December 2006
News from the PAN Branch
Move Over 5 A Day, Make Room for More
The face and name for 5 A Day in the US and North Carolina will officially change in 2007. At the national level, the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH)—representing the fruit and vegetable industry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—as the government health authority— are two of the lead partners involved in this change. At the state level, the NC 5 A Day Coalition and its multiple partner organizations will be leading this change.
Since 1991, the National 5 A Day Program and its partners have been dedicated to promoting healthy eating through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables as part of a lower fat, higher fiber diet.
“Among it’s successes, the Program has succeeded in positioning fruits and vegetables as key components of meals and snacks, organized voluntary educational and promotional initiatives, and advocated for more prominent attention to fruits and vegetables in national and state dietary guidance, public health and agriculture policy. While these efforts raised awareness among consumers over the last 15 years, daily consumption still does not meet public health recommendations.”
To create the new brand and identity, the National Fruit and Vegetable Program partnership (which includes CDC, PBH and other partners) hired a professional branding firm, Sterling Brands, whose clients include Nike, Microsoft and Yahoo! Over the course of a year, more than 1,000 consumers in family situations, focus groups and online surveys were contacted by Sterling brands for input on their eating styles and reaction to proposed brand concepts.
Findings of this extensive consumer research showed that
- Most families believe that “over time” they are eating enough fruits and vegetables.
- Consumers understand the value of fruits and vegetables as part of their diet – but money, time (and taste) pressures overwhelm them.
- Striving for 6¬Ω cups of fruits and vegetables could be alienating; it turns some folks off from even trying to eat fruits and vegetables.
- Some moms feel guilty when their budgeted time or food dollars doesn’t allow them to use fresh fruits and vegetables.
- The word, “veggies” is o.k. to use, as it is friendlier and less formal.
- Moms are the key to the future success of the initiative.
All this consumer research led to the creation of the new Fruits & Veggies—More MattersTM brand. The new brand has a new target audience. For more information on this audience, please contact the NC 5 A Day program via the methods below.
From April 2006 through March 19, 2007, the brand is in a “soft” launch phase to educate and engage produce industry partners, key opinion leaders, and federal and state government partners, including the NC 5 A Day Coalition, into the process and to learn about the rationale and research behind the new brand. From October 2006 - March 2007, the NC Program and its partners will prepare for the “official” national and NC consumer launch of the new brand identity and logo on March 19, 2007.
Over the next several months, the Division of Public Health, in the NC Department of Health and Human Services will become licensed to use the Fruits & Veggies—More Matters brand. The Division/Department will eventually be able to sub-license other public agencies in North Carolina, which includes government agencies, private non-profits, universities, schools, worksite wellness programs (public and private) and other members of the health and education community. PBH will license the private sector, which means for-profit businesses that include foodservice and food-related groups and organizations, trade associations, and all sectors of the chain from food production to sales.
Unfortunately, until licensing of the NC 5 A Day program occurs and subsequent training and sublicensing of NC 5 A Day partners, no state or local programs are able to access the new logo or materials, nor should any consumer-oriented promotions be planned using the new brand name or logo. However, until that time, partners are encouraged to contact the NC 5 A Day program (www.nc5aday.com or via e-mail nc5aday@ncmail.net) to let us know of your interest in becoming licensed and for future interest in using the new Fruits & Veggies—More MattersTM brand or involvement in the consumer launch. We also encourage partner groups and individuals to become members of the NC 5 A Day Coalition, which strives to coordinate activities, programs, promotions and resources across the state. Membership applications for 2006-2007 are now downloadable from the website.
For further information including details on the new target audience for the new brand, or for information about the state launch of the new brand, please feel free to contact Diane Beth, NC 5 A Day Coordinator — Physical Activity & Nutrition Branch, NC Division of Public Health (919/707-5221) or via the methods above.
Programs, Projects and Initiatives
African American Churches Eating Smart & Moving More (AACESMM) Resource Guide Trainings
Promoting health in NC African American churches through use of the AACESMM Guide will be featured in two additional regional trainings being conducted on December 14, 2006 and January 24, 2007. For a training registration and agenda, please send inquiries to nc5aday@ncmail.net Want to know more about the AACESMM Guide and Initiative, visit this site
Success Stories
Perquimans Schools Superintendent Honored for Health Efforts
November 01, 2006 - State health officials honored Perquimans Schools Superintendent Ken Wells for his initiatives to make schools healthier environments for students and employees.
