School Meal Charge Policies Lack Consistency.

This report discusses school meal charge policies nationwide, with an in-depth look at the contents of these policies in North Carolina. The US Department of Agriculture requires school districts to have policies related to unpaid school meal charges; however, there are no specific requirements for what must be included in these policies. School meal charge policies vary across North Carolina and the US.

United States Department of Agriculture nutrition assistance programs during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review protocol.

Objective: The goal of this scoping review is to examine the published research on federal nutrition assistance programs administered by the United States (U.S.) Department of Agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the U.

"Let's Use This Mess to Our Advantage": Calls to Action to Optimize School Nutrition Program beyond the Pandemic.

School nutrition programs mitigate food insecurity and promote healthy eating by offering consistent, nutritious meals to school-aged children in communities across the United States; however, stringent policy guidelines and contextual challenges often limit participation. During COVID-19 school closures, most school nutrition programs remained operational, adapting quickly and innovating to maximize reach. This study describes semi-structured interviews with 23 nutrition directors in North Carolina, which aimed to identify multi-level contextual factors that influenced implementation, as well as ways in which the innovations during COVID-19 could translate to permanent policy and practice change and improve program reach.

College student motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with a nutrition and cooking education program for children.

To assess among college students their motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with Cooking Matters for Kids as part of No Kid Hungry NC. Seventeen college student volunteers responded to an online survey questionnaire assessing their motivations for volunteering and how they were impacted by their experiences. Motivational functions for volunteering (values, understanding, social, career, protective, enhancement) were assessed using the Volunteer Functions Inventory.

Cooking Matters for Kids Improves Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Related to Healthy Eating and Cooking.

Objective: To assess changes in self-efficacy and attitudes related to healthy eating and cooking in Cooking Matters for Kids participants.

Design: Prepost study design.

Setting: Cooking Matters for Kids programs offered by 35 organizations.

Struggling with the basics: food and housing insecurity among college students across twenty-two colleges and universities.

Objectives: To quantify the number and type of students failing to secure basic needs.

Participants: Students attending 22 postsecondary schools in the United States in Fall 2019.

Methods: The Adult Food Security Module and part of the #RealCollege Survey were used to measure food and housing insecurity, respectively.

College student sleep quality and mental and physical health are associated with food insecurity in a multi-campus study.

Objective: To assess the relationship between food insecurity, sleep quality, and days with mental and physical health issues among college students.

Design: An online survey was administered. Food insecurity was assessed using the ten-item Adult Food Security Survey Module.

Marginal, Low, and Very-Low Food Security among Children Are Associated with Intake of Select Dietary Factors during Summer.

Background: School meals are associated with improved food security status and dietary intake. Children receiving free and reduced-price school meals lose access to these meals during the summer. The association between food security status and dietary intake in these children during summer is unclear.

Characteristics associated with changes in food security status among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prevalence of food insecurity in the USA has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, past studies have not examined how the food security status of college students has been impacted. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in the prevalence of food insecurity; determine the proportion of students experiencing a change in food security status; and identify characteristics associated with changes in food security status from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of college students. We administered a cross-sectional online survey to students from a large public university in the Southeastern USA.

The importance of precision: differences in characteristics associated with levels of food security among college students.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of high, marginal, low and very low food security among a sample of college students and identify characteristics associated with the four different food security status levels and note differences in associations from when food security status is classified as food-secure v. food-insecure.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey.

Corrigendum to "Rates of and characteristics associated with food insecurity differ among undergraduate and graduate students at a large public university in the southeast United States" [Prev. Med. Rep. 14 (2019) 100836].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.

Serving Breakfast Free to All Students and Type of Breakfast Serving Model Are Associated with Participation in the School Breakfast Program.

Background: Many students experience challenges participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) when breakfast is served before school in the cafeteria. Serving breakfast free to all students or offering innovative breakfast serving models, such as breakfast in the classroom (BIC), grab n' go, or second chance breakfast, may encourage higher SBP participation rates.

Objective: To examine the association between offering breakfast free to all students as well as breakfast serving model with student participation in the SBP in October 2017 among public schools in North Carolina.

Rates of and characteristics associated with food insecurity differ among undergraduate and graduate students at a large public university in the Southeast United States.

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of food insecurity and identify characteristics associated with food security status separately for undergraduate and graduate students. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 4819 students from a public flagship university in the Southeastern US. Students completed an online questionnaire assessing food security status over the past 12 months using the 10-item US Adult Food Security Survey Module and self-reported demographics and student characteristics.

Partnering to Strengthen School Meals Programs in a Southeastern School District.

Background: School meals have the potential to improve diet quality for millions of students across the United States.

Objectives: Evaluate the feasibility of the FAV5 program, which aims to strengthen school meals by increasing appeal of school meals and improving relationships within the team of child nutrition staff and with other staff/teachers at their schools.

Methods: Nutrition researchers facilitated partnerships between the following groups to develop and implement the FAV5 program: the child nutrition director (CND) and managers at seven elementary schools in a North Carolina county, teachers and principals at those schools, a chef, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, and volunteers.

Novel Sales Tracking Method to Evaluate a Healthy Corner Store Intervention.

This article describes a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education-funded (SNAP-Ed) healthy corner store intervention and novel evaluation method for tracking sales of promoted foods in two corner stores in North Carolina. The healthy corner store intervention was designed to encourage the purchase of healthy foods among SNAP participants. Stickers were placed on eligible foods to highlight healthy options as well as assist with tracking the sales of those products.

Recommendations for Adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes Into U.S. Policy.

In 1981, the World Health Organization adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes ( International Code), with subsequent resolutions adopted since then. The International Code contributes to the safe and adequate provision of nutrition for infants by protecting and promoting breastfeeding and ensuring that human milk substitutes, when necessary, are used properly through adequate information and appropriate marketing and distribution. Despite the World Health Organization recommendations for all member nations to implement the International Code in its entirety, the United States has yet to take action to translate it into any national measures.

Pathobiology and potential therapeutic value of intestinal short-chain fatty acids in gut inflammation and obesity.

Background: The lumen of the gastrointestinal tract contains many substances produced from the breakdown of foodstuffs, from salivary, esophageal, intestinal, hepatic, and pancreatic secretions, and from sloughed cells present in the gastrointestinal lumen. Although these substances were traditionally regarded as waste products, there is increasing realization that many can be biologically active, either as signalling compounds or as nutrients. For example, proteins are broken down into amino acids, which are then sensed by nutrient receptors.

Nutrition claims influence health perceptions and taste preferences in fourth- and fifth-grade children.

Objective: To determine whether children perceive food with nutrition claims as healthier and tasting differently than those without claims.

Methods: Fourth- and fifth-graders (n = 47) from 3 California schools participated. Two identical products (cookies, crackers, or juice) were placed in front of product packages, 1 with a nutrition claim, the other without.