Availability, Participation, and Interest in Workplace Wellness Programs for Head Start Educators.

Head Start (HS) is the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the United States. It prepares children socially, emotionally, and academically and sets the foundation for school readiness and academic success. In 2024, the Head Start Program Performance Standards were updated to provide enhanced support and workforce stability, including improvements in health and wellness.

Measuring Food Security in the United States for More Than 25 years: History, Methods, Findings, and Opportunities.

This article sets the stage for the "25 Years of Food Security Measurement: Answered Questions and Further Research" conference, with support from the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, by providing some history of federal food security measurement, summarizing notable findings, and reviewing selected special topics in analysis methods. The federal government uses food security surveys to monitor national progress toward reducing food insecurity and to evaluate federal nutrition assistance programs. For the monitoring purpose, there is a tension between focus (on a single authoritative measurement approach) and breadth (encompassing multiple tools or instruments suitable for diverse populations, contexts, and applications).

Whole-grain food intake among US adults, based on different definitions of whole-grain foods, NHANES 2003-2018.

Background: Whole-grain (WG) foods are defined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), FDA, AHA, American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI), and Whole Grains Council (WGC) in different ways with diverse focuses on grain components only, whole foods, or nutrient contents.

Objectives: We aimed to compare estimated WG food intake among US adults using different definitions.

Methods: For each definition, we estimated the mean intake and trends of WG food consumption using survey-weighted 24-h dietary recalls from nationally representative samples of 39,755 US adults aged 20+ y from 8 cycles (2003-2018) of the NHANES.

Implementing federal food service guidelines in federal and private worksite cafeterias in the United States leads to improved health outcomes and is cost saving.

Poor diet increases cardiometabolic disease risk, yet the impact of food service guidelines on employee health and its cost effectiveness is poorly understood. Federal food service guidelines (FFSG) aim to provide United States (U.S.

Can virtual events achieve co-benefits for climate, participation, and satisfaction? Comparative evidence from five international Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy Week conferences.

The advancement of science and evidence-based solutions for planetary health increasingly require interdisciplinary and international learning and sharing. Yet aviation travel to academic conferences is carbon-intensive and expensive, thus perpetuating planetary health and equity challenges. Using data from five annual international Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy Week conferences from 2016 to 2020, we explore whether moving to virtual conferencing produced co-benefits for climate, participation, attendee interaction, and satisfaction.

Health Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of Achieving the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative Voluntary Sugar Reduction Targets in the United States: A Microsimulation Study.

Background: High intake of added sugar is linked to weight gain and cardiometabolic risk. In 2018, the US National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative proposed government-supported voluntary national sugar reduction targets. This intervention's potential effects and cost-effectiveness are unclear.

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Nutrition Facts Added-Sugar Labeling and Obesity-Associated Cancer Rates in the US.

Importance: Obesity-associated cancer burdens are increasing in the US. Nutrition policies, such as the Nutrition Facts added-sugar labeling, may reduce obesity-associated cancer rates.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Nutrition Facts added-sugar labeling and obesity-associated cancer rates in the US.

Cost-Effectiveness of a National Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax to Reduce Cancer Burdens and Disparities in the United States.

Background: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption contributes to obesity, a risk factor for 13 cancers. Although SSB taxes can reduce intake, the health and economic impact on reducing cancer burdens in the United States are unknown, especially among low-income Americans with higher SSB intake and obesity-related cancer burdens.

Methods: We used the Diet and Cancer Outcome Model, a probabilistic cohort state-transition model, to project health gains and economic benefits of a penny-per-ounce national SSB tax on reducing obesity-associated cancers among US adults aged 20 years and older by income.

Mandating Front-of-Package Food Labels in the U.S. - What are the First Amendment Obstacles?

Front-of-package (FOP) food labels are symbols, schemes, or systems designed to communicate concise and useful nutrition-related information to consumers to facilitate healthier food choices. FOP label policies have been implemented internationally that could serve as policy models for the U.S.

Consumer confusion about wholegrain content and healthfulness in product labels: a discrete choice experiment and comprehension assessment.

Objective: Using a legal standard for scrutinising the regulation of food label claims, this study assessed whether consumers are misled about wholegrain (WG) content and product healthfulness based on common product labels.

Design: First, a discrete choice experiment used pairs of hypothetical products with different amounts of WG, sugar and salt to measure effects on assessment of healthfulness; and second, a WG content comprehension assessment used actual product labels to assess respondent understanding.

Setting: Online national panel survey.

Health Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of Volume, Tiered, and Absolute Sugar Content Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Policies in the United States: A Microsimulation Study.

Background: Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes are a rapidly growing policy tool and can be based on absolute volume, sugar content tiers, or absolute sugar content. Yet, their comparative health and economic impacts have not been quantified, in particular, tiered or sugar content taxes that provide industry incentives for sugar reduction.

