January 2026

Upcoming NCCOR Webinar Explores New Tool to Advance Physical Activity Research

January 2026, NCCOR

Join NCCOR on January 27, 2026, from 3 – 4 p.m. ET for the next Connect & Explore webinar titled “Advancing Physical Activity Research and Practice with the PARO Framework.”

The PARO framework consolidates years of disparate research recommendations into one accessible tool designed to strengthen physical activity research, funding, policy, and practice. Although the gaps and opportunities in physical activity research have been well documented, these insights are spread across multiple reports, making it difficult to see the full landscape—or to act on it efficiently. The recently published manuscript, “The Development of the Physical Activity Research Opportunities (PARO) Framework” brings these insights together into a single resource, offering researchers, funders, practitioners, and policymakers a roadmap to more efficiently prioritize and coordinate their efforts, ultimately accelerating progress towards increasing physical activity at the population level.

During this 1-hour webinar, experts from the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Nutrition & Health Impact will discuss the development of the PARO framework, notable findings, and how it can be applied by researchers and practitioners. This webinar will feature:

• Bramaramba Kowtha, MS, RDN, National Institutes of Health
• Laura Balis, PhD, Center for Nutrition & Health Impact

Registration for the webinar is free, but space is limited, so register early to secure a spot. Please consider sharing this information on your social networks using the hashtag #ConnectExplore. We will live-tweet the webinar, so follow the conversation at @NCCOR. The webinar will be recorded and archived on www.nccor.org for those unable to attend.

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NCCOR’s 2025 Year in Review: New Horizons in Childhood Obesity Research

January 2026, NCCOR

In 2025, NCCOR set out to explore some of the most pressing and emerging topics in obesity prevention, research, and treatment. As a leader in the field, NCCOR continued to meet its evolving needs while charting new directions for the future. From publishing three major manuscripts to releasing practitioner-focused tools, NCCOR’s accomplishments reflect a year of meaningful impact and growth.

Elevating Research Through Publications and Tools

NCCOR’s most significant achievements this year centered on expanding the evidence base and translating science into practice. Key milestones included:

• Publication of the OPUS commentary: Advancing Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Research to Reverse Upward Trends in Obesity Prevalence—A New Call to Action, offering recommendations to guide future PSE-focused research.
• Publication of the PARO framework manuscript: Development of the Physical Activity Research Opportunities (PARO) Framework, a new roadmap to strengthen and organize physical activity research efforts.
• Launch of the Implementation Scorecard and case study, practical tools to help the field evaluate implementation readiness, strengthen partnerships, and accelerate the translation of evidence into practice.
• Release of the OPUS learning guides, designed to make insights from the Obesity-related Policy, Systems, and Environmental Research in the U.S. workshop series more actionable for researchers, students, and practitioners.

Exploring Emerging Topics in Obesity Prevention and Treatment

In addition to its new publications and tools, NCCOR explored a range of topics shaping the future of obesity prevention and treatment. Through Connect & Explore webinars and expert workshops, NCCOR convened national leaders to explore:

• Understanding Weight Stigma: Impact on Families and Youth (webinar)
• Nutritional Implications of GLP-1 Medications in Obesity Care (webinar)
• Clinical Research Gaps in Pediatric Obesity Pharmacotherapy (workshop)

These conversations kept NCCOR at the cutting edge of evolving scientific developments, while remaining committed to policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) approaches to obesity prevention.

Looking Ahead

As we look to the year ahead, NCCOR remains committed to advancing progress through rigorous research, practitioner-friendly tools, and strategic convenings. Learn more about NCCOR’s achievements in 2025 on our website.

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NCCOR Toolbox: Start 2026 Strong with NCCOR’s Toolkit for Evaluating Healthy Weight Programs

January 2026, NCCOR

Start the new year with the right tools to strengthen your healthy weight initiatives. NCCOR’s Toolkit for Evaluating Childhood Healthy Weight Programs is a comprehensive resource designed to help practitioners, researchers, and community leaders assess program impact, refine strategies, and ensure sustainability. With guidance on evaluation readiness, process and outcome measures, contextual factors, and even remote evaluation, the toolkit equips you to make 2026 the year your programs achieve lasting results. Explore the resource library, packed with guides, databases, and research articles, and set your initiatives on a path toward measurable success and healthier communities. Click here to view the resource.

