for policy makers, with competitive food and beverage regulation as a possible policy lever. This research examines the link between competitive food and beverage availability in school and adolescent consumption patterns using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999. Results from value-added multivariate regression models reveal limited evidence that competitive food policy affects fruit and vegetable consumption. Findings suggest a stronger link between competitive beverage policy and consumption of sweetened beverages for population subgroups.
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