School Food Service Costs: Does Location Matter?

Over 30 million lunches and 9.8 million breakfasts are served every day to children in participating American schools through the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. It is challenging for participating local school food authorities (SFAs) to serve appealing, healthful meals while covering food, labor, and other operating costs with USDA reimbursements. But it may be more difficult for some SFAs than others due to cost differences across locations. Analysis of data from a large national sample reveals that after controlling for differences in SFA characteristics, sharp differences in costs remained among rural, urban, and suburban SFAs and across regions. The highest costs occurred in Mid-Atlantic, suburban SFAs and the lowest cost existed in southwest, urban SFAs. Differences in food costs explained the largest share of this variation.school meal costs, cost function, SFA, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

USDA School Meal Programs Face New Challenges

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The National School Lunch Program: Background, Trends, and Issues

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the Nation’s second largest food and nutrition assistance program. In 2006, it operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools and provided over 28 million low-cost or free lunches to children on a typical school day at a Federal cost of $8 billion for the year. This report provides background information on the NSLP, including historical trends and participant characteristics. It also addresses steps being taken to meet challenges facing administrators of the program, including tradeoffs between nutritional quality of foods served, costs, and participation, as well as between program access and program integrity.National School Lunch Program, child nutrition, obesity, food assistance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Public Economics,

CONTRIBUTIONS OF NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES TO THE U.S. DIET

This report analyzes consumer demand and nutritional issues associated with nonalcoholic beverages purchased for at-home use by looking at demographic variables such as household size, household income, education level, and region. The beverages include milk, carbonated soft drinks, bottled water, fruit juices, fruit drinks, coffee, tea, and isotonics (sports drinks). The report's focus is on the impact of nutritional quality from beverage purchase choices that a household makes, looking at the household's availability of calories, calcium, vitamin C, and caffeine from these beverage choices. Using the Daily Values on the Nutrition Facts portion of the food label as a reference, we find that nonalcoholic beverages purchased for at-home consumption provided, on a per-person basis: 10 percent of daily value for calories; 20 percent of the daily value for calcium; 70 percent of daily value for vitamin C. Statistical analyses included the use of descriptive cross-tabulations and regression analyses, with profiles of households that were more or less likely to purchase the beverages, as well as key determinants associated with the probability of purchasing selected beverages.nonalcoholic beverages, nutrient intake, cross-tabulations, regression analyses, probit analyses, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Prenatal Perception of WIC Breastfeeding Recommendation Predicts Breastfeeding Outcomes in Infant\u27s First Year

Objectives Promoting breastfeeding (BF) is a priority of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Prior research found that pregnant mothers who believed WIC recommends BF only (versus BF and formula equally OK) were more likely to initiate BF and continue through 1 month postpartum. We examine whether such mothers are more likely to continue to exclusively BF through 5 months and BF at all through the infant\u27s first year. Methods Data are from the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (ITFPS-2), a longitudinal study that includes 2,649 mothers who completed prenatal interviews. Four BF outcomes were examined: (a) exclusive BF through 5 months, (b) any BF through 11 months, (c) age of the infant (in days up to 7 months) when formula is initiated, and (d) age of the infant (days up to 13 months) when mother stopped BF. We examined the associations of prenatal belief that WIC recommended BF only (yes/no) with each BF outcome using the Cox regression model to estimate the likelihood of breastfeeding outcomes over time while controlling for prenatal infant feeding intention (IFI) and socio-demographic factors. All analyses accounted for complex survey design effects. Results Of the pregnant mothers, 41% perceived that WIC recommends BF only; 59% perceived that WIC recommends BF and formula equally. Mothers who perceived WIC to recommend BF only were less likely to initiate formula by 7 months than those who perceived WIC recommended BF and formula equally [Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.84; P \u3c 0.05], after controlling for IFI.WIC perception was a significant predictor only when IFI was not controlled for the other three BF outcomes: stopped exclusive BF through 5 months (HR = 0.83; P \u3c 0.05), stopped any BF through 11 months (HR = 0.80; P \u3c 0.01), and stopped any BF by 13 months (HR = 0.82; P \u3c 0.01). Conclusions Perception of WIC BF recommendation can be a significant predictor of BF outcomes in the infant\u27s first year, possibly by affecting BF intention. Funding Sources ITFPS-2 is funded by the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Support for the study analysis was provided by the Economic Research Service, USDA CRA 58–4000-8–0038-R. Findings and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or US Government determination or policy

