CSPI asks parents to take a stand against phony fruit snacks



Many Latino kids are faced with unhealthy snack choices and often are marketed these high- sugary options in candy and sodas more than their peers. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is asking parents to ask General Mills and Betty Crocker to stop confusing kids with advertising candy as fruit snacks. Nutritional facts are often hard to understand for parents, and studies show children are influenced by mascots and cartoons and foods advertised on television and in phone apps. To learn more about how you can get involved, click here. Copy & Share on Twitter: What are your kids eating? #SaludAmerica Learn more on what @CSPI is asking @GeneralMills ...

Read More

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Gives for Healthy School Initiatives



The Be Healthy School Grant Program will make $250,000 of money available for up to 25 schools to be awarded $10,000 grants from the 2016-2017 school year. This Blue Cross Blue Shield grant program allows schools across the state of Alabama, who enroll students in grades K through sixth and apply into the Healthy School Grant Program, a chance to implement school-based health and wellness programs that increase exercise, nutrition and parental involvement throughout the school year. Grant requests and applications will be accepted from now to March and schools considered for grant dollars schools must be located in Ala., serve students in grades K-6, and be public, private or non-profit. Only schools can be awarded the grant dollars, those not supported are for profit schools, ...

Read More

La FDA aprueba agregar ácido fólico a la masa de maiz



La Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos (FDA) aprobó la fortificación con ácido fólico de la masa de maíz ampliamente utilizada por los latinos, reporta NBC News. Según la FDA, el ácido fólico es una vitamina B que cuando se toma por una mujer embarazada puede ayudar a prevenir defectos congénitos del tubo neural, que son defectos que afectan el cerebro, la columna vertebral y la médula espinal. "El aumento de consumo del ácido fólico ha sido de gran ayuda en la reducción de la incidencia de defectos del tubo neural en la población general", dijo Susan Mayne, Ph.D., a del centro de la FDA para la seguridad de los alimentos y nutrición. "Nuestro análisis muestra que la adición de ácido fólico a la masa de maíz ayudará a aumentar el consumo de ácido ...

Read More

Healthy schools campaign cooks up healthy cafeteria changes



Students across the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), participated in the Healthy Schools Campaign healthy cooking contests. Students were challenged to create a nutritious lunch that includes fresh fruit and vegetables, meets USDA nutrition guidelines, be under 760 calories and costs less than $1.70. The challenge allows students to win a chance to represent Los Angeles across the state and serve the model meal in an all-expenses paid Cooking up Change competition in the capitol. The winner could go on from there to serve the meal to congress and become a model meal for schools across the country. Having healthy options and creative ways to get kids involved in creating healthy meals is a innovative way to change school food environments. Studies show that when ...

Read More

Minnesota proposes healthy food access bill



Members of Minnesotans for Healthy Kids Coalition, a statewide coalition of around 25 organizations that work on policies to help address childhood obesity, gathered together in March to purpose a healthy food access bill for the many people who are facing little to no healthy food access in Minnesota. According to a 2011 project from the Trust for American's Health and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, 14 percent of children ages 10 to 17 were obese in Minn. The coalition talked with several steak holders about what should be included in a bill for healthy food access for Minn. and many wanted the Dept. of agriculture to house the loans, technical assistance and felt the state could house the program with ten million dollars a year, in the form of loans grants or technical ...

Read More

New research has UK suggesting changes in food & beverage labeling



Could activity labeling encourage people to do physical activity or not eat that bag of chips? What is activity labeling? Calories are usually shown on food labels, but what if the amount of time to walk or burn off those calories were also on the food? A new study asked more than 800 parents to look at a fast food menu online and pick a meal for their child, parents who saw the calories and number of minutes of exercise to burn off those calories, didn't order a lower calorie meal but said they would encourage their child to exercise. Interestingly enough, another study has shown that teens beverage choice was influenced by activity labeling signs in the store. However other studies have shown that people continue to order high-calorie foods, but some are three times more ...

Read More

Study: Salty, Sugary Snacks Increase Risk for Hypertension


Hypertension underlined with red marker

A study from Dr. Kevin Gordish, presented at the Experimental Biology 2016 conference, indicates that added sugars and salts increase the risk for increased blood pressure resulting in "fructose-linked hypertension." The study analyzed groups of rats whose diets mimicked the American diets high in sugary beverages and salt. One group of rats were fed drinking water with 20% fructose and another group was fed plain water, but given high salt diets in the second week, resulting in increase blood pressure and leading to hypertension. Gordish explained that the fructose intake, similar the amounts of sugary beverages we consume, decrease the body's ability to get rid of excess salt and increase sodium retention. “The specific combination of fructose and high salt introduced in the ...

Read More

Out With Soda in With Water Fountains



High Schools in St. Joseph, Missouri are now able to help students make the healthier choice the easier choice with the school's new water bottle stations. To help encourage students to chose water over sugary beverages, local health departments helped purchase the new water bottle filling fountains for various local schools and put up sugar shocker signs to help students know how much sugar is in various sugary beverages. The grant came through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and then the new fountains were purchased by the City of St. Joseph Health Department to help encourage students to drink more water. Quick-fill water bottle stations that transform regular water fountains into bottle filling stations were put into various local schools including ...

Read More

ROTC junior student educates peers on nutrition with Mission Readiness



According to the U.S. Military Processing Exam, 62,000 new recruits to the military were turned away in joining the military due to their weight. Juan Cardenas, a member of the Marine Corps junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) at Northridge High School, offered fellow students a presentation on healthier foods, nutrition, calories, and label reading. Sixteen year old Cardenas said in a local article, that he wasn't always the strongest and fastest kid, but was always the bigger kid, but now he is the kid that can "hold his own" and compete. Cardenas knows that eating healthy and exercising has helped him and hopes to show that to his peers. Latino kids are at higher risks for diet-related dieseases like obesity and diabetes, and according to the the local article, ...

Read More