A coalition formed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) resulted in a 40% increases in colorectal screening rates over four years. The program is now being looked at as a possible pilot for other communities to boost their cancer screening rates. A report headed by Dr. Steven Itzkowitz, a professor of medicine/oncological sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), now provides a framework for how communities might learn from a program to increase screening rates and ensure access for all people. “The increased screening rates from 2003 to 2012 translates to an additional 833,000 New Yorkers who have undergone screening colonoscopy and represents an important public health intervention,” said Dr. Itzkowitz. “By making ...
What if fast food meals for kids were considered more nutritious? Researchers from New York University (NYU) studied kids' meals by looking at over 358 fast food receipts which detailed over 400 purchases of kids' meals. After calculating what those meals would look like with a set of healthy nutritional standards, researchers summed up that there would have been a nine percent drop in calories for kids if the fast food meals purchased were up to their standards. This may not seem like much, but Dr. Brian Elbel, the lead author of the study and associate professor in the department of population health at NYU, said in a recent article, that these changes on fast food kids' meals would be a step in the right direction to help fight against childhood obesity. The new bill purposed ...
Camp Cauliflower is a cooking camp in Novato, Calif., where young students are learning what healthy cooking looks like for one week. Created by 17-year-old high school senior, Elena Dennis, the camp encourages young students to create healthy meals from the garden to the kitchen. Students harvest, cut, chop and cook alongside their older peers throughout the classes, all while learning what it takes to create a well-balanced meal. Elena, interested in starting this camp to encourage healthier diets for younger classmates, wanted to use her passion for cooking and nutrition in her school. She set out to make her dream of Camp Cauliflower become a reality in 2014 by asking food and nutrition director of Novato School District, Miguel Villarreal, to help her start her ...
Of the approximately four million babies born in the United States every year, only about 14 percent are born in Baby-Friendly hospitals, The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative established 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in 1989, which were endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2009. However, a recent study found that many hospitals still do not implement these 10 Steps. Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits, including reduced childhood obesity, but many mothers face challenges to breastfeed. Maternal experiences during the birth hospitalization show that a hospital's policies and practices affect a mother's ability to establish and maintain breastfeeding. In the six-year study, Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care, investigators compare ...
Water bottle sales have nearly tripled compared to the falling rates of soda consumption, reports the New York Times. This prompts the question, do the studies showing the link between obesity and consumption of sugary beverages make an impact? J. Alexander M. Douglas Jr., president of Coca-Cola North America, was quoted in the same article: “Health and wellness are a major enduring trend and each brand has to compete in that environment." But healthier beverage options are not just trending across certain states. They are being proven as recent market reports show a noticeable decrease in soda consumption. Sugary beverage taxes are not popular in all states, as in California, but a growing amount of sugary beverage consumers may be realizing the health warnings associated ...
Getting kids to eat vegetables isn't always an easy job, especially when some families are more likely to live in neighborhoods that have little to no access to local grocery stores. However, a recent research study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that Latino kids who consume more vegetables in their diets, are healthier overall, even if they are overweight. The study reveals that kids who are eating vegetables, like spinach, broccoli or carrots, even for just a fraction of their diet, can reduce bad fats in the body. The study focused on a group of overweight Latino children, monitored by a researchers from The Keck School of Medicine, and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). They found that children who consume one or two fist-size ...
Many packaged food companies and fast food restaurants are nixing artificial foods. Kellogg has jumped on this bandwagon and has recently stated they will stop using artificial colors and ingredients in their products. Kellogg's, the world's largest cereal company, plans to have all fake ingredients out of their boxes by the end of 2018. Other companies like General Mills are also upping their standards against unnatural ingredients, due to consumer demand, and making a goal to rid all artificial ingredients by 2016, in at least 90 percent of it's cereals. Trying to rebrand their products for "wellness" and add more healthy options like muesli and varieties of granola, Kellogg hopes to regain the consumers who are overwhelmingly making an impact on the company's stocks. In fact, ...
Policies to accommodate breastfeeding are extending beyond hospitals and workplaces and into professional baseball parks. The Cinncinati Reds opened the Pampers Nursing Suite at the Great American Ball Park in March and the Washington Nationals opened the Lansinoh Nursing Lounge at the Nationals Park during National Breastfeeding Week. These lounges or suites provide mothers with the option to nurse or pump in a cool, quiet and private place, rather than in the rowdy stands or in a public restroom. The purpose of breastfeeding policies are to make breastfeeding more accommodating and acceptable in order to support mother's breastfeeding goals, no matter what they are. Policies supporting mother's options to breastfeed could influence a shift back to breastfeeding, which has ...
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health partnered with AltaMed Services and Superior Grocers to help Maywood residents (97.4% Latino) shop for healthy foods. AltaMed provides health care services to underserved populations in Southern California. Obesity rates in Maywood, CA are 30% for adults and almost 28% for children, and the Medicare population with diabetes is 31.99% compared to 26.64% in California. Parents may struggle to navigate supermarkets due to flashy packaging and clever marketing by the food industry, which spends $2 billion annually on kids alone. Additional challenges are due to ambiguous health claims, confusing nutrition labels and cost. 28.3% of Maywood residents live under the federal poverty level compared to 15.9% in California. Superior ...
