March 2026

National Nutrition Month®: Strengthening Research on Diet and the Food Environment with NCCOR’s Measures Registry

March 2026, NCCOR

Each March, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics leads National Nutrition Month®, encouraging individuals and communities to make informed food choices and develop healthy eating and physical activity habits. One of the campaign’s themes, “Find Advice Backed by Science,” is a reminder that nutrition guidance should be grounded in credible, research-based evidence.

NCCOR plays an integral role in ensuring that researchers, practitioners, and decision makers working to improve dietary behaviors and food environments have access to trusted measurement tools. For example, our Measures Registry connects users to validated tools and measures related to diet, the food environment, and physical activity. Whether assessing dietary intake, evaluating modifications to an institution’s vending machine, or examining a neighborhood’s food environment, the Measures Registry helps ensure that research and evaluation efforts are built on strong methodological foundations. The Registry includes detailed information about reliability, validity, and use cases, making it easier to select tools that align with specific populations and research questions. By streamlining access to evidence-based measures, NCCOR is helping to strengthen the quality and comparability of nutrition research across settings.

During National Nutrition Month® and throughout the year, NCCOR remains committed to promoting approaches grounded in science that advance practice. Visit the NCCOR website to explore more tools that support nutrition and food environment research, and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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NCCOR Toolbox: Join us Next Week for Our Connect & Explore Webinar on Supporting Recess in Schools

March 2026, NCCOR

It’s not too late to register! Join NCCOR next Tuesday, March 10, 2026, from 3–4 p.m. ET for our Connect & Explore webinar, “Supporting Recess in Schools: Evidence, Health Impact, and Action.” Experts from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of California Nutrition Policy Institute will discuss the latest research on the role of recess in supporting children’s physical, mental, and social well-being, highlight real-world impact, and share practical strategies to strengthen school policies and everyday practice. Reserve your spot today and join the conversation!

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Food is Medicine Community Action Plan

January 2026, Food & Society

The Food is Medicine Community Action Plan is a living, collaborative online portal designed to share community-centered Food is Medicine strategies across the United States. Through a series of convenings and long-term partnerships, Food & Society at the Aspen Institute gathered leaders and implementers from healthcare, food systems, public policy, community organizations, technology, and philanthropy to share real-world solutions, case studies, and actionable insights that advance the implementation of Food is Medicine interventions.

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Miles of Memories: Safe Routes to School Yearbook 2022-2025

January 22, 2026, Safe Routes Partnership

The 2025 Safe Routes yearbook, Miles of Memories, celebrates successes from 2022-2025, weaving together a tapestry of people, places, and projects across the country. This isn’t just a look back: it’s a toolkit, a highlight reel, and a reminder that the path to healthier, safer communities starts with the steps that we take together. It also speaks to the long-term nature of transportation change, showing how a seed of an idea can grow over time into a tangible project.

We hope you find as much inspiration as we did by learning about how states and communities are advancing Safe Routes to School and boosting state report card scores. We’re entering 2026 more ready than ever to connect, engage, and inspire our Safe Routes community.

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Thriving Communities Transportation Toolkit

December 8, 2025, Main Street America

Across the Main Street Network, we know that Main Streets are more than just roads. They’re Civic Infrastructure: the home to our downtown districts, historic buildings, public institutions, social hubs for traditions and events, and the platforms that drive successful locally owned small businesses.

Yet we understand that transportation projects — often planned and implemented at the regional or state level — can seem inaccessible. Transportation planning can be seen as a complex, top-down system better left to planners, engineers, and other specialists. But the reality is that local leaders can make the difference between a transportation project that simply gets you from point A to point B, versus an impactful project that can also advance quality of life, economic growth, a sense of community and place, and tourism opportunities.

That’s why we developed this Thriving Communities Transportation Toolkit for Main Street leaders and stakeholders across government levels who want to be more effective transportation partners to deliver transformative investments. The Toolkit is based on two years of work by Main Street America as a Lead Capacity Builder in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Thriving Communities Program.

