Across America, public health leaders in different states across the nation are pushing for various ways to address a rising childhood obesity epidemic. One big issue is sugary drinks. Sugary beverage consumption on a daily basis has been proven in research to be linked to higher risks of health related diseases. Follow #SaludTues to tweet with us on Feb. 2, 2016, as we unveil the results of a new study focusing on kids and sugary drinks. Participants will discuss problems, solutions, and new studies on sugary beverages and kids. We will share research packages that include helpful infographics. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Sugary Beverages & Kids”
DATE: Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016
TIME: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT)
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...
Two architecture and planning graduate students from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) recognized good fruit from fruit trees were being left to rot in urban areas of San Antonio, Texas, where many families live in need of fresh foods. Working together for a class project, the friends created a blossoming non-profit to make sure families in need can access a variety of fresh fruit.
A Local Healthy Food Problem
Awareness/Learn: In summer 2013, UTSA grad student Melissa Federspill started a class focused on health planning, called “Health in the Built Environment.” Students in the class were advised to visualize solutions to inner-city health problems. The class analyzed a neighborhood close to campus, the Avenue to Guadalupe neighborhood in the West Side of San ...
Children who lived closer to supermarkets increased fruit and vegetable consumption and reduced their body mass index (BMI), according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers examined about 500 children ages 6-12 with a BMI of or above the 95th percentile. There are other factors still needing further research. The researchers of the study suggest focusing on household income, other non-medical drivers of health, the drive to lose weight, and other factors, which could determine weight loss or gain, too. Having close access to fruits and vegetables has also been shown to assist families and help reduce the BMI of kids, studies show. To learn more about this study, click ...
Many kids have access to unhealthy snacks in schools. But when schools take action and set stricter nutrition standards, students consume 158 fewer calories and less fat/sugar, and more water, according to our new infographic on food at school and kids. The infographic is part of Salud America!’s Healthier Schools and Kids research review, which tackles the latest issues on the school health environment and offers recommendations. Share this infographic today! Salud America! is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded national childhood obesity prevention and communication ...
A new study suggests offering water to students may help reduce childhood obesity, CBS News reports. In the U.S., children struggle with overweight or obesity, but researchers at NYU Langone found “that thousands of New York City School children lost weight and lowered their body mass index after self-serve water dispensers were placed in schools.” “We looked at over a million kids in just over 1,200 schools in grades K-8,” Brian Elbel, study co-author and associate professor at the NYU Langone Medical Center, told CBS. “They ended up being about four or five pounds lighter after the introduction of this intervention as compared to a kid in a school that didn’t get a water jet.” According to the authors of the study when students have access to water jets sales of ...
Schools are where kids consume half of their daily calories. But many kids are widely exposed to unhealthy foods at school, and are less likely to engage in physical activity in school, according to a new research review from Salud America!, a national network for childhood obesity prevention and communication funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Salud America!’s Healthier Schools and Kids research review shows that Latino-majority schools tend to: have weaker policies on school snacks and drinks than other schools; may be less likely to implement nutritional guidelines; and offer few programs or access to facilities for physical activity. Solutions are emerging to create healthier schools: School policies that reduce access to unhealthy snacks and drinks are likely ...
All kids, including Latinos, need a healthy school environment. How can we healthy schools become then norm? Some students are more exposed to unhealthy food in and out of school. Stronger nutrition standards for snack foods and drinks will help all students access to healthier snacks at school, which can positively influence body mass index (BMI) trends for all populations. In addition, some students also engage in less physical activity in school, and before and after school. Implementing relevant programs that reduce challenges can increase activity opportunities for Latino and all kids. See the Full Research Review with references (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in English (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in Spanish (PDF)
Contents
Introduction & Methods. This Salud America! ...
ALDI has pledged to become the first United States supermarket chain to remove junk food from all checkout areas. On January 12, 2016, the discount retail grocer announced that all checkout lanes will offer healthier items reduced in calories, fat, sugars and sodium. The checkout lanes across ALDI's 1,500 locations are to be stocked by the end of 2016 with items like single serve nuts, trail mixes, dried fruits and various low sugar granola bars. The first stores that will see the promised changes include St. Louis, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Minneapolis. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has reported that temptations of junk food, especially placed at kid's eye level are hard to resist for shoppers and children, who's willpower is fatigued after hours ...
Penny Parham is helping students in Miami-Dade County make healthier food choices more easily thanks to highlighted, veggie-promoting "Lean & Green" school lunch food menus. By providing more vegetarian options, officials with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools hope to increase students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables and make healthy food the easy choice. How did they make it happen?
Lean & Green
Penny Parham, the administrative director at Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, realized the school district’s initiative of “Meatless Mondays” were popular for students. However, these vegetarian meal options were only available to students on Mondays. The Miami-Dade school district is the fourth largest in the nation, and having healthy eating ...
