District Wellness Policy Nutrition Standards Are Associated with Healthier District Food Procurement Practices in the United States.

Publisher: MDPI Publishing Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101521595 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2072-6643 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20726643 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nutrients Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel, Switzerland : MDPI Publishing

Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena* ; Food* ; Health Policy* ; Nutrition Policy*; Food Services/*standards; Child ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Prevalence ; Reference Standards ; Schools ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; United States

Food procurement policies often exist to require that schools purchase foods with specific nutrient standards. Such policies are increasingly being used with the hope of improving access to healthier foods and beverages. Local wellness policies, required in any school district that participates in Federal Child Nutrition Programs, often contain specific nutrition standards that detail what can be sold to students during the school day. This study investigated the extent to which nutrition standards in wellness policies may be associated with healthier nutrition standards in district-level purchasing specifications. Cross-sectional data from the 2014-2015 school year for 490 school food authorities from 46 states and the District of Columbia were collected as part of the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study and the National Wellness Policy Study. Survey-adjusted multivariable logistic regression models were computed to examine the association between district wellness policy nutrition standards and corresponding district food purchasing specifications. Results show that having a district wellness policy with corresponding nutrition standards and being in a rural area were associated with district food purchasing specifications for specific nutrients. These findings contribute to the literature to suggest that having a wellness policy with detailed nutrition standards may help to increase access to healthier foods and beverages.

J Sch Health. 2017 Aug;87(8):608-615. (PMID: 28691173)
J Nutr Educ Behav. 2013 Nov-Dec;45(6):611-9. (PMID: 23819904)
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2016 Dec;29(6):677-686. (PMID: 27126177)
Am J Public Health. 2011 Aug;101(8):1501-7. (PMID: 21680933)
Appetite. 2017 Jan 1;108:288-294. (PMID: 27756636)
Prev Med. 2007 Mar;44(3):189-95. (PMID: 16997358)
Adv Nutr. 2012 Sep 01;3(5):746-8. (PMID: 22983863)
Fed Regist. 2016 Jul 29;81(146):50131-51. (PMID: 27476195)
J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014 Jun;114(6):908-917. (PMID: 24200654)
Public Health Nutr. 2017 Feb;20(3):556-564. (PMID: 27573806)
Am J Public Health. 2008 Sep;98(9):1608-15. (PMID: 18633099)
Obes Rev. 2016 Dec;17(12):1198-1217. (PMID: 27484468)
J Sch Health. 2014 Jul;84(7):466-71. (PMID: 24889084)
J Am Diet Assoc. 2007 Nov;107(11):1916-23. (PMID: 17964311)
Am J Public Health. 2012 Sep;102(9):1644-54. (PMID: 22813465)
Fed Regist. 2016 Jul 29;81(146):50151-70. (PMID: 27476196)
Prev Med. 2020 Oct;139:106093. (PMID: 32305581)
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014 Mar 03;11(3):2608-27. (PMID: 24595213)
J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2017;12(3):328-341. (PMID: 29242739)
JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jan 3;3(1):e1918436. (PMID: 31940035)
Am J Prev Med. 2009 Jan;36(1):74-81. (PMID: 18977112)
Am J Prev Med. 2013 Nov;45(5):551-9. (PMID: 24139767)
PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49890. (PMID: 23166788)
Am J Prev Med. 2014 Apr;46(4):423-8. (PMID: 24650846)
Public Health Nutr. 2019 Aug;22(11):1941-1950. (PMID: 30198458)
Lancet. 2008 Nov 8;372(9650):1661-9. (PMID: 18994664)
Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2018 Jan;38(1):6-17. (PMID: 29323862)

Prime grant #76655 Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; cooperative agreement # USDA-FNS-OPS-SWP-15-IL-01 U.S. Department of Agriculture

Keywords: child nutrition; district wellness policy; food procurement; legal epidemiology; policy surveillance

Date Created: 20201111 Date Completed: 20210407 Latest Revision: 20240330

20240330

PMC7694957

10.3390/nu12113417

33171701