Effects of a School-Based Nutrition, Gardening, and Cooking Intervention on Metabolic Parameters in High-risk Youth: A Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Although school-based gardening programs for children have consistently been shown to improve dietary behaviors, no cluster randomized clinical trial (RCT) has evaluated the effects of a school-based gardening intervention on metabolic outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a school-based gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention (Texas Sprouts) on changes in metabolic outcomes in elementary schoolchildren.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study was a secondary analysis of a cluster RCT, conducted over 3 years from 2016 to 2019, at low-income elementary schools with majority Hispanic students in the greater Austin, Texas, area.

Five U.S. Dietary Patterns and Their Relationship to Land Use, Water Use, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Implications for Future Food Security.

The U.S. agri-food system is a driver of climate change and other impacts.

Association between Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Purchasing Behaviors, Food Insecurity Status and Geographic Food Access among a Lower-Income, Racially/Ethnically Diverse Cohort in Central Texas.

The aims of this study were to determine if fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and purchasing behaviors were associated with geographic food access and/or food insecurity status, and to explore the role of sociodemographic characteristics among participants of a lower-income, racially/ethnically diverse cohort. This study used a cross-sectional design and baseline survey data from the FRESH-Austin study (N = 393). Associations between fresh produce consumption/purchasing and food insecurity status and geographic access to food were assessed utilizing univariate, bivariate, and multivariate linear regression methods and potential interactions were examined.

Effects of a School-Based Garden Program on Academic Performance: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: School gardening programs have consistently been found to improve dietary behaviors in children. Although several quasi-experimental studies have also reported that school gardens can enhance academic performance, to date, no randomized controlled trial has been conducted to substantiate this.

Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the effects of Texas Sprouts (TX Sprouts), a gardening, nutrition, and cooking program vs control on academic performance in primarily low-income, Hispanic children.

The associations of plant-based food and metabolic syndrome using NHANES 2015-16 data.

Background: Consuming a diet rich in plant-based foods (PBFs) may be protective for risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and chronic disease. However, the impact of consuming healthy versus all types of PBF on MetS is unknown.

Methods: The relationship between consumption of PBF (both healthy and all) was examined using data from the 2015 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Impact of a School-Based Gardening, Cooking, Nutrition Intervention on Diet Intake and Quality: The TX Sprouts Randomized Controlled Trial.

School gardens have become common school-based health promotion strategies to enhance dietary behaviors in the United States. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of TX Sprouts, a one-year school-based gardening, cooking, and nutrition cluster randomized controlled trial, on students' dietary intake and quality. Eight schools were randomly assigned to the TX Sprouts intervention and eight schools to control (i.

Examining food insecurity and areas with unmet food needs during COVID-19: A geospatial, community-specific approach.

Food insecurity is a public health issue that has increased in the U.S. since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Validation of the FRESH Austin food frequency questionnaire using multiple 24-h dietary recalls.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the validity of an FFQ utilised in the Food Retail: Evaluating Strategies for a Healthy Austin (FRESH Austin) study, designed to evaluate changes in the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) in diverse low-income communities in Austin, TX.

Design: The FRESH Austin FFQ was validated against three 24-h dietary recalls (24hDR). All dietary assessments were administered (in-person or by telephone) by trained investigators.

School-based gardening, cooking and nutrition intervention increased vegetable intake but did not reduce BMI: Texas sprouts - a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although school garden programs have been shown to improve dietary behaviors, there has not been a cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted to examine the effects of school garden programs on obesity or other health outcomes. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a one-year school-based gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention (called Texas Sprouts) on dietary intake, obesity outcomes, and blood pressure in elementary school children.

Methods: This study was a school-based cluster RCT with 16 elementary schools that were randomly assigned to either the Texas Sprouts intervention (n = 8 schools) or to control (delayed intervention, n = 8 schools).

Emergency Food Provision for Children and Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examples from Five U.S. Cities.

As lockdown and school closure policies were implemented in response to the coronavirus, the federal government provided funding and relaxed its rules to support emergency food provision, but not guidance on best practices for effectiveness. Accordingly, cities developed a diverse patchwork of emergency feeding programs. This article uses qualitative data to provide insight into emergency food provision developed in five cities to serve children and families.

Barriers to Preparing and Cooking Vegetables Are Associated with Decreased Home Availability of Vegetables in Low-Income Households.

Knowing which barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables at home are linked with the home availability of vegetables and how food-security status impacts this relationship will facilitate the tailoring of future public health interventions. Baseline data were used from an elementary-school-based intervention. Data on household food-security status, availability of vegetables at home, and barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables were collected from 1942 parents.

Coaction Between Physical Activity and Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Racially Diverse, Obese Adults.

Purpose: There is minimal understanding of the potential for coaction, defined as action on one behavior increasing the likelihood of taking action on another behavior, between physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. The purpose of this study was to assess the bidirectional coaction between FV intake and PA, as well as self-efficacy for these behaviors, in a racially diverse sample of obese adults.

Design: This is a secondary analysis using data collected from the Path to Health study, a randomized controlled trial.

Child Compared with Parent Perceptions of Child-Level Food Security.

Background: There is a need to directly and accurately conceptualize and measure food insecurity in children as part of surveillance and public health efforts.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare parent and child perceptions of child-level food security status via questionnaires within a large, ethnically diverse population.

Methods: Cross-sectional baseline data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial involving primarily low-income, Hispanic third- to fifth-grade students and their parents were used for analysis.

Role of Organizational Support on Implementation of an Environmental Change Intervention to Improve Child Fruit and Vegetable Intake: a Randomized Cross-Over Design.

Little is known about the role of organizational or administrative support in implementation of health promotion interventions, particularly outside of school settings. The purpose was to determine the change in fruit and vegetable (FV) intake among children living in residential children's homes (RCHs) and assess the relationships among change in organizational support, intervention implementation, and child nutrition outcomes. Data were collected from 29 RCHs and 614 children living in RCHs, as part of a group randomized design with delayed intervention, at three cross-sectional waves: 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Design and participant characteristics of TX sprouts: A school-based cluster randomized gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention.

Aims: To outline the study design, outcome measures, protocol and baseline characteristics of enrolled participants of Texas (TX) Sprouts, a one-year school-based gardening, nutrition, and cooking cluster randomized trial.

Methods: Eight schools were randomly assigned to the TX Sprouts intervention and eight schools to the delayed intervention over three years (2016-2019). The intervention arm received: formation/training of Garden Leadership Committees; a 0.

Factors Associated with Use of Recreational Facilities and Physical Activity Among Low-Income Latino Adults.

The purpose of this study was to identify longitudinal correlates of low-income, urban, Latino adults' use of recreational facilities and engagement in physical activity (PA). This secondary data analysis is from a placed-based initiative; the parent study recruited a cohort of parents of kindergarteners from schools in intervention and control communities. Using a self-administered questionnaire, we collected baseline correlates and 1-year follow-up recreational facilities use and PA outcomes.

Child-Report of Food Insecurity Is Associated with Diet Quality in Children.

Food insecurity (FI) is adversely associated with physical and mental wellbeing in children. The mechanism underlying this association is assumed to be dietary intake; however, evidence has been mixed. This study examined the relationship between self-reported FI and dietary quality among low-income children.