- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
As the workshop speaker explained that school foods are contributing to the growing epidemic of obesity among children, I slumped in my chair and flashed back to high school. At the 10:20 a.m. break, I could be found standing in line at the high school snack bar ordering a chocolate milk shake and a bag of nacho cheese Doritos. Daily.
UC Berkeley professor Michael Pollan and others argue that farm policy is to blame for our corpulence. Many reference a 2002 USDA-ERS study that shows Americans ate 12 percent more (300 calories) in 2000 than we did in 1985, and point out...
- Author: John Stumbos
Healthy eating has gotten complicated. Fresh fruits and vegetables pack the produce aisle as never before. And new food products with added health benefits are being introduced all the time. Yet the food supply, and the agricultural system that supports it, has become increasingly criticized for its impact on the waistlines of millions of people in the United States.
“Agriculture and conventional food systems have provided the basis for long and healthy lives, and much of that improvement can be traced to healthier diets,” says UC Davis plant sciences professor Alan Bennett. “At the same time, we are faced with a growing critique that conventional food...
- Author: Brenda Roche
In October 2009, UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County was awarded a grant from the “UCLA REACH U.S. Legacy Project” to implement the “East Los Angeles Nutrition Project” - an exciting new initiative that aims to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for residents of East LA through healthy corner store and restaurant “makeovers.” East LA was chosen for this project not only because Cooperative Extension is located in this area and has strong ties to the community, but also because residents have poor access to healthy, affordable food. This predominantly low-income, Latino community has many fast food restaurants, few grocery stores with high quality fruits and vegetables, and one of the highest rates of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When food calorie content was posted on menu boards at Kaiser Hospital cafeterias, a significant number of patrons altered their food choices, according to a pilot menu labeling study conducted by UC Berkeley researchers.
The results are compelling because the California menu labeling bill (SB 1420), which requires chain restaurants to put calorie counts on menu boards, goes into full effect next year.
In the Kaiser pilot study, more than 500 patrons completed cafeteria exit surveys. Nearly a third of respondents who noticed the calorie information said they changed their food choices as a result. Nearly all of them agreed that calorie information should be available and 80 percent said they felt Kaiser was helping them...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
There is no evidence to support the claim that farm subsidies -- by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant -- contribute to obesity in the United States, according to an analysis led by UC Davis researchers.
"U.S. farm subsidies have many critics. A variety of arguments and evidence can be presented to show that the programs are ineffective, wasteful or unfair," said Julian Alston, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. "Eliminating farm subsidies could solve some of these problems -- but would not even make a dent in America's obesity problem."
According to Alston and his colleagues, farm...