School Nutrition Services (SNS) Research

Publication: JAMA Netw Open

Date Published: September 2025

Reference:

Localio, A. M., Hebert, P. L., Knox, M. A., Bensken, W. P., Ochoa, A. M., Sonney, J., & Jones-Smith, J. C. (2025). School provision of universal free meals and blood pressure outcomes among youths. JAMA Network Open, 8(9), e2533186. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.33186

Key Takeaways: In a cohort study using school-level data on pediatric patients who visited community health organizations in 12 U.S. states between 2013 and 2019, participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) was associated with a net decrease in the proportion of patients with elevated blood pressure measurements. The policy was also associated with a net decrease in the proportion of patients with hypertensive measurements and in mean diastolic blood pressure percentiles. These associations remained after adjusting for obesity prevalence. Universal free school meal policies such as the CEP represent promising strategies for improving population-level health.

#UniversalFreeMeals