Can Food Stamps Do More to Improve Food Choices? An Economic Perspective

Food stamp recipients, like other Americans, struggle with nutrition problems associated with choice of foods, as well as amounts. This series of Economic Information Bulletins compiles evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of participants. It examines the role of affordability and price of healthful foods in influencing food choices and the likely success of any policy targeted at changing food choices through food stamp bonuses or restrictions. It also examines other approaches to changing food choices, including nutrition education and potential strategies drawn from behavioral economics literature. Meaningful improvements in the diets of food stamp recipients will likely depend on a combination of many tactics. Measuring the effect of any policy change on food choices and health outcomes remains a challenge.Food Stamp Program, food consumption, food prices, food expenditures, nutrition education, behavioral economics, food choices, diet, health, fruits and vegetables, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, FANRP, ERS, USDA, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

The Iowa Homemaker vol.9, no.5

Guide Our Giving by Bessie Hammer, page 1 Art Expression for the Child by Joanne M. Hansen, page 2 What About the Glamour? by Nielsine Hansen, page 3 Death to the Clothes Moth by Jean B. Guthrie, page 4 Long or Short? by Irene Evinger and Lillian Goodrow, page 4 Homemaker’s Books by Dorothy Parkhurst, page 5 4-H Club by Esther Sietman, page 6 State Association by Marcia E. Turner, page 8 Editorial, page 11 Alumnae News by Dorothy B. Anderson, page 1

Optimising care transitions for people with multiple long-term conditions::learning from a stakeholder engagement workshop

This briefing paper reports on the findings from a stakeholder engagement workshop undertaken in collaboration with the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI). This work is part of the Systems Engineering and Thinking to Transform Transitions (SET4) of Health and Social Care study. The stakeholder engagement workshop included a diverse group of individuals from various sectors, including those directly involved in providing health and care services, as well as representatives from universities, industry, policy-making bodies, and other representative organisations

A two-arm parallel-group individually randomised prison pilot study of a male remand alcohol intervention for self-efficacy enhancement:The APPRAISE study protocol

Introduction The prevalence of at-risk drinking is far higher among those in contact with the criminal justice system (73%) than the general population (35%). However, there is little evidence on the effectiveness of alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) in reducing risky drinking among those in the criminal justice system, including the prison system and, in particular, those on remand. Building on earlier work, A two-arm parallel group individually randomised Prison Pilot study of a male Remand Alcohol Intervention for Self-efficacy Enhancement (APPRAISE) is a pilot study designed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an ABI, delivered to male prisoners on remand. The findings of APPRAISE should provide the information required to design a future definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods and analysis APPRAISE will use mixed methods, with two linked phases, across two prisons in the UK, recruiting 180 adult men on remand: 90 from Scotland and 90 from England. Phase I will involve a two-arm, parallel-group, individually randomised pilot study. The pilot evaluation will provide data on the likely impact of A two-arm parallel group individually randomised Prison Pilot study of a male Remand Alcohol Intervention for Self-efficacy Enhancement (APPRAISE), which will be used to inform a future definitive multicentre RCT. Phase II will be a process evaluation assessing how the ABI has been implemented to explore the change mechanisms underpinning the ABI (figure 1) and to assess the context within which the ABI is delivered. Ethics and dissemination The APPRAISE protocol has been approved by the East of Scotland Research Ethics Committee (19/ES/0068), National Offender Management System (2019-240), Health Board Research and Development (2019/0268), Scottish Prison Service research and ethics committee, and by the University of Edinburgh’s internal ethics department. The findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed journal publications, presentations at local, national and international conferences, infographics and shared with relevant stakeholders through meetings and events.Additional co-authors: Jeremy Bray, Jennifer Ferguson, Arun Sondhi, Kieran Lynch, Jessica Rees, Dorothy Newbury-Birc