Laina Ewoldt is looking for new solutions to combat climate change and nutritional access. Laina is one of three new doctoral students who joined the Global Food Research Program (GFRP) this fall under the advisership of GFRP faculty Lindsey Smith Taillie. Originally from the Dallas, Texas area, Laina moved to North Carolina this summer and […]
Curiosity, passion, and a desire to make equitable change drives Jonathan Lara-Arévalo, a first-year PhD student in the Department of Nutrition at UNC-Chapel Hill. Jonathan is one of three new doctoral students who joined the Global Food Research Program (GFRP) this fall, where he will be researching under the advisership of GFRP faculty Lindsey Smith […]
Findings from a new study in PLOS Medicine conducted by researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill, Stanford University, and the University of Edinburgh indicate that warning label and tax policies effectively reduce purchases of red meat-containing items, such as burger patties, pepperoni pizza, and ham luncheon meat. Consumption of red meat has gained attention as a nutrition […]
In a new perspective piece in PLOS Medicine, Global Food Research Program researchers Barry Popkin and Francesca Dillman Carpentier and alum Fernanda Mediano Stoltze reflect on the recently released World Health Organization (WHO) guideline, “Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing.” The authors highlight several strengths of the updated guidelines, which […]
Barry Popkin was featured in The Guardian this week in an article about the rise of snacking and ultra-processed food consumption in African and Asian countries. He drew on his years of research on the Nutrition Transition, the rising double burden of malnutrition, and the global spread of ultra-processed foods.
Research from Colombia that examined food advertising and marketing tactics used on television (TV) has found that children were frequently exposed to advertising that used emotional appeals such as characters, cartoons, games, or suggestions of fun or excitement to promote unhealthy foods. Girls were more likely than boys to see these emotional appeals, as were […]
The close of summer also marks the end of GFRP’s second year of the Fellowship for Exploring Research in Nutrition (FERN), a 9-week research internship for undergraduate students interested in food policy research. Over the course of the summer, the fellows built foundational research skills, attended professional development workshops, participated in GFRP team activities, assisted […]
The majority of breakfast cereals in South Africa feature child-directed marketing strategies on their packaging, according to a new study in Public Health Nutrition. In an analysis of over 200 breakfast cereals, researchers also found that breakfast cereals with child-directed marketing contained significantly more total sugar and less fiber than cereals without child-directed marketing. South […]
Despite extensive product reformulation after Chile began requiring warning labels on the front of less-healthy food and drink packages, Chilean consumers saw no significant change in food and beverage prices associated with the policy in the first year and a half. This was the main finding of a new study from researchers at Universidad Adolfo […]
Chilean policies aimed at reining in unhealthy food marketing are succeeding in protecting children from the onslaught of television advertisements (TV ads) for these products, according to new research. The country’s multi-phased regulations, which began in 2016, have led to a 73% drop in children’s exposure to TV ads for regulated foods and drinks (those […]
A new study published in the Journal of Public Health Research has found that in South Africa, sugar-sweetened beverage manufacturers spent USD 191 million (ZAR 3.7 billion) advertising SSBs across different media from 2013 to 2019. The bulk of this was spent on television (TV) advertising, particularly during children’s and family viewing times. Researchers from […]
Lindsey Smith Taillie, Global Health Research Program faculty and UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) research fellow, and Alice Ammerman, HPDP director and Mildred Kaufman Distinguished Professor of nutrition, have been awarded a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to research ways to help households better prevent food waste. The project […]
The opportunity to make a broad impact on food policy is what drives both Claudia Nieto and Gabriela García, two PhD students from Mexico who are visiting scholars at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Global Food Research Program (GFRP) this year. Both Claudia and Gabriela are students at GFRP’s research partner National Institute of Public Health (INSP, Instituto […]
A new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found that 60% of foods purchased by Americans contain technical food additives such as coloring or flavoring agents, preservatives, or sweeteners. This represents a 10% increase since 2001. Manufacturers have also increased the average number of additives in purchased food and […]
Two recent studies conducted by researchers from the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Chile have found that in the first phase of Chile’s Law of Food Labeling and Advertising, consumers’ beverage purchases contained less sugar and more non-nutritive sweeteners (e.g., Aspartame, Stevia, or Sucralose), but overall beverage sweetness stayed […]
A new study published this month in the journal Food Policy finds that Peru’s food and beverage industry experienced no significant job or wage losses after the country began taxing sugary drinks and putting warning labels on the front of unhealthy food and beverage packages prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Peruvian government implemented these […]
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 […]
On Thursday, Oct. 6, Barry Popkin, PhD, W. R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, delivered a keynote address at the 38th Annual Meeting of the German Obesity Society. In his talk entitled Large-scale regulatory and fiscal policies for tackling obesity and creating healthier diets,he spoke […]
On Thursday, Sept. 29, Dr. Barry Popkin testified at a special U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) public meeting in support of policies to improve the American diet and diet-related diseases. He joined six other consumer, research, government, and industry representatives who were invited to comment before an Independent Expert Panel as part of an […]
UNC-Chapel Hill is accepting applications for the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity (CPPFD). The program aims to develop and support scholars from different backgrounds, with potential advancement to tenure-track faculty appointments at UNC or other research universities. Research appointments start July 1, 2023 and last two years. During that time, scholars will engage in full-time […]