Wells was named this year’s Healthy Schools Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. He accepted his award on November 17th at the Alliance’s 59th annual convention in Greensboro.
The Perquimans School Health Advisory Council nominated Wells for the award, he said. According to the nomination form, the award is presented each year to a school superintendent who demonstrates, “outstanding leadership to advance school-based policies and programs improving the health of students.”
Wells has implemented several key initiatives since he took over as superintendent in 2001. At Hertford Grammar School and Perquimans Central, students are participating in a program that provides them fresh fruits and vegetables daily. The program was paid for with grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Wells, who is a former physical education teacher, encourages teachers to find ways to integrate physical activity with their classroom assignments, officials said. Schools also have created walking clubs for students and employees who walk on trails built on school grounds
Wells said an employee survey three years ago indicated that they would exercise more if they didn’t have to drive to the YMCA in Elizabeth City or to other facilities outside the county. “There was just no convenient place to go,” Wells said. Upon Wells’ recommendation, the school board approved another policy that allowed only healthy foods and beverages to be served at board meetings and events.
While Wells said he was excited about the award, it also recognized the efforts his staff has taken to make schools healthier places to work. “I think it’s a real tribute to our staff and the initiatives that we’ve undertaken,” he said. “I’m proud to represent Perquimans County.”
For more information go to this site.
Featured Resources and Research
HHS AND FDA Announce New Tools to Help Consumers Use the Nutrition Facts Label
November 14, 2006 - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) in HHS’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the availability of two new learning tools to help consumers use the Nutrition Facts label to choose nutritious foods and achieve healthy weight management.
The tools are Make Your Calories Count, a Web-based learning program, and a new Nutrition Facts Label brochure.
“The risk of many diseases and health conditions may be reduced through preventive actions and a culture of wellness deters or diminishes debilitating and costly health events. Individual health care is built on a foundation of responsibility for personal wellness. We at HHS are pleased to introduce both the new web-based program and the brochure, which contribute to the nutrition focus of the department’s prevention priority,” said John Agwunobi, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health.
The Web-based program is part of FDA’s response to the recommendations of its Obesity Working Group, in the group’s 2004 report, Calories Count. The program is based on recommendations in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines are the foundation of the federal government’s science-based advice designed to help Americans choose diets that meet nutrient requirements without exceeding calorie needs, promote health, support active lives, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
“This learning program provides a quick and simple way to educate consumers on how to use the nutrition facts label,” said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Acting FDA Commissioner. “By making it easier for consumers to understand the Nutrition Facts label, the FDA is helping them make quick and informed food choices that contribute to lifelong healthy eating habits.”
Make Your Calories Count is an interactive online learning program that is also available in a downloadable format. It is designed to help consumers understand and use the Nutrition Facts label to plan a healthy diet while managing calorie intake. The program guide features an animated character called “Labelman” who expertly leads the viewer through a series of exercises on the food label. The program includes exercises to help consumers explore the relationship between serving sizes and calories, while they learn how to limit certain nutrients and get enough of others. For simplicity, the program presents two nutrients that should be limited (saturated fat and sodium) and two nutrients that should be consumed in adequate amounts (fiber and calcium).
Consumers can use the Nutrition Facts label to take control of their caloric intake and weight and to make healthy food choices, if they know how. This program will show consumers how, in part, by explaining what serving sizes, percentages, and daily values mean and how to use them. This program is available for online use and in a downloadable format at this site.
FDA is making available a new downloadable Nutrition Facts Label brochure that is targeted for use by consumers. The brochure can also be used by health professionals to teach people how to make healthier food choices. The brochure describes how consumers can use the Nutrition Facts label as they shop and plan meals. The brochure includes information that will help consumers understand the relationship between calories and serving size, which may help them use the label to manage their intake of calories. This brochure is available at this site.
These new learning tools are part of a commitment by HHS and FDA to help reduce the number of overweight persons and obesity in America.
New Online Restaurant Quiz from the Center for Science in the Public Interest’
Try the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s new online restaurant quiz. The quiz is available at www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/restaurant_quiz.html. You might be surprised at the differences in calorie contents of common restaurant foods. For instance, would you have thought that a bagel with cream cheese has more calories than 2 jelly donuts? Answering the questions in the quiz is not unlike the guess work people face at restaurants, where it can be hard to make informed choices. Few restaurants provide nutrition information to their customers in a way that they can use when ordering.
