E144: New York’s Successful Model for Reducing Sugar and Salt

October 4, 2021

How much sugar and salt do you and others eat each day? What are reasonable and healthy amounts? And when does it become too much? It’s a serious question, given that diet is a key driver for health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. The National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative, the NSSRI, is working to make it easier for people to make healthy choices. Today’s guest is Andrea Sharkey, a project manager in the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, an agency long known for its innovation in this area. Andrea coordinates the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative and is going to explain why education, consumer behavior changes, and policies can help our community stay healthy.

Related podcasts: Addiction & Food | Childhood Obesity | Diet & Nutrition | Food Industry Behavior & Marketing | Food Policy | Obesity | Ultra-processed Food & Additives |

 

E138: Inside the International Dietary Data Expansion Project

August 30, 2021

Researchers and policy makers in agriculture, food security and nutrition share a common need for accurate and timely information on the what, when, where, and why people eat and what they eat, of course, this is particularly true in low and middle income countries where the data infrastructure is less well developed. To put this challenge in perspective, in 2015 the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition reported that, and I quote “more than half of the countries in the world do not collect the statistics, which are needed to assess whether or not they are making progress toward their nutrition goals.” So today we’re talking with two researchers who are working to solve this very data challenge. Our guests are food policy and applied nutrition researcher, Jennifer Coates, Associate Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, Science, and Policy and senior researcher Winnie Bell. Jennifer and Winnie are leading development of the International Dietary Data Expansion Project

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | International Food & Ag Policy |

 

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 |

 

E133: Measuring Fish for Food & Nutrition Security – Improving Metrics to Advance Policy

July 8, 2021

Public Policy relies on strong data and measurements. So if you want to improve a development target like nutrition, you need to be able to measure that. But with fisheries and aquaculture, we often don’t have the metrics we need to make sound policy decisions. This podcast is a part of a series on fisheries and nutrition and a movement to bring fisheries into international food policy and programming.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Fisheries & Food Policy |

 

E131: Fisheries Need Stronger Role in Food Policy and Food Security Planning

June 9, 2021

Fish is food, right? Well, it hasn’t always been treated that way in policy dialogues and development funding, according to a recent paper in AMBIO. Fisheries management practices and policies most often treat fish as a natural resource or a trade commodity, rather than an important contributor to food security. At the same time, food security policy and funding have focused primarily on agriculture instead of fish. This podcast is part of a series on fisheries and nutrition and a movement to bring fisheries into international food policy and programming.

Related podcasts: Climate Change, Environment & Food | Diet & Nutrition | Fisheries & Food Policy | Food Policy |

 

E130: Can Software Help Cities Solve Food Insecurity?

May 27, 2021

Can software help urban planners tackle food access in big cities? The UrbanFootprint organization says yes. Fast Company named it one of the most innovative social good companies in 2021. Our guest today is the company’s co-founder and CEO, Joe DiStefano. He’s going to explain how city data and geospatial information can inform critical planning decisions about where to invest and to deploy resources to achieve urban food system resilience and to better support communities.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Social Safety Net & Food |

 

E127: Paarlberg Tackles Misinformation about Food We Grow and Eat

May 5, 2021

Today’s guest, Dr. Robert Paarlberg, is the author of a provocative new book entitled: Resetting the Table: Straight Talk About the Food We Grow and Eat. The book is presented as a clear-eye, science-based corrective, to misinformation about our food: how it’s produced, food companies, nutrition labeling, ethical treatment of animals, the environmental impact of agriculture, and even more.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Antibiotic Resistance | Community & Economic Development | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy | History & Food | Obesity |

 

E122: Food RX Program Brings Helpful Changes to the Navajo

March 18, 2021

American Indians and Alaska natives face challenging economic, environmental, and political conditions that are in many ways similar to those experienced in developing countries. About 37%, for example, of Navajo or Dine people live in poverty. Access to preventive services such as cancer screening, immunizations, and early detection is often limited. And patients must travel long distances to obtain medical services. The situation is made worse by the lack of access to healthy foods. As a result, the life expectancy for American Indians is about six years shorter than that for the general population. Additionally, American Indians suffer disproportionately high rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, and substance abuse. Today, we are speaking with two impressive people working to change that, Dr. Sonya Shin and Kymie Thomas. They run the Navajo Nation Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment or COPE Program. This is a community-based outreach and food security program made possible through a formal collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Health in Boston, Tribal Leadership and Indian Health Services to address health disparities in the Navajo Nation.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | First Nations Food Issues | Food Insecurity |

 

E115: How Precision Diet Might Overcome Some Genetic Roadblocks

February 18, 2021

Could there come a day when an optimal diet could be recommended not just for the population overall or for people with special conditions such as diabetes but a diet that would be unique for you? A diet based on your genetics let’s say on the condition of your microbiome perhaps? Or on your environmental exposures or other factors? This futuristic possibility may be closer than you think. Thanks to the work of researchers, including today’s guest Dr. Steven Zeisel, Director of the Nutrition Research Institute and Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of North Carolina.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Microbiome |