Sample topics
Following are examples of studies that would be eligible for funding under the Healthy Eating Research program's Round 3 and Special Solicitation Round 2 Calls for Proposals. Both of these funding opportunities focus on studies of policy and environmental strategies in four areas: food pricing and economic approaches; food and beverage marketing and promotion; improving access to affordable healthy foods in low-income communities; and evaluations of other promising food-related policy and environmental strategies.
NOTE: The Healthy Eating Research program relies on the creativity of researchers to generate ideas for research topics that fit the overall scope of these CFPs. Possible studies are not limited to these examples. Junior investigators applying through the Special Solicitation Round 2 are not eligible for the large-scale grants described below.
1. Food pricing and economic approaches
Examples of Possible Topics for Small- or Large-scale Studies
- Economic analyses of the costs of a healthy youth diet in a variety of settings (e.g., schools, communities, grocery stores) and/or socio-demographic groups.
- Experimental studies to test the differences in purchasing when prices of less healthy foods are increased versus when prices of healthier foods are reduced. How broad or narrow should the categories of food be for price reductions to have maximal impact? What would happen when both pricing approaches are used? Are the effects additive or synergistic? Can health/nutrition education be used in combination with pricing to influence purchasing so that less dramatic changes in price are needed to produce changes in purchasing?
- Analyses of the individual differences that influence consumers' sensitivity to increased prices of less healthy foods or reduced prices of healthy foods (e.g., socioeconomic status, ethnic group, food preferences, weight status, age).
- Examining if incentive systems that are individualized and built into individual food store purchases can be developed, so that youth and families would get greater discounts if they purchased healthier foods.
- Examining how to measure the food pricing that children, adolescents or families encounter, with accurate and reliable methods, including how sale offerings and coupon use affect measurement.
Examples of Possible Topics for Analyses of Macro-level Approaches
- Analyses of the upstream macro-level determinants of food prices, including the effects of trade and agricultural policies (e.g., agricultural commodities and commodity farm prices) and food production and marketing costs.
- Studies of the cost-effectiveness of subsidizing healthy foods or increasing prices of less healthy foods versus other approaches to improving eating behaviors and reducing childhood obesity.
2. Food and beverage marketing and promotion
Examples of Possible Topics for Small- or Large-scale Studies
- Experimental studies altering the environment through replicable changes in one or more of the following: portion size, packaging, placement, promotion activities, point-of-purchase information, front-of-pack caloric labeling of foods, or restaurant menu or package/table/tray labeling.
- Studies to develop measures of food and beverage marketing and promotion to children, with special attention to observational measures that reveal variation across settings or communities and may be sensitive to environmental/policy changes after interventions.
- Observational studies of the extent and/or impact of marketing, advertising or promotion in different settings (schools, child-care, grocery stores, communities, youth sports programs) or directed at different populations (e.g., low- vs. high-income neighborhoods).
- Secondary data analyses that link commercial data on advertising of healthy and unhealthy foods to data on food and beverage consumption or weight outcomes among children and youth in diverse populations.
- Studies that document the extent, content and potential impact of new food and beverage advertising and marketing approaches (e.g., digital media) directed at children in varied socio-economic and racial/ethnic populations.
- Studies evaluating the impact of youth exposure to different types of food and beverage advertising and marketing, including counter-marketing campaigns or social marketing to promote healthy eating.
Examples of Possible Topics for Analyses of Macro-level Approaches
- Evaluating the extent to which industry has implemented voluntary efforts to limit food and beverage marketing to children, as well as the actual or estimated impact of those efforts on children's diet quality, energy balance and/or body weight.
- Analysis of legal or regulatory policy approaches to advertising and marketing aimed at children and adolescents.
3. Improving access to affordable healthy foods in low-income communities.
Examples of Possible Topics for Small- or Large-scale Studies
- Analyses of socio-economic and racial/ethnic disparities in access to healthy and less healthy foods and beverages in a variety of community venues (e.g., grocery stores and convenience stores, restaurants, farmers' markets).
- Cross-sectional or prospective studies of policy/environmental interventions designed to alter children's food access and consumption in high-risk communities, including those that take advantage of natural experiments.
- Studies to develop and pilot test measures of access to healthy foods in venues such as farmers' markets and mobile food vendors, as well as measures targeted to ethnic minority communities.
- Simulation modeling to estimate relative population impacts of varied interventions.
Examples of Possible Topics for Analyses of Macro-level Approaches
- Analysis of the modifiable determinants of current socio-demographic disparities in children's access to and consumption of healthy/unhealthy foods and strategies for altering these determinants (e.g., analysis of zoning codes and regulation policies in low-income communities).
- Analyses of the types of initiatives needed to increase access to affordable and high-quality healthful foods through retail grocery outlets in low-income areas.
- Successful case studies of community-based partnerships in implementing retail grocery programs in underserved areas or increasing access to healthy foods or limiting unhealthy foods in low-income areas.
- Examining the development and building of support and advocacy efforts for state and federal policies that support retail grocery development in low-income underserved areas.
4. Identifying or evaluating policy and environmental interventions with high potential to improve healthy eating, energy balance and body weight.
Examples of Possible Topics for Small- or Large-scale Studies
- Evaluations of the implementation of food and beverage industry guidelines, state/local mandated beverage or snack guidelines, or the new IOM food standards in schools and the impact on children's diets and body mass index (BMI).
- Comparative studies of state or local policies limiting foods and beverages sold or provided in schools, child-care and/or restaurants/fast-food establishments and their impact on children and adolescent food consumption or weight status.
- Examination of unintended consequences and/or limitations of environmental changes and food policies on healthy eating in children and youth.
- Development of independent and dependent measures for studies of varied food environments, including studies of the sensitivity of existing measurement tools and audits of environmental and policy changes.
Examples of Possible Topics for Studies of Macro-level Approaches
- Analysis of current national, state and local policies and legislation related to foods provided or sold in schools or child-care settings.
- Studies of the information and related needs of policy-makers at the local, state and national levels related to current efforts to introduce or oppose policy changes to improve healthy eating and reduce obesity in children and youth.
