FDA looking to revise nutrition facts label

The Food and Drug Administration is looking to revise the nutrition facts label in order to provide more useful information to the consumer and fight obesity. A new proposal will look at providing more accurate servings sizes and a greater emphasis on calories. The daily percentage section that shows what an average diet should include for fat, sodium and carbohydrates may be scaled back or removed. FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor notes that the label revision will not be a grand overhaul but will seek to create a more useful nutritional snapshot of foods.

Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home

An article in the LA Times mentions how one school in Chicago has taken a unique approach to "protect students from their own unhealthful food choices". Unless students have a medical excuse, they are required to eat the food provided in the school's cafeteria. Principal Elsa Cormona of the Little Village Academy on Chicago's West side, said that she created the policy six years ago when she witnessed children bringing unhealthy drinks and snacks for their lunch on a field trip.

Obstacles for farmer's markets in poor NY areas?

According to an article in the New York Times, farm markets face obstacles in New York city's poor areas. A report released by the borough president, Scott Stringer, takes notes of "roadblocks" put in the way of community groups looking to implement farmer's markets in low-income neighborhoods. In order to address some of the issues, the report recommends several changes including creating a central entity to manage the farmer's markets and a uniform application process.

Schools Facing Cuts if Lunches Aren’t Paid For

According to an article in the New York Times, New York city school principals are being encouraged by their Education Department to collect overdue lunch money or have it docked from their school budgets. This situation isn't just unique to New York. A school district in Albuquerque started serving cold sandwiches and milk to students whose parents had not paid what they owed. In Louisiana, some districts did not feed children with overdue accounts at all until the state legislature passed a law that required these children to at least be fed a snack. For students that were fed a snack at least three days in a row, districts were directed to notify child welfare authorities.

A September survey of the School Nutrition Association showed that during 2009-2010, 34% of school districts saw an increase from the previous year in the number of meals not paid for.

D.C. schools dinner program aims to fight childhood hunger

According to an article in The Washington Post, D.C. public schools have started offering an early dinner to approximately 10,000 students, many of which are now receiving 3 meals a day from a school system looking to expand efforts to curb childhood hunger and poor nutrition. The program, which is estimated to cost the school system about $5.7 million this year, comes at a time of heightened concern about childhood poverty in the city. The dinner initiative has three goals: hedging against childhood hunger, reducing alarming rates of obesity and drawing more students to after-school programs.

More working families getting food stamps

According to a recent Time article, more working families are getting food stamps. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shown that 30 states have adopted rules that make it easier to qualify for food stamps since 2007. In all, 38 states have loosened eligibility standards. With more than 1 in 8 Americans on food stamps, participation in the program has jumped about 70% from 26 million in 2007. The nation's economic down turn is credited for helping push up participation numbers.

Friday Roundup

These stories have been published in the last 7-10 days and have been categorized under subjects of interest.

Poverty
1. Recession raises poverty rate to a 15 year high, NYT.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:"With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million, or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance."

2. Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty, Yahoo News, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:" The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office."

Health
1. Teaching doctors about nutrition and diet, NYT.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro: "Research has increasingly pointed to a link between the nutritional status of Americans and the chronic diseases that plague them. Between the growing list of diet-related diseases and a burgeoning obesity epidemic, the most important public health measure for any of us to take may well be watching what we eat.

But few doctors are prepared to effectively spearhead or even help in those efforts. In the mid-1980s, the National Academy of Sciences published a landmark report highlighting the lack of adequate nutrition education in medical schools; the writers recommended a minimum of 25 hours of nutrition instruction. Now, in a study published this month, it appears that even two and a half decades later a vast majority of medical schools still fail to meet the minimum recommended 25 hours of instruction."

2. Can exercise make kids smarter?, NYT.com, September 15, 2010

Brief Intro:"Previous studies found that fitter kids generally scored better on such tests. And in this case, too, those children performed better on the tests. But the M.R.I.’s provided a clearer picture of how it might work. They showed that fit children had significantly larger basal ganglia, a key part of the brain that aids in maintaining attention and “executive control,” or the ability to coordinate actions and thoughts crisply. Since both groups of children had similar socioeconomic backgrounds, body mass index and other variables, the researchers concluded that being fit had enlarged that portion of their brains."

3. Number of insured drops for first time, CNN.com, September 16, 2010

Brief Intro:"The number of people with health insurance in the United States dropped for the first time in 23 years, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

There were 253.6 million people with health insurance in 2009, the latest data available, down from 255.1 million a year earlier."