Dr. Erica Kenney, Assistant Professor of Public Health Nutrition, and others have recently authored “Impact Of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act On Obesity Trends” in the Health Study. In the study, they argue that the science-based nutrition standards set by The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 should continue to support healthy growth in children, participially those living in poverty.
“We tested whether the legislation was associated with reductions in child obesity risk over time using an interrupted time series design for 2003–18 among 173,013 youth in the National Survey of Children’s Health,” writes Dr. Kenney and others in the study. “We found no significant association between the legislation and childhood obesity trends overall.”
“For children in poverty, however, the risk of obesity declined substantially each year after the act’s implementation, translating to a 47 percent reduction in obesity prevalence in 2018 from what would have been expected without the legislation.”
SBS-affiliated co-authors include Jessica Barrett, Dr. Angie Cradock, and Dr. Steven Gortmaker.
