Rudd Center Recent Publications
Sugary Drink Sales Drop Nearly 20 Percent After Community Campaign
Combination of Policy Changes and Community Outreach Succeeds
Residents of one Maryland county bought fewer sugary drinks after a
campaign to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages that
included policy changes and public health outreach efforts, according to
a new study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. The study, published March 6 in JAMA Internal Medicine,
is the first to use objective retail sales data to measure the
effectiveness of a community-led campaign to reduce consumption of
sugary drinks. “This study demonstrates the power of a community-based
public health campaign that combines health-supporting policy changes
with extensive outreach. The residents of Howard County have been
engaged in every phase of this effort and their commitment to switching
their drinks showed up in the supermarket sales data,” said Marlene
Schwartz, Director of the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity,
and the study’s lead author.
Self-Directed Stigma May Be a Key Detriment to Sustaining Weight Loss
Losing weight is a struggle for many Americans, but maintaining weight loss can be an even greater challenge. In a new study from the University of Connecticut,
researchers have identified a new barrier that may make it even more
difficult to maintain a healthy weight. Researchers examined the role of
weight stigma as a potential contributor to weight-loss maintenance and
weight regain in a national sample of 2,702 American adults. Findings
published March 1 in Annals of Behavioral Medicine showed
that people who internalized weight stigma were poorer at maintaining
weight loss compared to people who did not engage in self-directed
stigma or self-blame. “Our study suggests that - regardless of
encountering experiences of weight-based teasing, stigma, or unfair
treatment - it may be that internalized negative weight based attitudes
and self-blame are particularly detrimental for personal efforts to
sustain weight loss,” said Rebecca Puhl, lead author and Deputy Director
of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of
Connecticut. |
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Rudd Center in the News
CNN, Politico, NPR, Medscape, Food Dive, Medpage Today and CBS in
Baltimore were among the media outlets that featured our study in JAMA
Internal Medicine on the Horizon Foundation's Howard County Unsweetened
campaign in Maryland. The March 6 CNN story and the March 13 NPR piece
were carried by dozens of outlets across the country, helping to
communicate the study's findings to tens of millions of Americans.
UConn Today published an article March 6 on the study in JAMA Internal Medicine: Sugary Drink Sales Drop After Community Campaign.
Dr. Puhl's study in Annals of Behavioral Medicine was featured in a UConn Today piece on March 7: Weight-Based Stigma an Obstacle to Sustaining Weight Loss.
A March 22 New Haven Register opinion piece on the need to reduce sugary drink consumption refers to our sugary drink tax revenue estimate.
Marketwatch published a March 8 article - 5 ways schools can get kids to eat vegetables
- that quotes UConn Rudd Center Director Marlene Schwartz. The article
concludes by stating that experts say that starting early is more
important than funding. "To third-graders, who have been in school since
the federal regulations have been in place, a salad with chicken—not
nuggets and french fries—is normal," says Marlene Schwartz, director of
the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
“It’s exactly what lunch should look like.”
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UConn President Susan Herbst
Visits Rudd Center
The UConn Rudd Center
was delighted to welcome UConn President Susan Herbst and UConn Vice
President and General Counsel Richard Orr for a March 23 visit to
discuss our Center's policy work.
Left to right: Marketing Initiatives
Director Jennifer Harris, Advocacy Resources Director Sally Mancini,
UConn General Counsel Richard Orr, UConn President Susan Herbst,
Director Marlene Schwartz, and Deputy Director Rebecca Puhl.
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New, Advanced Online Tool Offers
Revenue Estimates for Sugary Drink Taxes
The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut has revised and updated the Center’s Revenue Calculator for Sugary Drink Taxes, an online resource that offers estimates of revenue from taxes on sugary drinks.
Excise taxes on sugary drinks can generate considerable revenue for
cities, counties and states. These drinks, including sodas, fruit
drinks, sports drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, enhanced water,
and energy drinks, are among the leading sources of empty calories –
calories that supply little or no nutrients – for both children and
adults. Overconsumption of sugar is associated with obesity, and
increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The calculator was developed by Tatiana Andreyeva,
the Rudd Center’s Director of Economic Initiatives and Associate
Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of
Connecticut, in collaboration with Frank J. Chaloupka, Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago and Lisa Powell,
Distinguished Professor and Director of Health Policy and
Administration, and Director of the Illinois Prevention Research Center
at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The calculator update was a collaborative effort by the UConn Rudd Center and Healthy Food America. |
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Rudd Center Legislation Database
Our database includes the latest
legislation and policies from the 2017 state legislative and federal
congressional sessions. This database tracks state and federal policies
related to access to healthy food, breastfeeding, farms and gardens,
school nutrition, physical activity, food assistance programs, food
marketing to children, menu and package labeling, and weight bias. Check
it out here and request to receive our monthly legislation email update here. |
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Media Gallery
Providing Non-Biased Representations to Reduce Stigmatizing Portrayals of Persons with Obesity
People with obesity are highly stigmatized and suffer from inequalities
in employment, education and health care as a result of weight
discrimination. The news media is an especially pervasive source of
stigmatization against persons with obesity. To help reduce stigmatizing
portrayals and provide non-biased representations of persons with
overweight and obesity, we offer a UConn Rudd Center [http://]Media
Gallery of images and video clips that depict individuals in a variety
of settings. This free resource can be used by members of the media,
researchers, educators, health professionals and others.
Other media galleries are available from the World Obesity Federation, the Obesity Action Coalition, and the Canadian Obesity Network.
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