Lorrene Ritchie, director and cooperative extension specialist of the UC ANR Nutrition Policy Institute, was interviewed for a March 31, 2020 article in The New York Times, Don't Overdo the Coronavirus Stockpiling. The article discusses how to shop for food responsibly, without overstocking your pantry, and why you should only buy what you need. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends individuals and families stock up to two-weeks of food at home during the pandemic. “Presuming you get sick and all your family's going to be quarantined, then only that amount of food is what you need," said Dr. Ritchie in the article. This article was also featured in a UC ANR news article, Empty store shelves are not a sign of impending disaster.
To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in California, University of California (UC) campuses, the UC Office of the President, UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) and the Nutrition Policy Institute are working to protect our community by issuing guidance to minimize face-to-face interactions, reduce commuting and travel, and enable social distancing. On March 16, six San Francisco Bay Area counties announced shelter-in-place orders, and the UC Office of the President in Oakland extended their telecommute date through least April 7 to align with county directives. Nutrition Policy Institute has also adjusted the proposed end date for our telecommuting and limited on-site operations status to April 7 in order to align with UC Office of the President. For more information on how UC is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit this link. To contact any of us at NPI, please visit our NPI staff page online.
Nutrition Policy Institute's latest study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior March 2020 issue suggests that schools across the U.S. adhered equally to the federal 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act school meal nutrition standards despite poverty level. The study was conducted using data collected in 2013-2015 from over 401 U.S. elementary and middle schools as part of the Healthy Communities Study. The study was lead by Lauren Au, NPI associate researcher, in collaboration with NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie, Klara Gurzo, Marisa Tsai, Janice Kao, Wendi Gosliner and Patricia Guenther from the University of Utah Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology. Results from the study are available for free download until April 24, 2020.
Nutrition Policy Institute director and Cooperative Extension specialist, Lorrene Ritchie, was invited to give a talk on "Methodological challenges - self-report from key informants in diverse settings" as part of a national meeting hosted by the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR). The meeting took place in Atlanta, Ga. with Ritchie presenting on Thursday, February 27, 2020. Launched in 2009, NCCOR brings together four of the nation's leading research funders—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—to accelerate progress in reducing childhood obesity in America. NCCOR focuses on efforts that have the potential to benefit children, teens, and their families, and the communities in which they live.
Please join the Berkeley Food Institute and the Nutrition Policy Institute in welcoming Bettina Elias Siegel to discuss her new book Kid Food: The Challenge of Feeding Children in a Highly Processed World. What are the roles of parents and non-parents in ensuring that all of our community's children have access to safe, affordable, and nourishing food? How have some junk food companies sought to leverage every possible opportunity to sell their products to impressionable young future customers— and what can we do to push back? How can research and practice inform public policy on children's food issues? We will explore these and other questions in a lively interactive forum where your questions and ideas are welcome. This event is a fundraiser for the Berkeley Food Institute, with no one turned away for lack of funds. It will take place on Monday, March 2, 2020, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the David Brower Center, Tamalpais Room, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. Please register online.