Countermarketing Versus Health Education Messages About Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial of US Adults.

To test whether countermarketing messages for sugary drinks lead to lower intentions to consume sugary drinks and less perceived weight stigma than health education messages. In August 2023, we conducted an online randomized controlled trial with US adults (n = 2169). We assessed the effect of countermarketing messages, health education messages, and neutral control messages on intentions to consume sugary drinks and perceived weight stigma.

The impact of the federal menu labeling law on the sentiment of Twitter discussions about restaurants and food retailers: An interrupted time series analysis.

The US federal menu labeling law, implemented on May 7 th 2018, required that restaurant chains post calorie counts on menu items. The purpose of this study was to analyze the change in public sentiment, using Twitter data, regarding eight restaurant chains before and after the calorie labeling law's implementation. Twitter data was mined from Twitter's application programming interface (API) for this study from the calendar year 2018; 2016 and was collected as a control.

Assessment of Calories Purchased After Calorie Labeling of Prepared Foods in a Large Supermarket Chain.

Importance: Calorie labels for prepared (ie, ready-to-eat) foods are required in large chain food establishments in the US. Large evaluations in restaurants suggest small declines in purchases of prepared foods after labeling, but to the authors' knowledge, no studies have examined how this policy influences supermarket purchases.

Objective: To estimate changes in calories purchased from prepared foods and potential packaged substitutes compared with control foods after calorie labeling of prepared foods in supermarkets.

Changes in Calorie Content of Menu Items at Large Chain Restaurants After Implementation of Calorie Labels.

Importance: Calorie labeling on menus is required in US chain food establishments with 20 or more locations. This policy may encourage retailers to offer lower-calorie items, which could lead to a public health benefit by reducing customers' calorie intake from prepared foods. However, potential reformulation of restaurant menu items has not been examined since nationwide enforcement of this policy in 2018.

Changes in the calorie and nutrient content of purchased fast food meals after calorie menu labeling: A natural experiment.

Background: Calorie menu labeling is a policy that requires food establishments to post the calories on menu offerings to encourage healthy food choice. Calorie labeling has been implemented in the United States since May 2018 per the Affordable Care Act, but to the best of our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the relationship between calorie labeling and meal purchases since nationwide implementation of this policy. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between calorie labeling and the calorie and nutrient content of purchased meals after a fast food franchise began labeling in April 2017, prior to the required nationwide implementation, and after nationwide implementation of labeling in May 2018, when all large US chain restaurants were required to label their menus.

Federal calorie labelling compliance at US chain restaurants.

Objective: The 2010 Affordable Care Act included a provision requiring chain food establishments to post calories on menus. In 2017, prior to the final implementation of the law, 59 of 90 top-selling chains had fully implemented labelling. This study extends the documentation of compliance to the 200 top-selling chains after the nationwide requirement went into effect in May 2018.

BWHealthy Weight Pilot Study: A randomized controlled trial to improve weight-loss maintenance using deposit contracts in the workplace.

Objective: Deposit contracts, where participants "bet" on achieving a goal and get their money back only if successful, have been shown to be effective for short-term weight-loss. This pilot study examined their effect on weight-loss maintenance.

Methods: From 2016 to 2018, we conducted a pilot, 50-week randomized controlled trial among 42 hospital employees (19 intervention and 23 control), in Boston, Massachusetts, who lost ≥10 lb (4.

Fast food intake and excess weight gain over a 1-year period among preschool-age children.

Background: Fast food is cross-sectionally associated with having overweight and obesity in young children.

Objectives: To examine whether fast food intake independently contributes to the development of overweight and obesity among preschool-age children.

Methods: Prospective cohort of 3- to 5-year-old children (n = 541) followed for 1 year.

Estimating the effect of calorie menu labeling on calories purchased in a large restaurant franchise in the southern United States: quasi-experimental study.

Objective: To evaluate whether calorie labeling of menus in large restaurant chains was associated with a change in mean calories purchased per transaction.

Design: Quasi-experimental longitudinal study.

Setting: Large franchise of a national fast food company with three different restaurant chains located in the southern United States (Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi) from April 2015 until April 2018.

Influence of child-targeted fast food TV advertising exposure on fast food intake: A longitudinal study of preschool-age children.

Introduction: Fast food (FF) advertising is a potential risk factor for FF consumption among children, yet the impact of such advertising on children's FF intake has not been assessed in a longitudinal, naturalistic study. Whether parents' FF consumption mitigates advertising effects is also unknown.

Methods: One-year, longitudinal study among 624 preschool-age children, 3-5 years old, and one parent each recruited from New Hampshire, 2014-2015.

Exposure to Child-Directed TV Advertising and Preschoolers' Intake of Advertised Cereals.

Introduction: Child-directed TV advertising is believed to influence children's diets, yet prospective studies in naturalistic settings are absent. This study examined if child-directed TV advertisement exposure for ten brands of high-sugar breakfast cereals was associated with children's intake of those brands prospectively.

Methods: Observational study of 624 preschool-age children and their parents conducted in New Hampshire, 2014-2015.

Compliance in 2017 With Federal Calorie Labeling in 90 Chain Restaurants and 10 Retail Food Outlets Prior to Required Implementation.

Objectives: To examine early compliance with the delayed federal calorie labeling regulation that requires posting calories on menus and menu boards at retail food chains with 20 or more establishments nationally.

Methods: We explored implementation of calorie labeling at 90 of the largest US chain restaurants and the 10 highest-grossing supermarket chains from May to December 2017. We contacted corporate offices and at least 2 locations for each chain, made site visits when possible, and supplemented these efforts with targeted Internet searches.

PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study: Process for Cohort Creation and Cohort Description.

Objectives: The National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) supports observational and clinical research using health care data. The PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study is one of PCORnet's inaugural observational studies. We sought to describe the processes used to integrate and analyze data from children across 35 participating institutions, the cohort characteristics, and prevalence of antibiotic use.

Child-targeted fast-food television advertising exposure is linked with fast-food intake among pre-school children.

Objective: To determine whether exposure to child-targeted fast-food (FF) television (TV) advertising is associated with children's FF intake in a non-experimental setting.

Design: Cross-sectional survey conducted April-December 2013. Parents reported their pre-school child's TV viewing time, channels watched and past-week FF consumption.

Child-targeted TV advertising and preschoolers' consumption of high-sugar breakfast cereals.

Breakfast cereals represent the most highly advertised packaged food on child-targeted television, and most ads are for cereals high in sugar. This study examined whether children's TV exposure to child-targeted, high-sugar breakfast cereal (SBC) ads was associated with their consumption of those SBC brands. Parents of 3- to 5-year-old children were recruited from pediatric and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in Southern New Hampshire, USA, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April-December 2013.

A toy story: Association between young children's knowledge of fast food toy premiums and their fast food consumption.

Fast food restaurants spend millions of dollars annually on child-targeted marketing, a substantial portion of which is allocated to toy premiums for kids' meals. The objectives of this study were to describe fast food toy premiums, and examine whether young children's knowledge of fast food toy premiums was associated with their fast food consumption. Parents of 3- to 5-year old children were recruited from pediatric and WIC clinics in Southern New Hampshire, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April 2013-March 2014.