The federal Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, aims to safeguard the health of over 6 million low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 in the United States by providing nutritious foods, information on healthy eating, and referrals for additional services. Nutrition education is an essential feature of WIC, making it unique compared to other federal nutrition programs. Researchers evaluated differences in WIC participants' perceptions and satisfaction with WIC nutrition education and services by race, ethnicity, and language preference in a sample of nearly 3000 California WIC participants surveyed in 2019. Spanish-speaking Hispanic participants reported the highest levels of satisfaction with WIC nutrition education compared to other groups. Hispanic participants were also more likely to change their behaviors after receiving WIC nutrition education compared to non-Hispanic White and Black participants. Participants prefer to receive WIC nutrition education through a variety of methods including in-person one-on-one, video/DVD, online, group sessions, and two-way text messaging. Across all groups, participants reported that the fruits and vegetables they receive in the child WIC food package was the top reason for continuing to participate in WIC. These findings can inform efforts to improve WIC participant retention. The study was published in the journal Nutrients. Study contributors include Alana Chaney and Lauren Au from UC Davis, Lorrene Ritchie and Marisa Tsai from the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, Shannon Whaley, Catherine Yepez, and Martha Meza from Public Health Foundation Enterprises-WIC, a program of Heluna Health, Hallie Randel-Schreiber from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and Susan Sabatier and Adrian Young from the California Department of Public Health, WIC Division. The research was funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the California Department of Public Health WIC Division.

Something clicked at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Beetlemania" last Sunday afternoon at the University of California, Davis.

But it was not the click beetles.

That "click" was the love of science in general, and the love of beetles, in particular.

The Bohart Museum open house, from 1 to 4 p.m., drew 500 visitors, despite the fact that the event, timewise, clashed with the San Francisco 49'ers-Dallas Cowboys' 3:30 playoff game (to determine which team would advance to the National Football Conference championship game). 

Football? What's that? Or, as one Bohart associate quipped: "In sports, there's a little round ball (baseball), and a little bigger round ball (basketball) and then there's this little ball with the pointy ends (football)." (He forgot to mention the teeny-tiny round "golf" balls and the medium-sized "soccer" balls.)

So if you love both science and sports? No problem. Just arrive a little early and leave a little early to catch the game on TV.

Final score: 49'ers, 19. Cowboys, 12.

Wait, wasn't there a beetle score in there somewhere?

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, including a million beetles.  Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the museum also houses a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas and more) and a year-around gift shop. The Bohart is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. 

University of California's Research Consortium on Beverages and Health, with support from the American Heart Association, has released six short fact sheets to help educate both community members and decision-makers on the risks of over-consumption of sugary drinks. The fact sheets aim to provide the evidence base, expressed in simple talking points:

• What are Sugary Drinks? and 7 Reasons to Skip Sugary Drinks provide simple insights into sugary drink ingredients and how they can be harmful.
• The Health Harms of Sugary Drinks gives facts on the leading health risks of consuming these drinks.
• Sugary Drinks and COVID illustrates how sugary beverages, with their risk to cardio-metabolic health, can worsen the impact of diseases such as COVID-19.
• The Heavy Environmental Impact of Sugary Drinks provides data that illuminate the consequences of sugary drink consumption on the environment.
• How Four Cities in California are Using Sugary Drink Tax Revenue showcases how excise taxes levied on distributors of sugary drinks have funded projects to improve health in vulnerable populations in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Albany, California.

The Consortium is comprised of faculty working across the field of sugar science from all ten UC campuses and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The Consortium is coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute under the leadership of Christina Hecht, Ken Hecht, and Pat Crawford. Please contact Ken Hecht for more information about the Consortium and Christina Hecht for additional resources for community education on healthy beverage choices.

A Research Data Analyst 3 position is available at the Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, located in Oakland, CA. This position will support evaluation studies conducted by NPI through its CalFresh Healthy Living contract with the California Department of Public Health. In California, SNAP-Ed is called CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL) and is the largest nutrition education and obesity prevention program in the United States, with more than one-third of California residents eligible for CFHL. The Research Data Analyst 3 position requires the ability to independently perform data analysis, data management, data visualization, and reporting of organizational, policy and environmental data and individual-level data for studies of nutrition, physical activity and obesity. This position is a contract appointment that is 100% fixed through September 30, 2023. The pay scale is $6,908.33 to $9,800.00 per month. More information and instructions on how to apply are available online. The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.