Universal Free School Meals Policy and Childhood Obesity.

Background And Objectives: The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a universal free school meals policy, increases school meal participation by allowing schools in low-income areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students; however, its impact on obesity remains uncertain. The objective of this study is to estimate the association of CEP with child obesity.

Methods: School obesity prevalence was calculated using BMI measurements collected annually between 2013 and 2019 from students in California public schools in grades 5, 7, and 9.

Seattle's sweetened beverage tax implementation and changes in interior marketing displays.

Policymakers aim sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes at decreasing SSB consumption; however, little is known about their impact on beverage marketing in the retail environment. We assessed changes in interior marketing displays within large food stores before and after the implementation of Seattle's SSB tax. We used Poisson difference-in-difference (DID) models to estimate whether presence and variety of interior beverage marketing displays in Seattle changed from before to after the tax compared to displays in non-taxed comparison area stores, overall, and by beverage type.

The Availability and Price of Healthy Food in Seattle by Neighborhood Sociodemographic Characteristics.

Introduction: Unequal access to healthy food in the local food retail environment contributes to diet quality disparities. We assessed whether in-store availability and prices of healthy foods differ by neighborhood-level income and racial and ethnic composition in a representative sample of food stores in Seattle, Washington.

Methods: We developed and validated an in-store survey tool and surveyed 134 stores.

Costs, Reach, and Benefits of COVID-19 Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer and Grab-and-Go School Meals for Ensuring Youths' Access to Food During School Closures.

Importance: School meals are associated with improved nutrition and health for millions of US children, but school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted children's access to school meals. Two policy approaches, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, which provided the cash value of missed meals directly to families on debit-like cards to use for making food purchases, and the grab-and-go meals program, which offered prepared meals from school kitchens at community distribution points, were activated to replace missed meals for children from low-income families; however, the extent to which these programs reached those who needed them and the programs' costs were unknown.

Objective: To assess the proportion of eligible youths who were reached by P-EBT and grab-and-go meals, the amount of meals or benefits received, and the cost to implement each program.

Evaluation of Seattle's sweetened beverage tax on tax support and perceived economic and health impacts.

It is important to understand whether the publics' attitudes towards sugary beverage taxes (SBT) change after tax implementation to ensure the long-term success of tax policies. Seattle's SBT went into effect on January 1, 2018. We administered a mixed-mode survey to adults in Seattle and comparison areas, pre- and 2-years post-tax, to evaluate the impact of the SBT on 1) tax support and 2) perceived tax impacts (N = 2,933).

Countermarketing About Fruit Drinks, Alone or With Water Promotion: A 2019 Randomized Controlled Trial in Latinx Parents.

To test whether fruit drink countermarketing messages alone or combined with water promotion messages reduce Latinx parents' purchases of fruit drinks for children aged 0 to 5 years. We performed a 3-arm randomized controlled online trial enrolling 1628 Latinx parents in the United States during October and November 2019. We assessed the effect of culturally tailored fruit drink countermarketing messages (fruit drink‒only group), countermarketing and water promotion messages combined (combination group), or car-seat safety messages (control) delivered via Facebook groups for 6 weeks on parental beverage choices from a simulated online store.

Qualitative Study on Participant Perceptions of a Supermarket Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Program.

Background: Complete Eats Rx is a fruit and vegetable prescription program designed to incentivize fruit and vegetable consumption among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants via $10 incentives distributed either weekly or per encounter to purchase fruits and vegetables at a mid-price supermarket chain in Washington State.

Objective: To better understand SNAP participants' experience, and to determine perceived impacts and consequences of the program.

Design: Qualitative analysis of nine photovoice sessions.

Impact of a sweetened beverage tax on beverage prices in Seattle, WA.

Seattle's Sweetened Beverage Tax is an excise tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages and is one of the highest beverage taxes in the U.S.

Is the public sweet on sugary beverages? Social desirability bias and sweetened beverage taxes.

Social desirability bias has been documented in self-reported diet as well as in voting behavior, but not in regards to sweetened beverage consumption or sweetened beverage taxes. We find evidence that respondents in a mixed-mode opinion survey exhibit social desirability bias in both reported sweetened beverage consumption and beliefs about the health and economic benefits of sweetened beverage taxes. We do so in a study of 1704 adults residing in Seattle, Minneapolis, and the D.

Perceptions of the possible health and economic impacts of Seattle's sugary beverage tax.

Background: Taxes on sugary beverages are an emerging strategy to improve health by reducing consumption and raising revenues to support community wellbeing. However, taxes may have unintended consequences, and perceptions of these consequences may affect attitudes towards this policy.

Methods: In June 2017, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance imposing a tax on sugary beverages, effective January 1, 2018.

Training High School Student "Citizen Scientists" to Document School Water Access: A Feasibility Study.

Background: Youth water consumption is inadequate. Increasing adolescent water consumption could support decreased dental caries and body mass index (BMI). Most schools are required to provide free, potable water.

Casino Ownership and Health-Related Community Resources Among Native American Tribes in California.

Introduction: Casinos are significantly associated with improved health among some Native Americans living on tribal lands. An increase in health-related community resources related to tribal ownership of casinos may be one mechanism through which the health of Native Americans is improved. However, no studies have quantitatively assessed whether casinos are associated with having more community resources.

An Evaluation of Washington State SNAP-Ed Farmers' Market Initiatives and SNAP Participant Behaviors.

Objective: To describe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed)-supported farmers' market (FM) access activities in Washington State communities and identify associations between participation in these activities and SNAP participants' FM shopping and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Design: Descriptive study; data included stakeholder interviews and surveys with FM managers and a stratified clustered random sample of SNAP participants.

Setting: Washington State.