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Home » Several recent studies show community prevention works!

Several recent studies show community prevention works!

Submitted by Administrator on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 09:13

Bolstering your own community's successes with rigorous study data helps make the case for prevention more effectively. This week, we highlight several studies that provide concrete evidence for what we already know: community prevention works—and it's working right now.

The Studies

In the July issue of Preventing Chronic Disease, "Effect of School District Policy Change on Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Among High School Students, Boston, Massachusetts, 2004-2006," researchers found "significant reductions in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which coincided with a policy change restricting sale of sugar-sweetened beverages in [Boston] schools."

The Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst released "Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts," which showed that investing in bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure projects creates more jobs than roads-only construction.

The USDA's Economic Research Service's study, "The Effect of Food and Beverage Prices on Children's Weights," found that lowering the price of healthy foods - like 100% juice, lowfat milk, and dark, leafy vegetables - by 10% was associated with healthier body weight.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network has released two companion reports on the tobacco prevention, "Saving Lives, Saving Money." One report revealed that raising the cigarette tax by $1/pack could save 1.32 million lives and approximately $645 million in heart-disease, stroke- and lung cancer-related costs. The second report found that extending comprehensive smoke-free laws to all states could save $1.32 billion in treatment costs and reduce smoking-related deaths by 624,000.

Emerging research: The USDA has launched a pilot program aimed at getting more food from local farms into school cafeterias. The program is based on an independently released Ecotrust study ("The Impact of Seven Cents"), which showed that for every dollar spent on farm-to-school programs, there was $1.86 generated in economic activity. The study also found that for each job created directly by local food purchasing, another 1.43 jobs were created indirectly.