Current methods for estimating the costs and savings of federal legislation miss billions of dollars in potential long-term returns from effective obesity prevention policies, and changing the way cost estimates are created could give policymakers a clearer picture of costs and savings.
RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finalize and fully implement the updated standards as soon as possible, to ensure that all students have access to healthier snack foods and beverages.
A study links strong nutrition standards for school meals with lower obesity rates, especially among students who were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.
A new report, and an op-ed from RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, highlight promising interventions to help children and teens be active for 60 minutes or more each day.
Growing evidence, from places like California, Mississippi, New York City, and Philadelphia, suggests that strong, far-reaching changes are working to reduce childhood obesity rates.
This report includes an analysis that forecasts adult obesity rates in each state in the year 2030, and shows that states could prevent diseases and reduce health care costs if they reduced residents’ average body mass index by just 5 percent by 2030.
Hank Cardello, director of the Obesity Solutions Initiative at Hudson Institute, discusses his recent report showing that restaurant chains that serve more lower-calorie foods and beverages have better business performance.
Too many Americans don’t have reliable access to nutritious affordable foods, but national momentum to address this issue is growing. The launch of the federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) and the state and local efforts currently underway are already beginning to make a difference and improve fresh food access in underserved communities across the country.
With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, PolicyLink, The Food Trust, and The Reinvestment Fund have created the first comprehensive healthy food access retail web portal. Designed to help communities launch healthy food retail projects across the country, the user-friendly portal enables communities to tap into a vibrant online network, which includes practical resources and cases studies, as well as the latest about funding opportunities.
Visit the siteResearch provides clear evidence that food deserts, areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious foods, exist in numerous lower-income communities and communities of color across the country.
Read the briefInformed by more than 20 years of experience working to support healthier food in communities, the Food Trust’s toolkit provides a step-by-step approach to developing state and local policies that encourage the development of supermarkets and other healthy food stores in underserved communities.
Read the toolkit
Providing healthier beverages is important for schools, hospitals, and more – but which beverages should qualify? For the first time, a national group of academic leaders, advocates, public health professionals and policy experts has put forth recommendations for healthier beverages for every age.
Our goal is to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015 by improving access to affordable healthy foods and increasing opportunities for physical activity in schools and communities across the nation.
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Ensure that all foods and beverages served and sold in schools meet or exceed the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
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Increase access to high-quality, affordable foods through new or improved grocery stores and healthier corner stores and bodegas.
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Increase the time, intensity and duration of physical activity during the school day and out-of-school programs.
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Increase physical activity by improving the built environment in communities.
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Use pricing strategies—both incentives and disincentives—to promote the purchase of healthier foods.
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Reduce youths' exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods through regulation, policy and effective industry self-regulation.
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