Grant: Team Grant: Health Eff. of Ultra-Processed Foods-Structural Determinants - LOI

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) (eg, sugary drinks, candy, packaged snacks, many ready-to-eat meals) now account for more than half of Canadian children's energy intake. Children in underserved neighbourhoods are disproportionately affected, increasing their risk of obesity, early-onset type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Schools are well positioned to improve children's diets, but evidence is limited on whether school-based programs can effectively reduce UPF consumption. This Team Grant will bring together researchers, public health and nutrition experts, community organizations, school leaders, and families to co-design, implement, and assess the effectiveness of a UPF-focused school-based program in underserved communities. First, we will classify UPFs by nutritional quality (low, medium, high) and improve an existing validated, child-friendly 24-hour diet recall tool to accurately capture UPF intake across these sub-categories. We will then collect dietary data from a large, diverse sample of grade 5-8 students attending 30 underserved schools in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, and examine how UPF consumption differs between children who do and do not access school food programs. We will use these findings to co-design a UPF-focused program, pilot it to ensure feasibility and cultural safety, and then assess its impact by randomly assigning schools to either implement this program or continue with their usual practices. By the end of the project, we will deliver a more nuanced UPF classification, a reliable tool to measure UPF consumption in children in the school setting, and rigorous evidence on what works to reduce UPF consumption and improve dietary equity in the Canadian school communities that need it most.