Research Activities & Impact

The Friedman School is doing important work locally and globally in all areas of nutrition science and policy. We hope to illustrate the depth and breadth of our research and impact by detailing some of our projects and initiatives, both active and past. Browse activities using our major theme areas, or navigate using the map. Read more about our research funding principles.

The Daily D Study: Impact of Vitamin D Supplementation on Cardiometabolic Risk in Schoolchildren

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to the development of cardiovascular disease and it is estimated that six million children are currently vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D deficiency is even more common in northern latitudes, amongst some minority groups with darker skin pigmentation, and in those who are overweight or obese. In these groups, higher supplemental doses may be needed to maintain optimal serum levels and to prevent cardiovascular risk.

Topics: 
Healthy Communities and Behavior Change
Project Status: 
Past

The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study

The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study is a school-based nutrition intervention designed to improve the nutritional quality of foods children bring from home to school. The three-year project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, involves the design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative communications campaign for third and fourth grade students and their families. The pilot phase of the project was completed in June 2011, and the main intervention took place in schools throughout Eastern Massachusetts during the 2011-2012 school year.

Project Status: 
Past

Thrifty Food Calculator

This calculator is a tool for learning about tradeoffs between the nutrition quality and costs of foods available in the United States. Your challenge is to create a nutritious, affordable, and tasty food plan that meets your own nutrition policy goals. This challenge is similar to the task faced by USDA nutritionists and economists when they developed the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP).

Project Status: 
Past

Tufts Food Lab

A Unique Approach
Knowing how to prepare delicious food can provide an irresistible opportunity to translate advances in nutrition science and sustainable farming into real-world impact. At the Tufts Food Lab, we believe that solutions to problems in our world’s food systems can be found by connecting the study of regenerative agriculture, nutrition science, and the culinary arts into one interactive discipline.

Topics: 
Food Systems, Agriculture, and Climate Change
Project Status: 
Active

Tufts Nutrition Navigator

The Tufts University Nutrition Navigator was the first online rating and review guide that solved the two major problems Web users had when seeking nutrition information: how to quickly find information best suited to their needs and whether to trust the information they found. The Tufts University Nutrition Navigator was designed to help visitors sort through the large volume of nutrition information on the Internet and find accurate, useful nutrition information you can trust.

Topics: 
Public Impact
Project Status: 
Past

UBALE: United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations

UBALE, which means partnership in Chichewa and also stands for United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations, is a key element of USAID’s comprehensive development cooperation strategy in Malawi. The project is implemented with local NGOs through existing government structures in three food-insecure, chronically malnourished and disaster-prone districts of Southern Malawi: Chikwawa, Nsanje, and rural Blantyre, where UBALE aims to reach all 284 communities totaling about 248,000 households with an integrated set of agricultural and nutritional interventions.

Topics: 
Food Systems, Agriculture, and Climate Change
Food Security and Humanitarian Crisis
Project Status: 
Active

ViMPlus - Victory Against Malnutrition Plus

Sanmatenga province in Burkina Faso has some of the country’s highest childhood malnutrition rates. It also holds promise for increased agricultural productivity and rural market activities, which could reduce poverty, improve food security, and create greater resiliency to food shocks in the area.

Topics: 
Food Systems, Agriculture, and Climate Change
Food Security and Humanitarian Crisis
Global Nutrition
Project Status: 
Active

Working Paper: Promoting Dietary Quality in SNAP While Maintaining Emphasis on Preventing Hunger

Innovations have been proposed and piloted to increase the impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on healthy diets while simultaneously preserving its central role in protecting against hunger. This short discussion paper reviews the rapidly growing research and evaluation literature on these SNAP innovations.

Topics: 
Food Policy and Disparities
Project Status: 
Active