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Ultra-Processed Foods in School Meals: Challenges and Opportunities

December 2025, Healthy Eating Research

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are ubiquitous in the U.S. food supply, while growing evidence shows that UPFs harm children’s health. Schools offer a promising setting to introduce UPF regulation and reduce the availability of UPFs. This brief explores the issue of UPFs in school meals and identifies opportunities and challenges to replace UPFs with more fresh and local foods. Replacing UPFs with less processed ingredients and more fresh foods requires a paradigm shift where schools move away from a heat-and-serve operation toward a model of preparing meals mostly from scratch. This brief discusses challenges schools may experience in reducing UPFs and recommends cross-sector actions to promote the transition toward more scratch cooking in schools.

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GusNIP Year 5 Impact Findings Report

December 2025, Nutrition Incentive Hub

The Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (GusNIP NTAE) has released the Year 5 (2023-2024) Impact Findings for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).

This report highlights the national impact of nutrition incentive (NI) and produce prescription (PPR) projects as well as the accomplishments of the NTAE and Nutrition Incentive Hub during GusNIP Year 5.

[Source]

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CDC Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps

December 3, 2025, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC 2024 Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps for 49 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories show the proportion of adults with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 based on self-reported weight and height. Data are presented by location, age, race and ethnicity, and education level. The data come from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an ongoing state-based, telephone interview survey conducted by CDC and state health departments.

The 2024 maps show that obesity impacts some groups more than others. There are notable differences by individual characteristics, including by location, age, education level, and race, and ethnicity.

[Source]

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Factors Influencing Use and Choice of Core Outcome Sets and Outcome Measurement Instruments in Trials of Interventions to Prevent Childhood Obesity: A Mixed-methods Survey

December 12, 2025, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

Background

Heterogeneity in what and how outcomes are measured in childhood obesity prevention trials limits evidence synthesis and evaluation of intervention effectiveness. Core Outcome Sets (COS) and Core Outcome Measurement Sets (COMS) can standardise measurement and reporting across trials, but only if they are used by trialists. This study examined: trialists’ awareness and attitudes towards two childhood obesity related COS and factors influencing their use; characteristics of Outcome Measurement Instruments (OMIs) used in childhood obesity prevention trials; and how trialists choose these OMIs.

Methods

An online, international, cross-sectional survey was conducted including trialists engaged in designing and/or conducting childhood obesity prevention trials in children aged 0-5 years. Trialists were recruited via peer-reviewed publications, the Transforming Obesity Prevention for CHILDren (TOPCHILD) Collaboration and professional contacts. The survey examined trialist characteristics, awareness and use of existing COS, OMI characteristics, and factors influencing trialist selection of OMIs. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively; qualitative data were analysed using content analysis.

Results

The majority of the 46 trialists who completed the survey were senior-career researchers (61%;n = 28), with one to 38 years’ experience in childhood obesity prevention trials. Seventy percent (n = 32) were familiar with COS in general; 84% (n = 26) of these were familiar with one or both childhood obesity related COS. These trialists’ COS use was limited by perceived participant burden, cost, and lack of knowledge; availability of guidelines and resources facilitated COS use. Trialists favoured measuring outcomes using existing (83%; n = 38) and adapted (80%; n = 37) questionnaires, and anthropometric measures (80%; n = 37). Quantitative and qualitative data indicated that measurement properties (e.g., reliability, validity), cost, perceived burden, ease of use, and feasibility were the most important factors influencing trialists’ OMI choice.

Conclusions

Trialists’ awareness and use of childhood obesity related COS is positive, and may be enhanced through provision of guidance and resources to support COS and COMS use. Development of COMS should consider trialist-reported factors related to feasibility and measurement properties. Such considerations can enhance COS and COMS use in trials, reducing outcome heterogeneity, and improving evaluation of intervention effectiveness to prevent childhood obesity.