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Scaling What Works: The Role of CDC’s CORD 3.0 in Packaging Family Healthy Weight Programs for Real-World Impact to Address Childhood Obesity

February 23, 2026, Childhood Obesity

For over 15 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Child Obesity Research Demonstration (CORD) projects have tested how to implement evidence-based interventions for childhood obesity prevention and treatment in low-income populations across the U.S. From 2019 to 2024, CDC’s third CORD (CORD 3.0) funded five research institutions to study real-world implementation of Family Healthy Weight Programs (FHWPs), which deliver intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment for children with obesity. The CORD 3.0 funding opportunity required that the FHWP being proposed had already been proven to improve childhood obesity through previous research. This allowed the CORD 3.0 recipients to focus on how well the FHWP works in the real world and how it can be effectively implemented. Prior to CORD 3.0, few FHWPs had disseminated beyond research settings, in part due to barriers such as lack of programs that were “packaged” with the materials needed for implementation (e.g., patient education, curriculum, training tools) and implementation challenges (e.g., delivering the program with fidelity and acceptability). CORD 3.0 sought to change this by requiring that recipients translate their previous research protocols and curricula into an off-the-shelf package and use implementation science to study the delivery of these “packaged” FHWPs for low-income children and families in a location different from where the original research occurred.

In addition to the primary research focus, CDC and CORD 3.0 recipients addressed organization-level issues that can impact FHWP implementation success. CDC and CORD 3.0 recipients collaboratively undertook the following activities:

1. Program Delivery Cost—FHWP implementation cost estimates have varied due to differences by user perspective (g.,states, payers, providers) and implementation strategies (e.g., billing insurance, using incentives to improve recruitment and retention), leading to challenges in budgeting for a FHWP. CORD 3.0 recipients tested a recipient-developed cost tool that integrates various data, including wages, clinical reimbursement, and program delivery time, to create a FHWP cost estimate calculator. Though the calculator is part of a FHWP program’s “package,” tools like this can help payers, health care systems, and providers better budget for FHWP implementation.
2. Understanding the Market—Most of the CORD 3.0 recipients lacked expertise in building the business case for their FHWP (g.,consumer identification, promotion). To address this, CDC provided a supplemental opportunity to recipients based on the National Cancer Institute’s Speeding Research-tested Interventions (SPRINT) program, which aimed to accelerate research to practice. FHWP SPRINT helped recipients define and reach their target customer, which enabled the creation of a market-ready product.

CDC is involved in additional CORD-related activities that advance the support of FHWPs, including:

1. Finding Implementation-Ready Evidence-Based Interventions—Because it can be challenging to identify evidence-based interventions (EBIs), national organizations often create webpages or tools listing disease-specific EBIs that meet established evidence criteria (g.,CDC’s arthritis-appropriate EBIs, National Council on Aging EBIs, evidence-based cancer control programs). Similarly, CDC launched a “CDC-recognized FHWPs” webpage in 2024, listing FHWPs that meet evidence criteria and are ready for implementation. This webpage includes links to packaged FHWPs, including those from CORD 3.0, and serves as a centralized resource for organizations, health care providers, and payers seeking effective programs that are packaged for delivery.
2. Program Dissemination—Organizations often struggle to disseminate or sustain FHWPs outside of research settings, like CORD, due to barriers like budgetary constraints and implementation support. In 2023, CDC awarded new non-research, programmatic funding designed specifically to support the real-world implementation of CDC-recognized FHWPs. Through these funding opportunities, 57 organizations will implement FHWPs in community and clinical settings. Recipients are provided support through a technical assistance collaborative to share insights, challenges, and promote program sustainability beyond the funding period. These programmatic funding opportunities have transitioned FHWP delivery from research to dissemination and practice, resulting in broad, real-world implementation in >30 states.
3. Program Sustainability—For decades, FHWPs have relied primarily on grant funding and served only a limited number of families. This is, in part, due to outdated procedure and diagnosis codes that prevent precise documentation and billing, and an absence of health insurance plan specificity and coverage. CDC has championed FHWP sustainability solutions, including supporting the updating of the ICD-10 diagnostic codes for obesity, initiating dialogue among national groups on the need for FHWP-specific procedure billing codes, and partnership with the Office of Personnel Management to enhance FHWP plan language under the Federal Employee Health Benefits programs. While these steps move toward improved billing and sustainability for FHWPs, work remains to be done in this area.

