Full Article
Please note that this study was published before the implementation of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which went into effect during the 2012-13 school year, and its provision for Smart Snacks Nutrition Standards for Competitive Food in Schools, implemented during the 2014-15 school year. As such, certain research may not be relevant today.
The Journal of Child Nutrition & Management (JCNM) is a refereed electronic journal providing communication among child nutrition professionals and those with an interest in child nutrition. We encourage researchers, educators, and practitioners to take advantage of this Journal as a vehicle for advancing the field of child nutrition by communicating and disseminating new approaches that have been tested through scientific methodologies.
In addition to research articles on significant issues relating to child nutrition programs, three other categories of articles are encouraged: commentaries expressing opinions on timely subjects; current issues providing a review of literature or a discussion of a subject of current interest or controversy; and practical solutions describing a problem or challenge and discussing how the problem was solved.
This issue of the Journal of Child Nutrition & Management includes the results of studies providing insight into current child nutrition program trends. Several studies relate to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among children, through the federally-funded Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, school gardens, and the Harvest of the Month program in California.
Bica and Jamelske continue their investigation of the impact of the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Related to their study published in the spring issue of the JCNM, study results reported in this issue provide useful information to share with policymakers, documenting that the program increases children’s fruit and vegetable consumption and leads to positive behaviors shaping lifelong healthful food patterns.
Schumacher and colleagues examine the sustainability and use of school gardens. Goto and colleagues examine the effect of the Harvest of the Month program on middle-school students’ fruit and vegetable preferences, self-efficacy and attitudes, and self-reported consumption. These studies provide useful data on the positive effect of socio-environmental factors on fruit and vegetable intake.
Also in this issue, Sharma and colleagues describe their process to develop consistent and reproducible questionnaires to evaluate nutrition and physical activity knowledge in African American and Latino children in elementary schools, an important tool for measuring progress in improving children’s health-related behaviors.
Pratt and colleagues utilize a questionnaire to investigate the types of technology currently used by school nutrition directors and issues relating to the use of technology in meeting school nutrition program goals. Castillo and Nettles identify perceptions, practices, advantages, and barriers to implementing branding concepts in school nutrition programs, providing useful information for future development of marketing initiatives.
This issue also includes research abstracts from the 2012 School Nutrition Association Annual National Conference and Nettles’ summary of child nutrition research conducted by the National Food Service Management Institute, providing valuable insight into current trends and issues. In addition we acknowledge the reviewers who volunteered their time and expertise to provide thoughtful feedback on JCNM manuscripts to authors and the editor.
We are pleased to acknowledge the outstanding assistance of Deborah Fetter, who has joined the University of California, Davis, JCNM team as Assistant Editor. We look forward to your feedback and contributions to the Journal.
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Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, PhD |
Marilyn Briggs, PhD, RD, SNS |