Healthy Eating Research
A Progress Report
Dates of Work: 2007 to 2015
Field of Work: Reducing childhood obesity through improved nutrition
Problem Synopsis: Nearly one-third of U.S. children and adolescents are either overweight or obese, and children of color are at highest risk. Attention has turned to policy and environmental factors that affect childhood obesity, and strategies for promoting policies and environments that promote healthy lifestyles.
Synopsis of the Work: Healthy Eating Research makes grants to individual researchers for studies about real-world problems, supports issue-based working groups, and leads communications and advocacy efforts to make information useful to policy-makers.
Key Findings/Results: Healthy Eating Research has made 109 grants totaling $17.5 million. An external evaluation concluded "Healthy Eating Research has legitimized this field of research and is responsible, in part, for driving demand for this type of research at the national level."
Through working groups and other activities, these researchers are creating a rich evidence base, measurement tools, and instruments that are increasingly used by schools, day-care centers, and others in determining policies.
Related Websites
Recommended Reading
- Encouraging Trends in Student Access to Competitive Beverages in U.S. Public Elementary Schools, 2006-07 to 2010-11
- States Continued Targeted Legislative Action to Prevent Childhood Obesity in 2011
- Slow Progress in Changing the School Food Environment
- Potential Nutritional and Economic Effects of Replacing Juice With Fruit in the Diets of Children in the United States
- Retail Grocery Store Marketing Strategies and Obesity
- Identifying Innovative Interventions to Promote Healthy Eating Using Consumption-Oriented Food Supply Chain Analysis
- Study Shows Head Start Programs Surpass Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Requirements
Healthy Eating Research legitimized this field of research and is responsible, in part, for driving demand for this type of research at the national level."—Seth Emont, Program Evaluator
They have defined the most important questions and leveraged their money to multiply their influence in creating the science."—Kelly Brownell, director, the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity Research, Yale University