In the fall of 2018, Wilmington, Delaware enacted a policy requiring that healthy beverages (i.e., milk, water, 100% juice) be the default choices at restaurants serving bundled children’s meals. CRESP collected baseline data about children’s meal beverages at affected restaurants in December of 2018, prior to policy implementation. CRESP will collect post-policy data in July of 2019. Additionally, the state of Delaware passed a healthy drink policy, and accordingly CRESP’s future research plans include conducting statewide pre- and post-policy assessments.
Publications:
Karpyn, A., Atkins, J., Kennedy, N., & Tracy, T. (2019). Understanding the landscape of default beverage policies and preliminary data from Delaware restaurants (RB19-002). Newark, DE: Center for Research in Education and Social Policy.
Resources:
Ribakove, S., & Wootan, M. G. (2019). Soda still on the menu: Progress, but more to do to get soda off restaurant children’s menus. Center for Science in the Public Interest. Retrieved from cspinet.org/KidsMealSoda2019
Wilmington City Council, DE. Ordinance No. 4576, 2018. DOI: https://www.wilmingtoncitycouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/4576-Ordinance-Healthy-Childrens-Meal-3.pdf
15 House Bill 79. Delaware General Assembly. (2019). https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=47551
The research efforts outlined here are among the first to measure Bahamian food security, provide a baseline for further research, and aid in determining best practices related to food insecurity in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). A randomized and weighted landline telephone survey was conducted in New Providence, the most populous island in The Bahamas, in order to determine preliminary rates of food insecurity among 1,000 respondents.
Publications:
Karpyn, A. et al. (2019). Using the food insecurity experience scale to understand the characteristics of food insecurity in The Bahamas. (Work in Progress).
Presentations:
Karpyn, A. (2017). Achieving food security in small island developing states, The Bahamas example. University of Pennsylvania PRC Symposium. Accelerating Policies and Research on Food Access, Diet and Obesity Prevention.
Karpyn A. (2018). School lunch and breakfast programs: Opportunities for sustainability. Lecture presented at Hands for Hunger Annual Food for Thought Conference; Nassau, The Bahamas.
The Government of The Bahamas. Department of Statistics. (2016). The Bahamas 2013 Household Expenditure Survey Report. Retrieved from https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/5312dd47-5cd9-45f5-bf6c-dea99f3a6226/Bahamas+Household+Expenditure+Survey+2013+Report_v2.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
Although the Bahamas currently has a food assistance program for children referred to as the National Lunch Programme, it does not sufficiently address the food insecurity problem of youth in the Bahamas. In the absence of a Bahamian national food consumption study, Dr. Allison Karpyn and graduate research assistants conducted an in-depth needs assessment of local food insecurity and breakfast consumption among school age children as well as an evaluation of the current National Lunch Programme in June and July of 2017.
Publications:
Karpyn, A., et al. (2019). Healthy children for a healthy nation: Achieving food security in Bahamian schools. The University of Delaware’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy. (Work in progress).
Presentations:
Karpyn, A. (2017). Achieving food security in small island developing states, The Bahamas example. University of Pennsylvania PRC Symposium. Accelerating Policies and Research on Food Access, Diet and Obesity Prevention.
Resources:
Coburn, C. (August 2014). Data from Health Fairs on Eleuthera, Summer 2014. Oral presentation at One Eleuthera Health and Wellness Symposium. Symposium conducted at the meeting of One Eleuthera Foundation, Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Ministry of Health. (2008). Compulsory standards for healthy school lunch. The Government of the Bahamas: The Nutrition Unit, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health.
*Shared with permission from the Ministry of Health, The Bahamas
Weatherly, J. A. (2018). Exploring breakfast consumption among school children in Eleuthera, Bahamas: A mixed- method study (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
FIONS is a randomized study designed to evaluate whether a new supermarket with healthy food retail funding opening in an urban food desert – Philadelphia, PA – favorably influences dietary intake of residents.
