Nutrition Policy Research

Good nutrition is critical to health, functioning, and quality of life. Mathematica has been a leader in designing and evaluating policies to ensure that all Americans have access to adequate food. We have extensively studied all of the major U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs, including the Food Stamp Program, the school nutrition programs, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Our research has examined the nutritional needs and dietary status of people at all stages of the life cycle, from infancy through old age.

Mathematica’s research—distinguished by its high quality and objectivity—has been informing the development of nutrition policy for three decades. Key projects help legislators understand how proposed revisions to federal programs could affect nutrition policy; evaluate and identify innovative practices to educate people about consuming a healthy diet and reducing obesity; shed light on children’s diets, from infancy to adolescence; and examine federal school food programs for dietary quality. We have also examined hunger in America, along with many other critical nutrition issues.

Dealing with Increases in Obesity

Since the 1970s, overweight and obesity have increased among Americans of all ages. The low-income population is particularly at risk. We have studied the role of competitive foods—items of minimal nutritional quality sold in school that compete with regular school lunches—and examined trends in schoolchildren’s diets. Our staff has also assessed the implementation of programs to prevent childhood obesity and studied the feeding patterns of infants and toddlers, and we have investigated the trend toward larger portion sizes being offered in restaurant and packaged foods.

Improving Federal Food and Nutrition Programs

We have conducted large-scale studies of virtually every major federally funded nutrition program. In addition to analyzing who is eligible, we have looked at the characteristics of participants and nonparticipants, benefit delivery, quality of participants’ diets, and effects on food choices and nutrient intakes. We have also studied the school lunch and breakfast programs as well as smaller but important programs, including the Summer Food Service Program for children and the Administration on Aging’s Elderly Nutrition Program, which provides group and home-delivered meals to seniors.

Food Stamps. Mathematica’s researchers are nationally recognized experts on the Food Stamp Program, which we have been studying for more than 25 years. The federal government uses the results of our studies to compile many of the government’s standard statistical data sets about the program, including client profiles and state participation data. Our work also plays an important role in studies of welfare reform, because it can help predict what would happen with food stamps under different welfare policy changes. Using microsimulation—a way of modeling real-life events—we estimate how changes would affect different groups. We also examine how participation in one program affects receipt of other benefits and estimate how shifts in the economy may change caseloads. Other studies have also looked at how benefits affect the nutrients available to participants and identification of effective strategies for increasing participation among the elderly.

WIC. The WIC program helps improve the health of pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children. After one of our studies found that the program produces large health care savings as well as higher birthweights for newborns, funding was expanded substantially, and our findings were cited extensively by the President and Congress. Using a statistical process called "shrinkage estimation," we also produce annual estimates of how many people are eligible in each state, to form the basis for funding allocations. In addition, we have studied promising WIC initiatives that promote breast feeding, improve nutrition education, or provide more-intensive services to specific target groups to see whether the programs can be replicated in other parts of the country.

School Nutrition Programs. When our 1993 study found that the fat content of school lunches was 38 percent, well above the 30 percent recommended target, it fueled a national debate on ways to make school lunches healthier. In other work, we have examined why some children do not participate in school meal programs, what nutrients school meals provide, how the programs affect dietary intake, what the diets of school-age children look like, and methods to enhance the efficiency and integrity of the program. We have collected data in school districts across the country to shed light on the role of the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and other aspects of school environments in children's diets. In addition, another of our national studies is estimating erroneous reimbursements created by certification errors, as well as meal counting and claiming errors, in school nutrition programs.

Emergency Food Assistance System. When households' food needs are not fully met by government programs, many people turn to the emergency food assistance system for help. This system is a loosely connected network of food pantries, emergency kitchens, and shelters that provide food, usually on a walk-in basis. Although most of the organizations in the network are private and nonprofit, many receive federal subsidies. Important issues include whom the system serves and how well it functions as a source of last resort for people who need assistance. Our work has included surveys of both providers and clients, including those at faith-based agencies.

Nutrition Surveys and Methods for Assessing Dietary Quality

As knowledge of the relationship between diet and long-term health has increased, so have concerns about hunger and food insecurity, overweight and obesity, and dietary knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Informative analyses of these and other nutrition policy issues require accurate data, and Mathematica has extensive experience in collecting high quality nutrition data and assessing dietary intakes. We are a recognized leader in:

• Collecting and Analyzing Nutrition Data. Mathematica has conducted national surveys of the nutritional content of program menus, plate waste, household food use, and 24-hour dietary intakes for a wide range of programs and populations, using state-of-the-art methods. Mathematica staff have extensive experience in measuring food security and dietary intake from a wide range of data sources, and we were among the first to implement the current state-of-the-art methods for assessing usual nutrient intake based on one or two days of dietary recalls. Our experts have also worked with USDA to develop the Healthy Eating Index, a summary measure of dietary quality.
  
  
• Applying Standards for Assessing Nutrient Adequacy. Based on new scientific work on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), we are studying the nutrient adequacy of several high-needs groups: adolescent females, elderly people, overweight and obese children and adults, low-income individuals, and people living in food-insecure households. We also used the DRIs in analyzing data from our large survey of the nutrient intakes and feeding practices of infants and toddlers.

Sharing Our Expertise

Because we analyze some of the most crucial nutrition issues facing the nation and in recognition of our expertise, many of our researchers serve on advisory panels convened by prestigious groups such as the National Academies Institute of Medicine. For example, Mathematica senior staff have served on the Food and Nutrition Board Committee on Dietary Risk in the WIC Program, the Committee on the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth, the Committee on Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools, the Subcommittee on the Uses and Interpretation of the Dietary Reference Intakes, the Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages, and the Data Needs Committee. These expert panels help set the nutrition research agenda for the future.

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