CORD 3.0 has produced many products, including public-facing FHWP websites, suites of program implementation tools, and publication of 23 articles and 39 abstracts. This issue of Childhood Obesity builds on this work and features studies from the five CORD 3.0-funded recipients that demonstrate two important outcomes: (1) FHWPs can be successfully packaged and effectively delivered in real-world, non-research settings; and (2) translated FHWPs can be delivered with fidelity, maintaining the original health-related outcomes of the FHWP. Important opportunities for FHWPs remain, including the need to: further address program viability beyond grant funding; continue to address the needs of populations, health systems, and children and families as they relate to FHWPs and intensive behavioral lifestyle treatment programs; attend to differences and opportunities related to implementation in clinical versus community settings; address process and individual level outcomes for program evaluation and improvement; and adapt FHWPs for different ages and abilities, and those taking obesity medications. FHWPs remain the foundational behavioral intervention for children with overweight or obesity, offering essential skills and behavior-change strategies that medications alone do not provide. Clinical and translational research is needed to inform future guidance on how best to integrate FHWPs as adjuncts to obesity medications.

Conclusions

CORD 3.0 has made important progress in addressing program implementation barriers and translating FHWPs. These research demonstrations fuel dissemination efforts by showing that programs made adaptable and acceptable to communities, organizations, and families can be implemented effectively.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or DHHS.

Impact Statement

CORD 3.0 has made important progress in addressing program translation and implementation barriers for Family Healthy Weight Programs. These research demonstrations fuel dissemination efforts by showing that programs made adaptable and acceptable to communities, organizations, and families can be implemented effectively.

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Prevalence of Youth Overweight, Obesity, and Severe Obesity

February 10, 2026, JAMA Network

Introduction

Excess weight among youths is associated with an increased risk of adult obesity and short- and long-term health outcomes. Multiple US studies and surveillance programs have consistently documented high rates of youth obesity. However, national estimates for youth overweight and severe obesity remain limited, especially among subgroups. This study used electronic health records from a large national research network to provide updated estimates of youth overweight, obesity, and severe obesity.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used data from the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet), which includes 8 clinical research networks and was used previously for US population health surveillance. In June 2025, PCORnet issued an electronic query to characterize patients in its network for 2024. Queries were executed locally against each site’s PCORnet common data model, and aggregate, deidentified results were returned. PCORnet does not maintain a centralized patient-level data repository.

The query included youths (ages 0-19 years) with a recorded height and weight within 14 days of each other in 2024. Age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) percentiles were calculated. For children younger than 2 years, categories were based on World Health Organization standards (<2.3rd, 2.3rd to <97.7th, 97.7th to <99th, and ≥99th percentile). For youths aged 2 years to younger than 19 years, categories were based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards for underweight, healthy weight, overweight, obesity, and severe obesity (<5th, 5th to <85th, 85th to <95th, 95th to <120% of the 95th, and ≥120% of the 95th percentile, respectively). PCORnet uses a method to remove implausible height and weight values. No missing values were imputed. The Vanderbilt University Medical Center Institutional Review Board classified this as non–human participants research and so exempt from review and informed consent. We followed the STROBE reporting guideline.

Results

Data were available for 6 094 825 youths (49.1% female; 2 437 173 aged 12-19 years [40.0%]; 0.7% American Indian or Alaska Native, 5.2% Asian, 17.0% Black, 0.3% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; 55.1% White, 2.6% multiple races, 7.9% other race, and 11.2% missing race; 24.1% Hispanic or Latino) across the US, with broad geographic representation. Among youths ages 2 to 19 years, 19.8% had obesity. In early childhood (ages 2-5 years), 26.9% had overweight or obesity, increasing to 38.5% in adolescence and young adulthood (ages 12-19 years). Severe obesity occurred among 9.2% of adolescents and young adults. The Figure and Table show prevalence by age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Among ages 12 to 19 years, healthy weight was found in 49.5% of American Indian or Alaska Native, 52.3% of Black, 49.1% of Hispanic, 47.3% of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 59.3% of White youths.