[Source]

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Early Normalization of Weight Can Protect the Heart from Childhood Overweight

December 5, 2025, EurekAlert!

Overweight as a child is not necessarily a risk factor for heart attack later in life. If weight is normalized before adulthood, the heart seems unaffected by the higher childhood BMI, according to a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg.

“This study is important because it underlines the importance of reversing unhealthy weight early on,” says Rebecka Bramsved, researcher, specialist physician, and one of the co-authors.

It is well known that children with overweight or obesity generally have an increased risk of heart attack later in life. However, it has been unclear to what extent this risk can be mitigated by normalizing weight before adulthood.

Childhood BMI not determinant

The concerned study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, included over 103,000 people born between 1945 and 1968. Height and weight data were collected from school health services in the city of Gothenburg and then linked to Swedish register data on heart attacks.

The results show that overweight in both childhood and young adulthood is associated with an increased risk of heart attack. However, a heightened risk was not found among those who had overweight at age 7–8 but of normal weight in young adulthood. For this group, the risk of heart attack was the same as for those of normal weight in both childhood and young adulthood.

However, an increased risk of heart attack was seen among individuals withhad overweight at age 20, in both the group with overweight throughout childhood and the group with normal weight during childhood but became overweight during puberty.

Age during weight gain matters

When comparing the risk of heart attack for these two groups, the researchers found that the group with onset of overweight during puberty had a higher risk than the group with overweight throughout childhood.

“This study doesn’t explain why overweight with onset during puberty seems to carry a greater risk, but we’re working on the hypothesis that puberty, and the changes in sex hormones that occur during puberty, influence matters,” says Claes Ohlsson, professor and senior physician.

The researchers argue that the study results support the importance of early detection and treatment of overweight and obesity. In addition to Rebecka Bramsved and Claes Ohlsson, professor and senior physician Jenny Kindblom is another of the co-authors.

“Our results provide further support for the idea that prevention of adult cardiovascular disease  should actually start during childhood,” says Jenny Kindblom.

[Source]

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Childhood Obesity Prevalence and Prevention Strategies in Primary Care: A Comprehensive Review

December 4, 2025, Cureus

Childhood obesity has become one of the most significant public health challenges of the modern era. This chronic and multifactorial condition contributes to numerous metabolic, cardiovascular, and psychosocial complications, many of which extend into adulthood. The primary care setting provides a key opportunity for early identification, prevention, and management, but remains underutilized in practice. Evidence supports routine screening from early childhood, accompanied by comprehensive behavioral interventions for children identified as overweight or obese. Effective prevention approaches in primary care include family-based behavioral strategies, motivational interviewing (MI), nutrition-focused counseling, promotion of regular physical activity, and reduction of sedentary behaviors. Multi-component interventions delivered over an extended period tend to produce the most meaningful improvements in weight-related outcomes. Despite these advances, primary care providers continue to face challenges such as time limitations, inadequate training, lack of community resources, and difficulties maintaining family engagement. Integrating team-based care, leveraging electronic health record (EHR) tools, and following structured, staged treatment models can enhance implementation. This review highlights current approaches to childhood obesity prevention and management in primary care and offers practical strategies to support clinicians in addressing this ongoing epidemic.

[Source]

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Study: Family Grocery Purchases Improved When Online Grocery Carts were Preloaded with Healthy Ingredients

December 3, 2025, EurekAlert!

University at Buffalo researchers have shown that preloading Instacart online grocery carts with healthy ingredients could be a useful tool for improving the diets of families with young kids at risk for obesity.

Published on December 3 in Appetite, the randomized, controlled pilot study found that providing families with healthy recipes and then preloading online grocery carts via Instacart with the ingredients needed to make those recipes resulted in families making purchases that were significantly more nutritious compared to a group that received only the recipes. Families paid for their grocery purchases as usual and were free to switch out pre-loaded cart ingredients if they wanted to.

