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BACKGROUND: Nutrition plays a vital role in children's physical and emotional health. More than half of school age children's calories are provided in the school food environment, making school interventions an opportunity to address child nutrition. METHODS: The Creating Health Environments for Schools (CHEFS) program is designed to leverage local resources to create customized solutions that improve the nutritional content of school food and encourage children to choose healthier food. There are 8 components: (1) customizing nutrition plans, (2) modifying/replacing menu items, (3) helping procure healthier food, (4) providing equipment grants, (5) training cafeteria staff, (6) implementing environmental changes and nudges, (7) engaging students and parents, and (8) supporting sustainability. Supporting child nutrition directors is key to facilitating cooperation with schools. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: Menu modifications and procurement are interrelated and depend on successfully collaborating with corporate, independent, and local food services organizations. Limited school budgets require low or no‐cost solutions and staff training. Student and parent engagement are critical to facilitate culturally‐appropriate solutions that increase awareness of healthy food. CONCLUSIONS: Every school district has particular resources and constraints. CHEFs engaged stakeholders to design customized solutions and encourage healthier nutrition for school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with food insecurity experience type 2 diabetes (T2D) at higher rates than others while lacking the resources to manage the disease. In order to improve the health of food-insecure individuals with T2D, interventions must address nutrition at multiple levels. Delivering Health utilizes healthy eating and active living lifestyle programs to address food insecurity and diabetes management for food-insecure people with T2D. This program is designed to help Arkansans with T2D and food insecurity. The program includes interventions at three levels: 12 weeks home delivery of T2D-appropriate food boxes with adapted education materials to food-insecure individuals with T2D; dissemination of education materials (diabetes-friendly toolkit and training) that support the nutrition of T2D clients to food pantries in Arkansas; and development of an interprofessional health education (IPE) course to increase food security assessments and dietary interventions for T2D patients. Biometric data, measures of food security, food pantry utilization, health history, medications, and Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities are gathered from individuals; survey data is collected from food pantries and interprofessional health students. One hundred and one food-insecure people with T2D have been recruited, 92 pantries have received a diabetes-friendly toolkit and training, and 241 health profession students have completed an IPE course. Pantry surveys show that trainings have increased the ability of most food pantries to improve client health, that over half have increased the use of diabetes-related components, but that few had implemented operational changes. Seventy-six percent of students reported this was a valuable educational activity. Real-world constraints often limit the ability of food pantries to support clients with T2D, but most are willing to implement changes when given support; the availability of healthy food is often limited, so some pantries have requested help procuring food. The IPE module is effective in training future healthcare professionals about how to treat patients with both T2D and food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative formative approach was used to explore food pantry clients' needs, preferences, and recommendations regarding food received from food pantries. Fifty adult clients of six Arkansas food pantries were interviewed in English, Spanish, or Marshallese. Data analysis used the constant comparative qualitative methodology. In choice and minimal choice pantries, three themes emerged: clients need increased quantities of food, particularly more proteins and dairy; clients desire higher quality food, including healthy food and food not close to expiration; and clients desire familiar foods and food appropriate for their health needs. System level policy changes are needed to address clients' recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx and Marshallese populations experienced significant COVID-19 disparities in Arkansas, as well as high rates of food insecurity. This case study describes a partnership to rapidly deliver food to isolated and quarantined individuals with COVID-19. It focuses on the project's initial three weeks (June 19–July 2, 2020) of operation in which 531 home deliveries of food boxes were made to 2,192 unique individuals in 373 unique households. This community partnership was possible because of existing relationships established prior to the pandemic and leveraged to rapidly reach and respond to acute need in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of food-insecure households in the United States obtain food from food pantries each year. These foods are often of insufficient nutritional quality. Our aim was to describe the frequency with which Arkansas food pantries offer foods included in Feeding America's Detailed Foods to Encourage (F2E) framework, and examine food pantry characteristics associated with increased frequency of offering F2E and other foods. This was a 27-item cross-sectional online survey that assessed food pantries' characteristics (eg, storage capacities, number of clients served) and typical food offerings. Partnering with five of Arkansas's six food banks, 764 e-mail invitations were sent to food agency managers across the state. A final sample of 357 