- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Childhood obesity rates increased during the global COVID-19 pandemic according to a study published in August in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Results of the study, which included electronic medical record data of 200,000 children ages 5 to 17 in Kaiser Permanente Southern California, were featured in an August 31, 2021 article in The Washington Post. Nutrition Policy Institute director and cooperative extension specialist Lorrene Ritchie was quoted in the article, “before the coronavirus, studies showed that students tended to gain weight during the summer when away from school. They tend to gain weight at an accelerated rate, then during the school year their body mass index goes down, but not as much, so over time kids are getting more and more overweight and obese.” Ritchie also stated that “regular summer weight gain among students is attributed to missing recess, P.E. and school sports, as well as not getting exercise associated with traveling to and from school. It is also because studies show that school meals are, on average, healthier than what children bring from home. Also, kids in school have access to breakfast and lunch; at home during the summer there is frequently unfettered access to food all day long.” Ritchie was further quoted that “companies selling junk food have had more access during the pandemic to market directly to children who spent more time on screens. What this has taught us is that our food environment is way out of line with what we need. Food companies are geared to getting us to eat as many calories as possible. And we are geared toward eating when food is available.”
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
Lorrene Ritchie, director and UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) specialist at the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), was quoted in an article on November 6, 2020 in UPI titled "Mindfulness-based program boosts preschoolers' interest in fruit, veggies" and another article on November 9, 2020 in The Washington Newsday titled "A program based on mindfulness increases preschool children's interest in fruit and vegetables." The articles highlight a recent study conducted by researchers at Purdue University on a mindfulness-based exercise program to encourage preschool children to make healthier food choices. Dr. Ritchie, who was not involved in the study, is quoted, "Repeated exposure of young children to fruits and vegetables is key to getting them to like them and eat them. It can take up to 20 times – and even more for some children – for a child to learn to like a new food, especially vegetables and other things that aren't sweet, salty or high in fat.”
Lorrene Ritchie, director and UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) specialist at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), Hannah Thompson, NPI epidemiologist and research scientist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and Marisa Neelon, UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor, were quoted in an October 12, 2020 article in The Daily Californian titled "UC Berkeley study shows intervention affect school lunch participation." The article highlights a collaborative three-year study with San Francisco Unified School District Student Nutrition Services (SFUSD SNS) to evaluate a dining redesign intervention with the goal of increasing school lunch participation among SFUSD middle and high school students. The article highlights research findings that were published in two journals, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and Childhood Obesity. Dr. Thompson is quoted, “While interventions helped stave off the decline of student lunch participation, a big conclusion of this study is that larger economic policies and conditions are actually much more impactful on participation.” Dr. Ritchie is quoted, "We found that these positive perceptions towards school lunch also increased reports of consumption of fruits and vegetables among students very modestly.” Neelon added, “Increasing participation and consumption of school meals can potentially address the shortfall in adolescent's intake of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the closure of schools due to COVID-19 has elevated the importance of school meals to meet the nutritional needs of food-insecure families.” The study was funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) through a grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Read the full article online.
Schools across the US are removing chocolate milk from their offerings in an effort to reduce students' added sugar intake and support their long-term health. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers' latest study exploring the effects of these policies on students' milk intake was featured in an article in Feedstuffs. The article highlights the researchers findings that chocolate milk removal policies produced no significant reductions in average intake per student of calcium, protein or vitamin D from milk and that added sugar consumption from milk declined significantly, by 3.1 g per student. The study was conducted by NPI affiliated researchers Hannah Thompson and Esther Park from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in collaboration with NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie and Wendi Gosliner, and Kristine Madsen from the Berkeley Food Institute and UC Berkeley School of Public Health.