Barbara Devaney

Dietary effects of the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

In this paper we use 24-h dietary recall data to assess the dietary effects of participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). After adjustment for differences in characteristics between NSLP participants and nonparticipants, NSLP participation is associated with higher lunch intakes of vitamin A, calcium, and magnesium, and a lower intake of vitamin C. Although mean intakes of other key dietary components such as food energy, iron, cholesterol, and sodium are higher for NSLP participants than for nonparticipants, these differences appear to be due to underlying differences in unobserved characteristics (eg, food preferences, appetites, or food energy needs) rather than to the NSLP. Both at lunch and over 24 h, NSLP participation is associated with consumption of a higher percentage of food energy from fat and saturated fat. SBP participation is associated with higher breakfast intakes of food energy, calcium, riboflavin, phosphorus, and magnesium, and with a higher percentage of breakfast food energy from fat and saturated fat, and a lower percentage of food energy from carbohydrate.

Dietary Effects of the Food Stamp Program

Based on data from the 1979–80 Survey of Food Consumption in Low-Income Households, this paper estimates the effects of changes in cash income and the food stamp benefit on household nutrient availability, while controlling for two potential sources of selection bias. The major finding of the empirical analysis is that the estimated dietary effects of changes in food stamp benefits are considerably larger than those resulting from changes in cash income, with estimates of the ratios of the MPC for the food stamp benefit to the cash-income MPC ranging from three to seven across nutrients. No significant evidence of selection bias was found, and the estimated dietary effects of food stamp benefits from the selection bias models are similar to those from the basic model estimated by ordinary least squares regression.

Medicaid Costs and Birth Outcomes: The Effects of Prenatal WIC Participation and the Use of Prenatal Care

This study examines the effects of prenatal WIC participation and the use of prenatal care on Medicaid costs and birth outcomes in five states--Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. The study period is 1987 for Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and South Carolina and January-June 1988 for Texas. Prenatal WIC participation was associated with substantial savings in Medicaid costs during the first 60 days after birth, with estimates ranging from

The Dietary Impacts of the School Breakfast Program

277 in Minnesota to

Summary of the Presentations at the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity, December 8, 2003

598 in North Carolina. For every dollar spent on the prenatal WIC program, the associated savings in Medicaid costs during the first 60 days ranged from

The School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study: summary and discussion.

1.77 to

Back to the Future: Community Involvement in the Healthy Start Program

3.13 across the five states. Receiving inadequate levels of prenatal care was associated with increases in Medicaid costs ranging from

Child Participation in WIC: Medicaid Costs and Use of Health Care Services

210 in Florida to

The Truncation-by-Death Problem: What to Do in an Experimental Evaluation when the Outcome Is Not Always Defined.

1,184 in Minnesota. Prenatal WIC participation was associated with higher newborn birthweight, while receiving inadequate prenatal care was associated with lower birthweight.

Thinking Through Evaluation Design Options

This study examines the dietary impacts of the School Breakfast Program based on twenty-four-hour dietary recall data collected during the 1980–81 school year. An important finding is that program availability has no significant relationship with the likelihood of eating breakfast, suggesting that a major program policy objective—to provide a breakfast to children who would not otherwise eat one—is not being achieved. Principal findings from the nutrient intake analysis are: (a) calcium intake, both at breakfast and over twenty-four hours, is positively related to program participation; (b) participation in the program is associated with lower intakes of cholesterol, both at breakfast and over twenty-four hours; and (c) iron intake at breakfast is negatively related to program participation.