E197: USDA plans for online WIC Benefits

February 28, 2023

In February, 2023, the US Department of Agriculture announced plans to streamline and modernize WIC – the Women Infants and Children Program focused on supplemental nutrition. We’ll talk about the future of WIC today with Stacy Dean, the Deputy Undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Food | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | Social Safety Net & Food |

 

E190: Insights from 2nd Global Survey of School Meals

December 13, 2022

School meal programs provide children with needed meals, snacks, and even take home foods throughout the world. These programs have a tremendous impact on children’s overall nutrition, physical, and emotional development, and their academic performance, as you can imagine. Much can be learned from a project that is entitled The Global Survey of School Meal Programs. Today we will be speaking about the second such survey with Global Child Nutrition Foundation Research Coordinator, Ayala Wineman, from Michigan State University.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | School Meals |

 

E169: Ending Childhood Malnutrition is Within our Grasp

June 1, 2022

So what percentage of the world’s children do you believe suffer from physical or mental stunting due to nutrition and food shortages? How lasting do you think these effects are and what can be done? Today’s guest is Sharman Russell, author of the new book, Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It. Among the reviews for the book, The Sunday Times of London said “Every page holds a revelation.”

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | International Food & Ag Policy |

 

E145: A Strategy to Improve SNAP Impact Through the Next Farm Bill

October 12, 2021

In 2023, the U.S. will reauthorize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, as part of the massive Farm Bill. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdowns and unprecedented innovations to SNAP benefits and delivery, what should the future program look like? As one of the country’s most important social safety nets, SNAP is a proven policy for stabilizing the economy, lifting Americans out of poverty, reducing food insecurity, and improving health while also reducing healthcare costs. In anticipation of this reauthorization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research Program published a new report entitled “Strengthening the Public Health Impacts of SNAP: Key Opportunities for the Next Farm Bill.” The report identified the evidence-based changes that have the greatest potential to improve SNAP participants’ nutrition and their overall health. And the stakes on this are really high because the lives of so many people are affected. Today, we’ll be talking with Duke University’s Megan Lott, deputy director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research Program, and coauthor Catherine Woteki, former under secretary for the USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics mission areas, who is now on the faculty of Iowa State University and at the University of Virginia, and she’s also the president of the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Child Development & Nutrition | COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Food | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | Social Safety Net & Food |

 

E136: When North Carolina Schools Offer Free Meals Academic Success Follows

August 19, 2021

For youngsters in school, nutritional meals really do lead the higher grades and better performance across the board. Today we’ll explore a policy called the Community Eligibility Provision or CEP that allows schools in low-income areas to offer free meals to all students. We have two guests today. Marianne Hedrick Weant, Programs Manager at the North Carolina Alliance for Health and Dr. Sarah Crittenden Fuller, Research Associate Professor at The University of North Carolina and a proud Duke alum from our own program. She’s also the coauthor of a new policy brief on this topic, entitled Meals Matter, The Community Eligibility Provision and Students’ Success in North Carolina.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Diet & Nutrition | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | North Carolina | School Meals | Social Safety Net & Food |

 

E134: How Big Data is Fueling Youth Obesity

July 13, 2021

America’s children and teenagers spend tremendous amount of time on the internet and never more than during the Coronavirus pandemic, with families at home so much, people ordered food, got news and engaged with family and friends online. Youngsters whose schools closed relied on YouTube for educational videos, attended virtual classes on Zoom and to Google Classroom and flocked to TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram for entertainment and social interaction. The cost of digital immersion has a serious health downside however, because the nation’s youth have been exposed to a steady flow of marketing for fast foods, soft drinks, and other unhealthy products. Today we’ll be discussing a new report from the Center For Digital Democracy entitled, “Big Food, Big Tech, and the Global Childhood Obesity Pandemic.”

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Diet & Nutrition | Food Policy |

 

E125: Women, Food Insecurity and the Feminization of Poverty in the US

April 14, 2021

Hunger affects all communities, but you may not know that 40% of single mothers struggle with food security. Women dominate our central workforce, yet they face persistent structural barriers to food security and economic stability. COVID-19 has only exacerbated these challenges. Today, Abby J. Leibman, President and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, discusses the urgent and unique needs single mothers face, and the work she’s leading to advance the anti-hunger movement.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Child Development & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy |

 

E114: Why Nutrition is So Important In the First 1000 Days of Life

February 16, 2021

At a conference on early child development and nutrition – comprised of leading experts on brain development, child development and public policy – one of the most memorable things said, in my mind, was that “poor nutrition early in life confers a life sentence.” Those striking words were issued by today’s guest, Dr. Michael Georgieff the Executive Vice Chair of Pediatrics and head of the Neonatology Division at the University of Minnesota.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Children Food Preferences | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | Obesity |

 

E113: The Power of Policy and Parents in School Meals

February 11, 2021

It wasn’t that long ago that there was a nutrition free-for-all in schools where sugary beverages, high calorie snack foods, and even things like pizzas and cheeseburgers direct from fast food chains were part of the food landscape in schools. What do you think the situation is today? Has it deteriorated even further? Has it improved or stayed about the same? Today’s guest, Dr. Marlene Schwartz, is a champion for improved nutrition and physical activity in schools and one of the leading experts in the field. Schwartz is director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut. She’s an expert on nutrition and physical activity policies in schools and preschools nationwide, and has collaborated in particular with the Connecticut Department of Education on their policies.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Children Food Preferences | Diet & Nutrition | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | School Meals | Social Safety Net & Food |

 

E111: Teaching Responsive Feeding to Parents Create Lifelong Healthy Habits in Children

February 4, 2021

There is very interesting work going on the topic of responsive feeding. Our guest today, Dr. Rafael Perez-Escamilla published commentary with several colleagues on feeding practices in the context of nurturing young children. And they began the paper with this statement: “Dietary guidelines provide advice on what to eat “to different subsets of the population, but often do not take into account the how to eat. It turns out that the how is pretty darn important.”

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Childhood Obesity | Children Food Preferences | Diet & Nutrition |