A new study by Christopher N. Ford, PhD, found that a tax on beverages high in sugar and/or fat may be associated with favorable shifts in food and beverage purchases among households in the United States with a preschool child. A press release by the Gillings School of Global Public Health featured Ford’s research: Researchers […]
Purchases of taxed beverages decline in Mexico after excise tax takes effect
The UNC Food Research Program and the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública have estimated changes in household purchases of beverages over the complete year of 2014, since the one peso per liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages took effect (January 1, 2014).The tax of approximately 10 percent applies to nondairy and non-alcoholic beverages with added […]
Poti: Processed Foods Account for >75% of Calories Purchased from US Grocery Stores
A study by Jennifer Poti found that >75% of the foods Americans purchased from grocery stores is moderately or highly processed, as reported by TIME on May 21, 2015. As much as Americans like to pretend to worship at the altar of kale, many of us are cheating with chips, a new study suggests. We like junk […]
Study: preschoolers’ calorie intake down in last decade
A new study by Christopher Ford, doctoral candidate in nutrition epidemiology at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and research assistant with the UNCFRP evaluated beverage trends of U.S. preschool children over a 10 year period between 2003-2012. The study noted that among U.S. preschoolers, total caloric intake fell by 132 calories per day, with […]
Study: Consumer Purchases of Cakes, Cookies and Pies Have Decreased by 24 Percent
A new study published by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, by recent UNC graduate (and UNCFRP alum) Dr. Kevin C. Mathias, finds that consumer purchases of cakes, cookies, pies, and other ready-to-eat grain-based desserts decreased by 24% from 2005-2010. Dr. Mathias investigated this group of foods (ready-to-eat grain-based desserts) because they […]
Study: Daily tasks can get sedentary workers closer to national physical activity guidelines
A new study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, titled No time for the gym? Housework and other non-labor market time use patterns are associated with meeting physical activity recommendations among adults in full-time, sedentary jobs, with lead author Lindsey Smith, found that people with sedentary (or deskbound) jobs can still meet national […]
NPR: Sayonara To ‘Super-Size Me?’ Food Companies Cut Calories, So Do We
NPR’s Alison Aubrey, with a story discussing our research published last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the impact on individuals and food and beverage companies: [Listen to the story here] It just might be the dawn of a new era in American eating. Two-thirds of us are now more likely to go […]
UNC Study Shows Food and Beverage Companies Exceed Caloric Cut Pledge
Release from UNC Gillings School of Public Health – September 17, 2014 (CHAPEL HILL, N.C.) 16 of the world’s largest food and beverage producing companies pledged to help reduce obesity of American families with children two to 18 years old by pledging to eliminate 1 trillion calories from the products these companies sold in the […]
Preliminary Results of the Effects of Tax in Mexico on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Energy Dense Non-Staple Foods
The UNC Food Research Program team and the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) of Mexico conducted a study to estimate the effect of the one peso per liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico. Preliminary results, released by INSP Mexico are available here. Another study by the team analyzed the effect of a tax […]
Families with Preschoolers Bought Fewer High Calorie Beverages, Chris Ford’s Study shows
A new report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, titled Are Food and Beverage Purchases in Households with Preschoolers Changing? A Longitudinal Analysis from 2000 to 2011, with lead author Chris Ford, shows that between 2000-2011 purchases of high calorie foods and beverages declined in households with preschoolers. This study was featured by the Gillings School of […]
Children’s Reported Energy Intake Falls; Later, Increases for Some
Recent research by UNCFRP team members and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers finds evidence of a decline in U.S. children’s reported energy intake in the early 2000s that is consistent with the previously identified obesity plateau that occurred in children in the early 2000s. It’s not all good news, though: the team […]
Study by Dalia Stern highlights impact of Caloric Beverages in Mexico
A new study by Dalia Stern found that caloric beverages were a main source of energy (calories) for children and adults in Mexico between 1999-2012. The study was first published online in The Journal of Nutrition April 17, and findings are being highlighted by the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Mexico has some of […]
Jennifer Poti awarded 2014 Impact Award
Jennifer Poti, PhD student and UNC Food Research Program team member, was awarded a 2014 Impact Award by the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Impact Awards are awarded to recognize graduate students for contributions they are making to our state. Read more about Jennifer Poti’s work and the […]
Barry Popkin quoted in “Obesity Rate for Young Children Plummets 43% in a Decade”
A recent article in the New York Times highlighted research findings from a CDC report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that showed a significant decrease in obesity rates among young children (ages 2 – 5) from 13.9% to 8.4% between 2003-04 and 2011-12. This drop in obesity rates is a good sign. Barry Popkin […]
Focus: Turning Point for US Diets?
New research published online January by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, [Epublication ahead of the print] shows the recession isn’t the reason for the leveling of obesity rates in the United States. The research was featured by UNC: “We found U.S. consumers changed their eating and food purchasing habits significantly beginning in 2003, when […]
News Feature: Fast Food & Child Obesity
Several news outlets featured research published in the January 2014 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by UNCFRP team member Jennifer Poti, Kiyah Duffey, and Barry Popkin, which investigated the connection between children’s diets and obesity. The Los Angeles Times wrote: In a new study, researchers from the University of North Carolina led by nutrition professor […]
HWCF Evaluation Highlighted in News Reports of 6.4 Trillion Calorie Reduction
A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation press release highlighting UNCFRP research to evaluate the HWCF pledge to cut calories from the food supply was featured in stories from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Reuters, and several other news outlets. Sixteen of the nation’s leading food and beverage companies sold 6.4 trillion fewer […]
Daily Tar Heel reports on UNC Food Research Program
The student newspaper for the University of North Carolina reported on the our UNC Food Research Program’s effort to find out what America is eating. Six years ago, 16 food manufacturers pledged to cut one trillion calories from the marketplace by 2012, and a total of 1.5 trillion calories by 2015 — and UNC researchers […]
UNCFRP featured in AP’s “What do we eat? New food map will tell us”
Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick outlines our Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Evaluation in an article titled “What do we eat? New food map will tell us” published May 20, 2013. Popkin and his researchers are hoping their project will only be the beginning of a map that consumers, companies, researchers and even the government […]
Barry Popkin featured in University Gazette (UNC)
Barry Popkin, PhD is featured in UNC’s most recent University Gazette; in an article titled Unlikely path led economist to a life of global public health, written by Courtney Mitchell. The first time Barry Popkin visited Chapel Hill, he was an economist and political activist passing through town in the late 1960s, working on desegregation and social change. He […]