March is National Nutrition Month! Join with NCCOR all month as we highlight several tools and resources we have developed to help researchers and practitioners advance nutrition-related efforts.
NCCOR prioritizes the consistent use of high-quality, comparable research and evaluation measures across childhood obesity prevention efforts. To help researchers and practitioners achieve this aim, NCCOR developed the Measures Registry and the Measures Registry User Guides. There are two nutrition-related guides. One is dedicated to Individual Diet to help users collect data on and assess individual dietary behavior. A complimentary User Guide on the Food Environment helps users select, process, and interpret measurement tools for assessing the food environment. These guides also include case studies that walk users through the process of using the Measures Registry and identifying key considerations for their research. Topics addressed include assessing diet implications when vending machine foods are changed and evaluating a school-based intervention to change à la carte offerings in school cafeterias.
NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems (CSS) provides one-stop access to over 100 publicly available data sets relevant to childhood obesity research. It provides information on sampling, key variables and how they were assessed, and data access type to help users filter systems and make informed decisions about which system may be appropriate for their research. CSS provides access to several nutrition-related surveillance systems that collect data across a range of topics such as individual nutritional status and eating behaviors, nutritional quality of foods offered, and nutrition practices across various settings. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is one such system accessible on the CSS website. NHANES was designed to collect data about the health, nutritional status, and health behaviors of individuals in the United States. The Health and Diet Survey is also included in the CSS. It was designed to collect data about knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to various current and emerging nutrition and labeling issues among consumers in the United States. To learn more about CSS and how to use it, you can view this video.
NCCOR has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop resources for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). To compliment the SNAP-Ed program, NCCOR worked with USDA to develop the SNAP-Ed Toolkit—a portfolio of evidence-based obesity strategies and actionable tools. This online toolkit was designed to help state SNAP-Ed administrative and implementing agencies identify evidence-based obesity prevention programs and policy, systems, and environmental strategies and interventions to include in their SNAP-Ed Plans. In addition, NCCOR collaborated with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services, the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators, and more than 28 states to develop the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework: Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention Indicators and Interpretive Guide.
For more information on NCCOR tools and resources as they become available, please sign up for the NCCOR e-Newsletter and follow the conversation @NCCOR.