food pantries was included in the analyses. The primary outcomes of interest were the frequencies of offering specific F2E and F2E in general. The F2E framework was developed by Feeding America to more accurately assess food banks' inventories, and its categories (Fruits and Vegetables; Protein; Dairy; and Grains) are generally consistent with MyPlate. Descriptive statistics were computed for all food pantry characteristics and frequency of foods offered. Associations between food pantry characteristics and the frequency of offering F2E were examined via multiple linear regression and path analysis. Only 18.5% of food pantries had written nutrition guidelines, and only 19.3% offered client choice distribution. The F2E most commonly offered were meat/poultry/seafood without breading and not fried (59.6%) and peanut butter (58.2%). The least commonly offered F2E were nuts/seeds with nothing added (3.8%) and low-fat/1%/skim cheese (8.2%). Written nutrition guidelines (P <0.001), client choice distribution (P =0.003), and adequate refrigerator storage (P =0.010) were associated with more frequently offering F2E. This study fills a gap in knowledge by documenting food pantry characteristics that are associated with the frequencies of offering specific types of healthy foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose and Objectives: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sodium Reduction in Communities Program aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. The objective of our study was to evaluate changes in sodium levels over 5 years (2016-2021) in food served in school lunches as an outcome of a Sodium Reduction in Communities program in Arkansas's largest school district., Intervention Approach: We collaborated with Springdale Public Schools (SPS) to reduce dietary sodium intake in school lunches through increased implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies. These activities were maintained from year 1 through year 5. Implementation priorities were informed each year by evaluation findings from the preceding year., Evaluation Methods: We collected lunch service records and information on nutritional content of menu items for the 30 schools under the direction of SPS's Child Nutrition Department. We used a pretest-posttest quantitative evaluation design to analyze annual changes in the sodium content of meals, from baseline through year 5., Results: From baseline through year 1, SPS reduced sodium served per diner, per entrée offered, and per entrée served. These reductions were maintained from baseline through 5 years of follow-up. Mean sodium per 1,000 kcal per diner served was 1,740 mg at baseline and was lower in each of the 5 follow-up years: 1,488 mg (14% decrease) in year 1; 1,495 mg (14% decrease) in year 2; 1,612 mg (7% decrease) in year 3; 1,560 mg (10% decrease) in year 4; and 1,532 mg (12% decrease) in year 5. Energy served per diner remained stable., Implications for Public Health: Our study provides evidence for sustained sodium reduction strategies in a large ethnically and socioeconomically diverse school district, pointing to the potential benefit of implementing similar strategies in other school districts. The study also shows how program evaluation can be used to support sustainability.

The Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. We evaluated progress of 3 years of SRCP activities in 3 community meals programs in northwest Arkansas. These activities sought to reduce dietary sodium intake through implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies. Mean reductions of 579 mg (-40%) in sodium served per diner and 525 mg (-22%) in sodium per 1,000 kcal served per diner were found from baseline to Year 1. Mean reductions of 499 mg (-35%) in sodium served per diner and 372 mg (-16%) in sodium per 1,000 kcal served per diner were sustained from baseline to Year 3. These results highlight the effectiveness and sustainability of sodium reduction interventions in community meals programs, whose diners experience food insecurity, have low incomes, and are at high risk for hypertension.

Purpose and Objectives: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. The objective of this study was to evaluate and document the progress of the first year of a 5-year SRCP project in northwest Arkansas., Intervention Approach: In collaboration with 30 partner schools and 5 partner community meals programs, we sought to reduce dietary sodium intake through increased implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies., Evaluation Methods: We collected daily menus, information on nutritional content of meals, and procurement records and counted the number of people served in partnering schools and community meals programs. We used a pretest-posttest quantitative evaluation design to analyze changes in the sodium content of meals from baseline to Year 1 follow-up., Results: From baseline to Year 1 follow-up, participating schools lowered the mean sodium content served per lunch diner from 1,103 mg to 980 mg (-11.2%). The schools also reduced the mean sodium content of entrées offered (ie, entrées listed on the menu) from 674 mg to 625 mg (-7.3%) and entrées served from 615 mg to 589 mg (-4.2%). From baseline to follow-up, participating community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals offered (ie, meals listed on the menu) from 1,710 mg to 1,053 mg (-38.4%). The community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals served from 1,509 mg to 1,258 mg (-16.6%)., Implications for Public Health: In both venues, our evaluation findings showed reductions in sodium served during the 1-year evaluation period. These results highlight the potential effectiveness of sodium reduction interventions focused on food service guidelines, procurement practices, food preparation practices, and environmental strategies for schools and community meals programs.