- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Capital Public Radio program "Insight" ran a segment this week on successful efforts in Davis to put fresh, healthful fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias. On the program, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program food systems analyst Gail Feenstra answered the questions of guest host David Watts Barton.
Feenstra said that the ability to offer local produce in Davis schools is linked to last year's passage of Measure Q, a parcel tax which allocates $70,000 per year to improve children's nutrition by providing farm fresh food for school lunches, according to a summary on
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for Tulare County, Cathi Lamp, suggested strategies for families wishing to skirt the obesity epidemic at a recent presentation that was covered by the press.
Lamp was quoted frequently in a story written by family therapist Bev Thompson for the Visalia Times-Delta.
"Research shows that what works is parents setting healthy limits and providing structure for nutrition and lifestyle changes," Lamp was quoted.
Lamp offered the following suggestions to parents:
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Model healthy behaviors...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A story on the Medical News Today Web site says that an analysis by the UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health shows that California adults could avoid gaining 2.7 pounds a year if calories were posted on fast-food menu boards statewide.
The analysis combines findings of two studies, the article says:
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A 2008 New York City study found that patrons of fast-food restaurants where calorie counts were shown consumed 52 fewer calories per visit.
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A 2007 consumer survey shows that California adults who eat at fast-food chains do so an average of 3.4 times per week.
Doing...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The news this week that scientists think they've found a way to put exercise in a pill has been very widely reported. Google News lists 565 articles about the new exercise pill, including news outlets all over the United States, in India, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
According to the numerous media reports, scientists at the Salk Institute in La Jolla fed ordinary mice two experimental drugs that made them capable of running 44 percent longer on a treadmill than before they were medicated.
The discovery that swallowing a capsule may one day be a time-saving substitution...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat noted in a story today that the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club, launched by UC Cooperative Extension early this year, is helping local residents interested in purchasing mainly local food.
The meat buying club supplies members with an assortment of local beef, pork and lamb in manageable monthly shipments of 7, 15 or 25 pounds.
“This way, people can have the local meat, but they don’t have to buy a whole lot of it,” the newspaper quoted UCCE livestock advisor Stephanie Larsen.
The story centered on a relatively new food movement, in which adherents...