“The findings support the idea that healthier choices can be supported by making them easier and more automatic,” says Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, PhD, corresponding author on the paper and an associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Child Health and  Behavior Lab in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

Research shows that children who are overweight by age 5 are more likely to have obesity later in life, putting them at risk for cardiovascular and other diet-related diseases.

“Since experience with foods and flavors early in life can influence children’s later food preferences, eating behavior and health, it’s important to make healthy choices easier for families with young children,” Anzman-Frasca says.

A ‘real-world’ family shopping intervention

The study was the first time that a default grocery shopping intervention for families with young children was conducted in a real-world scenario, where families were purchasing the actual groceries they would be eating during the four-week study. The goal was to test in a real-world shopping situation the impact of “optimal defaults,” the idea that preselected options can be helpful in guiding people toward healthy behaviors.

Anzman-Frasca and her colleagues in the Division of Behavioral Medicine have done pioneering work in behavioral medicine and nutrition, including prior research on optimal defaults; in this study, they wanted to see how the preloaded default grocery carts would work in families with young children at risk for obesity.

Eligible families had to do at least 75% of their grocery shopping online, and one parent had to have a body mass index of at least 25, classifying them as overweight. A diverse group of 69 families, nearly half of whom were living with lower incomes, participated.

All families received healthy recipes for two weeks, and a sample recipe bundle is included in the published paper. Each weekly bundle included recipes for three dinners, plus a “bonus” recipe, such as a snack, that used leftover ingredients from the dinner meals. While all participating families received the recipes, half of the families had their Instacart online grocery carts preloaded with the ingredients to make those dishes, while the other half did not.

“When faced with making a choice, most people will take the default option unless they’re highly motivated to choose an alternative,” says Mackenzie Ferrante, PhD, a co-author and assistant professor at Rutgers University, who did postdoctoral work at UB. “These days, the easy, or default, choice with food is rarely the healthy option. We wanted to see what would happen if the default option for families was the healthy choice.”

“This real-world study shows how Instacart’s technology can make it easier for families to fill their tables with healthier foods,” says Beatrice Abiero, PhD, senior manager of policy research at Instacart. “By examining how our platform can inspire more nutritious choices, we’re seeing how online grocery can support healthier habits — without adding cost — at scale. We’ll continue to use Instacart Health tools to support research and nutrition programs that help make the healthy choice the easy choice.”

The researchers note that children between the ages of 2 and 5 are frequently afraid of, and resistant to, trying new foods, which can pose a challenge. In this study, recipes were selected for families based on information that they provided about their family’s food preferences at the beginning of the study. Results showed that there was a significantly greater improvement in nutritional quality of families’ grocery purchases in the group that received the preloaded carts compared to the group receiving only the recipes.

‘Eye-opening’ to see what they were spending

Across both groups, families’ spending on groceries decreased over the course of the study. While this wasn’t a main goal of the study, and more research needs to be done, the researchers say it’s possible that the requirement to fill out forms about what they purchased might have made families more aware of superfluous items they were buying. Some participants noted it was eye-opening to see how much they were spending.

In the future, the researchers want to extend the work to examine how the preloaded online grocery carts affect family grocery purchases over a longer time period and corresponding impacts on dietary intake and health. In the meantime, Anzman-Frasca says, families can use the “Buy It Again” feature on Instacart to repurchase healthy ingredients they have enjoyed in the past, which can be used to easily reload those ingredients into future shopping carts.

When this study began in 2023, the White House cited it as an example of how to combat nutrition insecurity and diet-related disease. The project was supported by Instacart and leveraged Instacart Health tools. The support from Instacart complemented an initial investment from the UB Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute provided seed funding for prior pilot research that set the stage for the current project.

Additional co-authors include Juliana Goldsmith, Adrianna Calabro, Karlie Gambino and Leonard H. Epstein, PhD, of the Jacobs School; Lucia A. Leone, PhD, and Gregory E. Wilding, PhD, of the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions; and Brianna Wallenhorst of the Independent Health Foundation.

[Source]

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