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Updated Meal Patterns in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Changes in Quality of Food and Beverages Served: A Natural Experimental Study
Authors:Tatiana Andreyeva  Rebecca S. Mozaffarian  Erica L. Kenney
Affiliation:1.Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, University of Connecticut, One Constitution Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103, USA;2.Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA;3.Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Abstract:
With diet-related chronic diseases being the largest contributors to U.S. morbidity and mortality, identifying population-level strategies to promote healthier diets is essential. Intervention during early childhood may be particularly important. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a federal nutrition assistance program in the U.S. that supports serving meals and snacks in child care settings, reaches millions of U.S. children. Recent 2017 updates to CACFP’s meal patterns were meant to improve the nutritional quality of food served through CACFP by providing more whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. In this study, we used a natural experimental, longitudinal study of child care centers participating in CACFP compared to nonparticipating centers to assess whether the quality of food and beverages served (per menu analysis) improved following the CACFP meal pattern changes. While we found that CACFP centers were more likely to meet several key nutrition standards in comparison to non-CACFP centers overall, there were no differences in menu quality from before to after the 2017 standards change between CACFP and non-CACFP centers. Nutrition standards for CACFP may need to be further strengthened with adequate financial and technical support given to child care programs for effective implementation.
Keywords:child nutrition   CACFP   menu analysis   preschools
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