Improved Nutrition On A Shoestring Budget, $1 Million USDA Grant Establishes Center To Help School Cafeterias Get Students To Eat Better

Main Category: Eating Disorders
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Preventive Medicine
Article Date: 13 Oct 2010 - 2:00 PDT


Better living through healthy eating: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted $1 million to establish the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs at the university's Charles H. Dyson School for Applied Economics and Management. Cornell announced the grant officially today (Oct. 12). The program is nicknamed BEN to reflect the aspects of behavioral economics and nutrition.

Brian Wansink, professor and David Just, associate professor, both in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and who are co-directors of the center, have found that small, inexpensive changes to school cafeteria layout can help children and teenagers make better, more-nutritional choices.

Cool and convenient food trump taste and price, but harnessing subtle influences in the behavior, schools can nudge students into healthier eating, say Just and Wansink. Schools have piloted their idea and have achieved impressive results. In one school, salad sales soared 300 percent in two weeks.

The center will offer two-year competitive grants for graduate students and junior faculty examining issues related to behavioral economics, children and food assistance programs. Workshops will be held for behavioral economists and experts in nutrition and policy. The center will disseminate research through websites, a practitioner newsletter, a policy briefing series and a working paper series. In fact, one website will be dedicated to provide information for school cafeteria administrators.

Chris Wallace, the former director of nutrition for the Corning City School District, Corning, N.Y., will help the center scale up national outreach efforts. Laura E. Smith, a doctoral student, will serve as an outreach specialist.

Source: Cornell University

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