childhood nutrition Archives

childhood nutrition

March 19, 2025

California bill aims to phase out harmful ultra-processed school foods

By Shannon Kelleher

As states across the country move to ban food dyes, California lawmakers on March 19 introduced the first bill in the nation that would phase out certain ultra-processed foods from school meals.

If signed into law, Assembly Bill 1264 would establish the first statutory definition of what qualifies as an ultra-processed food and would direct state scientists to work with university experts to identify particularly harmful products, which would then be removed from school cafeterias by 2032.

“We have not done enough to protect [children] from ultra-processed foods and beverages that have far more in common with a cigarette than they do a fruit or vegetable,” Ashley Gearhardt, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and director of the school’s Food Addiction Science & Treatment Lab, said on a March 19 press call.

AB 1264 is a “courageous step forward” towards treating ultra-processed foods like the serious health threats they are, said Gearhardt.

To identify which ultra-processed foods should be eliminated from school offerings, scientists will consider whether a product includes additives that are banned elsewhere, whether it has been linked to health harms, whether it has been show to contribute to food addiction, and whether it contains excessive fat, sugar or salt, California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, said on the call.

The scientists will be required to publish a first report outlining this subcategory of especially harmful ultra-processed foods by July 1, 2026, said Gabriel, and will be required to update the list every two years as research on these foods evolves.

The bill was embraced by both Democrat and Republican lawmakers, added Gabriel. “Protecting our kids from harm is, and always should be, a bipartisan issue,” he said

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October 26, 2022

Video ‘countermarketing’ can help cut demand for unhealthy food, study finds

by Shannon Kelleher

Viewing 45-second videos that explain common misperceptions about toddler milks and fruit drinks reduced caregivers’ intentions to serve these sweetened beverages to their young children, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study’s findings suggest that countermarketing messages designed to illuminate problematic marketing techniques could reduce demand for unhealthy foods.

“We were delighted at the findings,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, a researcher with the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut and an author of the study. “We’re hoping that we have an opportunity to see effects on actual behavior and long-term behavior.”

“There isn’t a lot of research in countermarketing in the area of highly processed food, junk food,” said Chris Palmedo, an associate professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health. “[The study] confirms the gradual progress that research is making in this area.”

Previous research suggests many parents do not realize what they are really buying when they purchase toddler milks and kids’ fruit drinks. Popular fruit drinks often contain less than 10% juice and are packed with added sugars and diet sweeteners. Health claims on toddler milks, which are also sweetened, are not backed by science.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises giving children under five mostly water and plain milk to drink, stating that sugar-sweetened beverages are “detrimental to child health,” artificial sweeteners’ health effects on kids are “not well-understood,” and toddler milks are “unnecessary for most children and provide no nutritional benefit over a healthy, balanced eating plan.”