(P02-110-25) Signature Foods Framework for Children’s Healthy Living Food System Action in the US Affiliated Pacific Region

Objectives: The Children’s Healthy Living Program (CHL) developed a framework for identifying promising intervention points in the food systems of the US Affiliated Pacific Region for improving the overall diet and health of children.

Methods: Local municipalities can influence the quality of the local food supply through advocacy, research and policy. Finding nutrients and food components for intervention that optimize the use of limited resources can be aided by understanding their current level of consumption, their associations with health, and their cultural and economic importance. The CHL, which includes the five jurisdictions in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific, developed a framework for identifying “signature foods” as potential leverage points. The framework was applied to the CHL data of 2543 children aged 2-8 based on food records and anthropometry measures. Signature foods are defined as those consumed by the population that are associated with health conditions. Due to the intermittent consumption of foods, the framework first identified “signal nutrients” linked to health, namely overweight and obesity and acanthosis nigricans, using logistic regression. The analysis was then repeated for signal nutrients contributed by specific foods and food groups. Foods leading to strong associations (standardized beta > 0.025 in absolute value) with the health conditions and in the same direction as the signal nutrients were designated as signature foods. This list was then provided to local stakeholder groups to discuss the appropriateness of identified signature foods for action.

Results: Applying the framework led to identification of over 30 signature foods. As an example, calcium intake was found to be negatively associated with obesity (p=0.002). Twenty-four foods that contributed at least 1% of the calcium intake were then examined for their association with obesity. The signature foods included milk, fish, bread and cereal. Fish was selected as a potential intervention point due to its importance to the region and the fact that campaigns already existed to increase milk consumption among children.

Conclusions: Identifying best uses of limited resources for health promotion can be aided by a framework that uses objective data sources and knowledge of local stakeholders.

Funding Sources: USDA NIFA Grant no. 2021-68012-35899 and COBRE Grant no. 1P20GM139753-01A1