Discussion

This cross-sectional study found that in 2024, excess youth overweight and obesity remained highly prevalent among youths in the US. The prevalence of excess adiposity was higher for certain racial and ethnic subgroups. Among children younger than 2 years, prevalences of BMI in the 99th percentile or greater were between 3.8% and 9.1%. The overall prevalence of youth obesity characterized through PCORnet data resources is consistent with 2025 prevalence data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES),6 suggesting that PCORnet data resources may be appropriate for future studies of youth overweight and obesity. A specific advantage may be the potential for data that are representative of the US population. This study provides additional details about the prevalence of youth overweight and subgroups that have been previously underrepresented (eg, Asian and American Indian or Alaska Native youths).

Limitations include that data came from electronic health records, so many youths did not have a BMI measure. Additionally, these estimates were not weighted. These results demonstrate the uneven distribution of obesity and severe obesity across youths in the US and underscore the need for ongoing treatment, prevention, and public health interventions to reduce excess adiposity in youths.

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Associations Between Time to Eat and School Meal Selection and Consumption Among Elementary Schools with Varying Lunch Period Lengths and Free School Meal Policies

January 2026, Center for Health Innovation, Research, and Policy

School meals play an important role in supporting children’s nutrition. Despite substantial improvements in the nutritional quality of school meals, concerns remain regarding both access and sufficient time to eat the healthier meals available. Free school meal policies— including participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), as well as state-level Healthy School Meals for All (HSMFA) policies—can help to ensure that all children have access to school meals. While these policies are effective at increasing participation rates, it is unknown if they may result in longer lunch lines and therefore less seated time for students to eat their meals (and thus potentially impact school meal consumption). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that students have at least 20 minutes of seated time to consume their meals. However, there are currently no national standards for lunch period lengths or seated time in schools, which may result in insufficient time for students to eat. Additionally, only a few states have laws requiring at least 20 minutes of seated time at lunch. To better understand how seated time, free school meal policies, and time to eat policies are associated with school meal selection and consumption, a plate waste study was conducted in 20 elementary schools across four states. This brief presents findings from 7,027 school meals collected within this multi-state sample. Most students with 20-minute lunch periods did not meet CDC recommendations for seated time, whereas most students with 30-minute lunch periods met these recommendations. State-level time to eat policies were associated with longer lunch periods and therefore more time to eat. Conversely, students in higher-poverty CEP schools had less time to eat on average compared with students in higher-income schools. When examining school meal component selection, there were no associations between seated time or free meal policies. When examining school meal consumption, students with less than 15 minutes of seated time consumed significantly less of their school meals—in particular milk, fruit, and whole grain sides—compared with students who had at least 25 minutes of seated time. HSMFA policies were not adversely associated with school meal consumption. Overall, the results of this study suggest that sufficient seated time—which can be strengthened by state-level time to eat policies—plays an important role in supporting school meal consumption and reducing food waste for milk, fruits, and whole grains, and schools should prioritize scheduling lunch periods that are greater than 20 minutes where possible. Policymakers should also consider developing strong policies to ensure all students have sufficient time to eat the healthy meals provided by schools.

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Psychosocial Outcomes Reported in Randomized Behavioral Intervention Trials for Children and Adolescents with Overweight and Obesity: A Scoping Review

January 27, 2026, Childhood Obesity

Background

Many children and adolescents with overweight or obesity experience negative psychosocial health consequences. Systematic reviews show that behavioral interventions can help improve specific psychosocial outcomes. This scoping review aims to identify and map the different types of psychosocial outcomes measured and reported in randomized behavioral intervention trials for managing pediatric overweight and obesity.

Methods

A total of 11 databases were searched until February 2024. We included randomized behavioral intervention trials for children and adolescents (≤18 years) with overweight or obesity that report at least one psychosocial outcome.

Results

Overall, 197 articles reflecting 169 behavioral intervention trials were included. To assess the psychosocial outcomes captured, among 169 trials, 174 different measures were identified (e.g., self- and proxy-reported questionnaires). The psychosocial outcomes were organized into nine categories. The most frequently reported outcome categories were (1) emotional and behavioral functioning (n = 79 outcomes); (2) eating attitudes, behaviors, and body image (n = 72 outcomes); and (3) quality of life (n = 68 outcomes). Among all psychosocial outcomes captured, most outcomes were reported among older children and adolescents (78.4%) and for interventions with a duration of up to 26 weeks (75.1%).

