The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires schools to make potable water available at no charge to students, wherever lunch is served, and when breakfast is served in the cafeteria. For school year 2020-2021, the United States Department of Agriculture allows some flexibilities but continues to require potable water be made available when lunch is served at school and encourages schools to make potable water available in all meal service locations, as safety permits. The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), in collaboration with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, released a new infographic for schools to support increased access to drinking water for students. The infographic, titled "Increasing Drinking Water Availability in Schools During COVID-19 and Beyond", is available for download online. It showcases a variety of ways that schools can make water easily available throughout the campus. It includes tips and links to resources on ensuring safe access to drinking water for schools that are reopening, water testing and sanitation. The infographic also provides links to resources in English and Spanish for schools to promote drinking water to students and improve students' healthy hydration habits.
The Notah Begay III Foundation is holding their annual “Zero to 60” Challenge over the month of November. Can you drink more water (60 oz.) and eliminate all sugary drinks daily for one month? Sign up here to register, and check out Notah Begay III Foundation's associated resources:
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Tips for Success: strategies to help you keep it up and to spread the word
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Pledge form with Tracker
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Sugar facts: The Effects of Sugar on Your Body
The mission of the Notah Begay III Foundation is to ensure that Native children achieve their full potential by advancing cultures of Native American community health.
/span>The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute, developed and submitted a recent comment in response to the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The comment, addressed to U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health & Human Services' officials responsible for translation of the science in the report into the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), focused on the attention that the next DGAs should give to drinking water in place of sugar-sweetened beverages. The comment had 97 signatories, including 23 organizations, as well as 74 researchers, health professionals and advocates, among them, Glenda Humiston, PhD, Vice President of the University of California (UC) Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and 25 UC scientists. The comment asks for clear, actionable advice in the 2020-2025 DGAs that will help encourage the American public to drink water in lieu of sugar-sweetened beverages. It urges USDA to add a symbol for water to the MyPlate graphic and other educational messaging. Read the full comment and see all the signatories here.
The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute, created a new fact sheet which aims to demystify tap water contamination and provide clear information on tap water safety for childcare providers and for parents of young children. There are over 20 million children aged 5 and under in the United States and over half of them attend center-based childcare (as opposed to care by friends and family). Facilities participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) are required to make potable (safe) water available and offered throughout the day. States may have their own more stringent licensing requirements for drinking water provision in childcare and other states may require all licensed childcare facilities to comply with CACFP standards. But all families with young children should have safe drinking water. Lead is a particular concern in the early years because young children are most vulnerable to its toxic effects. Infants fed formula that is reconstituted with tap water are at highest risk, if the tap water has unsafe levels of lead. Daily safe water practices are also outlined in the fact sheet.
Nutrition Policy Institute is collaborating with The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. and Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE), Inc. on two projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research Program, as announced today. NPI's Christina Hecht and Laura Vollmer, of NPI's National Drinking Water Alliance, received funding to collaborate with Sonya Shin at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. on a project to expand and evaluate a community-based intervention to increase healthy beverage consumption by Navajo preschool children. The second project is a collaboration between NPI's Lorrene Ritchie and Lauren Au with Shannon Whaley of PHFE Women, Infants and Children (WIC) on a project that will pilot test and evaluate an expansion ofWIC's $9 per month cash value benefit for the purchase of fruits and vegetables to $23 per month. These research teams are being funded through Healthy Eating Research's annual call for proposals. This call for proposals focused exclusively on children ages 0-8, and the resulting projects focus on a range of topics, including WIC, healthy beverage consumption, and food purchasing patterns.