More evidence that pandemic-era Healthy Helping program improved diet quality for North Carolinians with food insecurity

A new study published today in the November issue of Health Affairs underscores the positive impact of the Healthy Helping produce prescription program that provided North Carolinians facing food insecurity with $40 a month to spend on fruits and vegetables during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and […]

Healthy Helping program made fruits and vegetables affordable for North Carolinians during the COVID-19 pandemic 

Low-income North Carolinians who received a monthly fruit and vegetable benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic enjoyed the flexibility to choose more and a greater variety of nutritious foods during a time of profound food insecurity, according to a new study in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. Researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill interviewed participants in […]

Increased WIC cash vouchers for fruits & vegetables have helped families eat healthier during COVID-19

Many U.S. families faced new or additional challenges to finding and paying for food during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these are over 6 million women and young children who participate in the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides nutrition education, supplemental foods, breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals […]

Changes to nutrition assistance programs during COVID-19: Impacts and implications for future policy

A new health policy brief from Health Affairs, titled “COVID-19 Pandemic-Era Nutrition Assistance: Impact And Sustainability,” joins Health Affairs’ ongoing series of policy briefs on the social determinants of health. Its authors, including Global Food Research Program faculty Shu Wen Ng write that COVID-19 became “a stress test” for the ability of the United States to feed those in […]

Metanalysis shows obesity is a major risk factor for COVID complications

New analysis led by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Barry Popkin, PhD, shows that obesity plays a major role in the severity of consequences experienced by those who become infected with the coronavirus. Popkin, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the UNC Gillings Global School of Public Health, is lead author of “Individuals […]

The problem with COVID-related vitamin C claims

Can high doses of vitamin C treat or prevent COVID-19? It’s a question posed frequently on social media and in the news, especially as a new clinical trial is underway in Wuhan, China to investigate vitamin C infusion for the treatment of severe 2019-nCoV infected pneumonia. The Global Food Research Project’s Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD, […]