Life Span Institute Connections

Tuesday June 9, 2026

 Ultra-processed foods | Statewide literacy partnership
 Kansas research funding competition 

A new study from the University of Kansas details how U.S. tobacco corporations expanded into global food markets from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, using strategies honed through cigarette sales to market ultra-processed foods, which are industrially processed and contain ingredients and additives that maximize their appeal. The research appears in the American Journal of Public Health.

“We’d previously published on U.S. tobacco company activities in relation to the U.S. food system,” said lead author Tera Fazzino, associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas. “In that prior study, I noted that tobacco-owned food company activities extended far beyond the United States. They had an extensive international business development strategy. Given the global conversation about ultra-processed and hyperpalatable foods saturating food systems, it felt important to investigate that international dimension. This study contributes to understanding the origin and nature of these foods and how they became widespread globally.”

For two decades, tobacco firms heavily invested in food companies, applying marketing, distribution and product-engineering strategies developed in the tobacco business.

“The scale was massive,” said Fazzino, who also serves as associate scientist at the KU Life Span Institute’s Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment. “For Philip Morris, its food business, for a substantial period of time, generated sales comparable to its tobacco business — roughly a 50–50 split. A significant portion of those food revenues came from international markets.”

Meanwhile, Fazzino said, R.J. Reynolds had closer to 30% of its portfolio in food sales.

👉Read more about the research.

From small, rural districts across the state of Kansas to complex districts in major population centers, improving statewide literacy can’t follow a one-size-fits-all mandate or approach.

That’s one of the initial conclusions of researchers at the University of Kansas who have partnered with the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) to fulfill the goals of the Blueprint for Literacy, a statewide initiative signed by Gov. Laura Kelly in 2024 focused on improving literacy rates among K-12 students.

Blueprint for Literacy aims to address declining literacy rates in Kansas schools, where just 33% of students achieve grade-level reading proficiency. Blueprint for Literacy aims to nearly triple that number to reach a goal of 90% proficiency.

Researchers from the KU Life Span Institute, who presented their findings to the Board of Regents in March (PDF), pursued four areas of research in the first year of the partnership. One area of research funded by a $616,670 contract with KBOR was a statewide needs assessment.

Researchers visited teachers, school administrators, families and students across the state to better understand their community’s concerns about reading, literacy and their local schools. The visits, which were to Crawford, Dickinson, Harper, Jefferson, Logan, Neosho, Stafford and Wallace counties, included classroom observations and evaluations of school readiness and infrastructure to improve literacy.

Understanding individual district needs is important when developing literacy tools that educators will be able to use within their classroom environment, said Suzanne Myers, co-director of the KU Center for Research on Learning.

👉Read more about the research.

REDCap meeting for data wranglers and REDCap users: Thursday, June 11, at 12 noon on Zoom  (no passcode). For this meeting, Lisa Hallberg will talk about “survey batteries," or the sequences of surveys that researchers want participants to complete. The discussion will include REDCap features and techniques researchers can use to enable a sequence of surveys and minimize the possibility of survey abandonment.

Kansas Center for Implementation Science (KCIS) 2026 Community Engagement Pilot Awards; informational meeting tomorrow, June 10: The KCIS Community Engagement Pilot Awards Program is accepting pilot applications for up to $10,000 in direct costs. This Program aims to strengthen community–research partnerships, build shared capacity, and lay the groundwork for larger implementation projects that lead to sustainable improvements in access to quality care across Kansas. Read the request for applications.

Pre-submission Zoom meeting (no passcode): Tomorrow, June 10, 2026, 12-1 p.m.

Application Submission Deadline: July 17, 2026

Download the fillable cover page from the KCIS website

Questions? Reach out to the project development team at lsipd@ku.edu

Connections is produced by strategic communications staff at the Life Span Institute for affiliated researchers, staff and students. 

Writing and editing by Jen Humphrey, Christina Knott and Brendan Lynch/KU News.
Image credits: Adobe stock; Christina Knott

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