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Rudd Center Recent Publications
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Support Increasing for State and Federal Laws To Protect Children
From Weight-Based Bullying
Parental support for enactment of laws and policies to protect youth
from weight-based bullying is strong and has increased over the past two
years, according to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and
Obesity at the University of Connecticut. All 50 states have
anti-bullying laws and many school districts have anti-bullying
policies, yet body weight is often overlooked. "Our new findings suggest
that parental support for improved legal protections against
weight-based bullying is present, consistent and strong," said Rebecca
Puhl, the lead study author and Deputy Director of the Rudd Center.
"Parental voices can be influential in mobilizing advocacy efforts, and
enacting policy change affecting children's health." The study was
published online April 26 in Pediatric Obesity.
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Americans Back Measures to Prohibit Weight Discrimination
Dr. Puhl also was the lead author of a UConn Rudd Center study showing
that public support for laws to prohibit weight discrimination has
increased over the past two years, compared to levels of support found
in a previous survey. The findings were published in the International Journal of Obesity.
Of particular note is the significant increase in support for measures
to extend disability protections for individuals with obesity and add
body weight as a protected class in civil rights laws, Dr. Puhl noted in
her conclusion. "Although previous studies suggest that women are more
likely than men to support anti-discrimination laws, the present
findings suggest that men may be becoming more supportive of these
measures," she wrote. "Similarly, compared with previous research
documenting higher support for these laws among liberals, we found no
significant differences between liberals and conservatives in support
for laws addressing weight discrimination in employment and civil rights
statutes." This finding could motivate bipartisan political will to
pursue passage of anti-discrimination legislation.
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Rudd Center in the News
The UConn Rudd Center's Snack FACTS 2015 report was cited in a Huffpost Healthy Living blog about
a study showing that teens frequently share photos of unhealthy foods
and beverages on Instagram, many of them branded products. The April
13 blog post included a key point from our report: "As social media
sites enlist teens to market unhealthy products virally to their friends
this form of marketing raises additional concerns among health
experts."
The Connecticut Post's health writer, Amanda Cuda, wrote a thorough article on
the Rudd Center's new study showing increased parental support for
legal measures to address weight-based bullying of children and teens.
The piece appeared in several Hearst Media papers April 26 and 27.
The study on parental support for laws and policies to protect youth from weight-based bullying was featured in UConn Today on April 26.
Our study published in March 2015
showing that middle school students ate more fruit and threw away less
of their entrees after healthier national meal standards took effect was
highlighted in an April 14 Issue Brief by The Pew Charitable Trusts and its Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project.
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What's Simmering with Our Friends
With funding from Healthy Food America, researchers from Harvard's CHOICES project examined the potential health impact of Philadelphia's proposed tax on sugary drinks.
Their model projects 36,000 fewer people with obesity by the end of
2025, with the tax compared to without the tax, and lower estimated
health care costs with savings of nearly $200 million. "It is just a
total winner of a policy from a public health standpoint," researcher
Steven Gortmaker told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The April edition of the Food Research & Action Center's newsletter
focused on obesity and poverty, "looking at the intersection of
obesity, low income, food insecurity, the federal nutrition programs,
and federal food and nutrition policy." The Research Highlights in the
newsletter included our recent study that found that middle school
students who eat breakfast at home and another breakfast at school are
less likely to have unhealthy weight gain than students who
skip breakfast.
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NEW! Food Marketing Presentations
Available for Download
Did you know that the food industry spends $1.8 billion dollars
each year targeting children and teens with food marketing for almost
exclusively unhealthy foods and beverages? Find out how unhealthy food
is marketed to youth in schools, communities, and digitally in these
presentations:
It's easy: download a presentation, customize as needed, and share! Our
vision is that these presentations will be used to increase awareness of
unhealthy food and beverage marketing, and inspire collective action to
make positive change, so that the healthy choice is the easy choice for
kids and families.
Photo Credit: Vienna City Marathon, Leo Hagan
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Continuing Medical Education (CME)
Addressing Weight Bias
Developed by the Rudd Center for Food
Policy and Obesity and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine,
this free, one-hour, online accredited course is for health
professionals (clinicians, nurses, social workers and dietitians, and
trainees) to improve the quality of care for patients with overweight
and obesity, and help reduce weight stigmatization in clinical settings.
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Rudd Center Legislation Database
Available on our website, the Rudd Center's legislation database
tracks the latest state and federal measures related to obesity and
diet-related diseases in areas including access to healthy food,
breastfeeding, farms and gardens, food assistance programs, school
nutrition and physical activity, food marketing/advertising to children,
menu and package labeling, food and beverage taxes, and weight stigma
and bias.
If you would like to receive monthly legislative updates, please contact Sally Mancini, Director of Advocacy Resources, at sally.mancini@uconn.edu.
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Parents: See What's Happening at
Rudd 'Roots Parents
click here
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