Conclusions

This scoping review identified a variety of psychosocial outcomes across different behavioral intervention trials and a variety of measures used to assess them. Evidence among younger samples and regarding the long-term effects of behavioral intervention trials on psychosocial health is limited. Identifying the core outcomes as well as a psychometric evaluation of the measures identified is needed.

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Pragmatic Pilot Study of the Healthy Living Program: An Obesity Prevention and Treatment Program for Low-Income Hispanic Families Delivered Through Clinic–Community Partnership

January 22, 2026, Childhood Obesity

Background

Few childhood obesity interventions have been designed for Hispanic families including Spanish speakers. This pragmatic pilot study assessed the effectiveness of a whole-family obesity prevention and treatment program—the Healthy Living Program (HeLP).

Methods

HeLP is delivered at recreation centers by teams of health educators and fitness professionals. HeLP involves 12 group sessions, including parenting, child feeding, nutrition, cooking, meal planning/shopping, and fitness. Primary care providers referred families of children 2 years and older with obesity. This pragmatic longitudinal study collected data at the intervention and from electronic health records to compare child BMI trajectories from 12 months pre- to 12 months postintervention, in terms of the percentage of the 95th percentile BMI (BMI%95) using hierarchical mixed-effects models to account for clustering and to adjust for age, sex, weight status, and language.

Results

Median attendance was 8 of 12 sessions. Of 317 children who had BMI measured clinically 1 year prior to HeLP, 265 (84%) had BMI measured 1 year post-HeLP, including 210 with overweight or obesity and 55 healthy weight siblings. About 71% of parents spoke Spanish only. Changes in modeled BMI%95 trajectory for children with overweight or obesity were: −6.7% [95% CI −13.0%, −0.4%] (p = 0.04) for 2–6 years, −5.8% [−8.6%, −3.0%] (p < 0.0001) for 7–11 years, and −4.1% [−6.8%, −1.4%] (p = 0.003) for 12–18 years. Children with overweight decreased −4.6% [−8.4%, −0.9%] (p = 0.001).

Conclusions

These data suggest that HeLP, a whole-family intervention delivered by clinic–community partnership, may be effective at preventing and treating obesity in children from Hispanic families with low income and support an ongoing randomized controlled trial.

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Implementing Nutrition Policy, System and Environmental Change Strategies in a Rural Food Pantry to Improve Nutrition Security: Contextual Factors and Outcomes

December 26, 2025, Public Health Nutrition

Objective

To describe and evaluate nutrition-related policy, system and environmental (PSE) change strategies implemented in a rural, volunteer-run Georgia food pantry, exploring facilitators and barriers and changes in clients’ perceptions of food distributed following implementation of nutrition-related PSE changes.

Design

The mixed-methods evaluation used pre-post key informant interviews, client surveys and programme documents to assess implementation and outcomes of a nutrition policy and other PSE changes.

Setting

Hancock County, Georgia.

Participants

Survey respondents were food pantry clients who completed surveys both in January 2021 and March 2022 (n 155). Key informants were programme staff, a local coalition member and food pantry leadership (n 9).

Results

Nutrition-related PSE changes included a nutrition policy, produce procurement partnerships and enhanced refrigeration; an awareness campaign and nutrition education were also conducted. Facilitators included the implementation approach (e.g., encouraging small steps and joint policy development), relationship formation and partnerships. Barriers were modest capacity (e.g., funding and other resources), staffing/volunteers and limited experience with food policy and procurement processes. Client surveys in 2021–2022 showed canned/dried foods as most commonly received, with significant (p < 0.05) increases at follow-up in always receiving meat/poultry/seafood and significant decreases in always receiving canned fruits and dry beans/lentils. In both 2021 and 2022, substantial proportions of respondents reported food insecurity (>60 %), having obesity (>40 %), poor/fair health (>30 %) and a household member with hypertension/high blood pressure (>70 %).

Conclusions

Nutrition-related PSE changes in rural food pantries to improve the healthfulness of foods distributed require substantial resources, yet if sustained, may increase client access to healthy foods and improve diets.

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