Methods: We estimated incremental changes in diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, quality-adjusted life-years, costs, and cost-effectiveness of 3 sugar-sweetened beverage tax designs in the United States, on the basis of (1) volume ($0.

Health and Economic Impacts of the National Menu Calorie Labeling Law in the United States: A Microsimulation Study.

Background: Excess caloric intake is linked to weight gain, obesity, and related diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Obesity incidence is rising, with nearly 3 in 4 US adults being overweight or obese. In 2018, the US federal government finalized the implementation of mandatory labeling of calorie content on all menu items across major chain restaurants nationally as a strategy to support informed consumer choice, reduce caloric intake, and potentially encourage restaurant reformulations.

Federal, State, and Local Nutrition Policies for Cancer Prevention: Perceived Impact and Feasibility, United States, 2018.

To assess stakeholder perceptions of the impact and feasibility of 21 national, state, and local nutrition policies for cancer prevention across 5 domains in the United States. We conducted an online survey from October through December 2018. Participants were invited to take the survey via direct e-mail contact or an organizational e-newsletter.

Differences in Food-at-Home Spending for SNAP and Non-SNAP Households Given Geographic Price Variation.

Background: As the largest nutrition safety net program in the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enhances food security by providing low-income households with benefits for food-at-home (FAH) spending. A large literature finds a positive effect of SNAP on FAH spending, but it is unclear whether this relationship varies with area-level prices. SNAP benefits do not explicitly account for price variation across the contiguous United States.

Cardiometabolic disease costs associated with suboptimal diet in the United States: A cost analysis based on a microsimulation model.

Background: Poor diet is a leading risk factor for cardiometabolic disease (CMD) in the United States, but its economic costs are unknown. We sought to estimate the cost associated with suboptimal diet in the US.

Methods And Findings: A validated microsimulation model (Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model for Risk, Events, Detection, Interventions, Costs, and Trends [CVD PREDICT]) was used to estimate annual cardiovascular disease (fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction, angina, and stroke) and type 2 diabetes costs associated with suboptimal intake of 10 food groups (fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, unprocessed red meats, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, polyunsaturated fats, seafood omega-3 fats, sodium).

Cost Effectiveness of Nutrition Policies on Processed Meat: Implications for Cancer Burden in the U.S.

Introduction: Processed meats are associated with increased risk of colorectal and stomach cancers, but health and economic impacts of policies to discourage processed meats are not well established. This paper aims to evaluate the cost effectiveness of implementing tax and warning labels on processed meats.

Methods: A probabilistic cohort-state transition model was developed in 2018, including lifetime and short-term horizons, healthcare, and societal perspectives, and 3% discount rates for costs and health outcomes.

Preventable Cancer Burden Associated With Poor Diet in the United States.

Background: Diet is an important risk factor for cancer that is amenable to intervention. Estimating the cancer burden associated with diet informs evidence-based priorities for nutrition policies to reduce cancer burden in the United States.

Methods: Using a comparative risk assessment model that incorporated nationally representative data on dietary intake, national cancer incidence, and estimated associations of diet with cancer risk from meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies, we estimated the annual number and proportion of new cancer cases attributable to suboptimal intakes of seven dietary factors among US adults ages 20 years or older, and by population subgroups.

FDA Sodium Reduction Targets and the Food Industry: Are There Incentives to Reformulate? Microsimulation Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Unlabelled: Policy Points The World Health Organization has recommended sodium reduction as a "best buy" to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite this, Congress has temporarily blocked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from implementing voluntary industry targets for sodium reduction in processed foods, the implementation of which could cost the industry around $16 billion over 10 years. We modeled the health and economic impact of meeting the two-year and ten-year FDA targets, from the perspective of people working in the food system itself, over 20 years, from 2017 to 2036.

Trends in Processed Meat, Unprocessed Red Meat, Poultry, and Fish Consumption in the United States, 1999-2016.

Background: Accumulating evidence links excessive consumption of processed meat with an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. Yet, trends in consumption of different types of processed meat in the United States have not been quantified.

Objective: The aim of the study was to characterize trends in consumption of different types of processed meat among US adults in relation to the consumption of unprocessed red meat, poultry, and fish/shellfish in the past 18 years, and their purchase locations.

Legal Feasibility of US Government Policies to Reduce Cancer Risk by Reducing Intake of Processed Meat.

Unlabelled: Policy Points High-profile international evidence reviews by the World Health Organization, the World Cancer Research Fund, the American Institute for Cancer Research, and the American Cancer Society concluded that processed meat consumption increases the risk of cancer. The red meat and processed meat industries are influential in the United States and in several other nations. The US federal government supports public-private partnerships for commodity meat promotion and advertising.