If you found the quiz surprising, be sure to send it on to friends and colleagues. For more information about the effect of eating out on Americans’ diet and health, visit this site.
Study Finds Abdominal Obesity Among Children on the Rise
A study published in Pediatrics finds that the prevalence of abdominal obesity among U.S. children grew more than 65 percent in recent years. The study’s authors call for more efforts to reduce children’s risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, the Scripps Howard News Service reports. (From RWF New Digest 11-10-06)
For more information go to this site.
Obesity Experts Urge Cultural Shift to End Weight Stigma
In a guest commentary published in the Washington Post, Yale University obesity experts Rebecca Puhl and Kelly Brownell condemn the stigmatization of overweight and obese people, saying such criticism fails to motivate weight loss and actually worsens the problem. (From RWF New Digest 11-10-06)
For more information, go to this site.
New York City Plans Limits on Restaurants’ Use of Trans Fats
The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously recently to move forward with plans to prohibit the city’s 20,000 restaurants from serving food that contains more than a minute amount of artificial trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients considered by doctors and nutritionists to increase the risk of heart disease.
The board, which is authorized to adopt the plan without the consent of any other agency, did not take that step, but it set in motion a period for written public comments, leading up a public hearing held on October 30th and a final vote in December.
For more information go to this site.
Yesterday’s initiative appeared to ensure that the city would eventually take some formal action against artificial trans fats. If approved, the proposal voted on yesterday by the Board of Health would make New York the first large city in the country to strictly limit such fats in restaurants. Chicago is considering a similar prohibition affecting restaurants with less than $20 million in annual sales.
The New York prohibition would affect the city’s entire restaurant industry, by far the nation’s largest, from McDonald’s to fashionable bistros to street corner takeouts across the five boroughs.
The city would set a limit of a half-gram of artificial trans fats per serving of any menu item, sharply reducing most customers’ intake. The fats are commonly found in baked goods, like doughnuts and cakes, as well as breads and salad dressing.
Officials said that the typical American diet now contains 5.8 grams of trans fats per day, and that a single five-ounce serving of French fries at many restaurants contained 8 grams of trans fats.
Members of the Board of Health, all mayoral appointees, expressed vigorous support for the proposal, which was drafted by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The board members said that the initiative could set an example for the nation, and that New York City should play a leading role because of its high rate of heart disease and because New Yorkers consume more restaurant meals and takeout food than most Americans.
The proposal met immediate resistance among restaurant owners, who said banning trans fats would raise their costs and change the taste of some items. “I’m wondering if there are grounds for a lawsuit,” said E. Charles Hunt, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association, which represents about 3,500 restaurants in the city.
The Board of Health vote comes a year after it conducted an unsuccessful campaign to persuade restaurants to eliminate trans fats from their recipes voluntarily. It said yesterday that despite mass mailings about the hazards of trans fats and training programs for 7,800 restaurant operators, about half the city’s restaurants continued to serve trans fats, about the same as before the campaign.
Trans fats, derived from partially hydrogenated oils, became popular in the 1950’s as an alternative to the saturated fats in butter. They allow fast-food restaurants to use frying oil for longer periods and make crunchier cookies and flakier pie crust. They also have a longer shelf life than butter, olive oil, corn oil or other alternatives.
Health officials said yesterday that many healthier alternative cooking ingredients had been developed that would cost little more than trans fats, and have little or no effect on taste.
Lynne D. Richardson, a member of the Board of Health and a professor of emergency medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said yesterday that restaurant owners might still see an advantage in the long shelf life of trans fat products.
“But human life is much more important than shelf life,” she said. “I would expect to see fewer people showing up in the emergency room with heart attacks if this policy is enacted.”
If the measure is adopted in December, health officials said, the restrictions would be phased in. Restaurants would be given until July to eliminate oils, margarines and shortening from the recipes that contain more than a half-gram of trans fat per serving.
They would also have until July 2008 to remove all menu items that exceed the new limit, including bread, cakes, chips and salad dressing. The only exclusions from the restrictions would be packaged food items, like candy, that remain in the manufacturers’ original packaging when served, as well as naturally occurring trans fats, which are found in some meats and dairy products.
Health officials said that the regulations would be enforced by restaurant inspectors, who would examine kitchens for products with trans fat, but that there would be no attempt to test prepared foods.
The New York City proposal comes at a time when companies in the packaged food industry, under pressure from health advocates, have reduced the use of trans fats. A recent ruling by the federal Food and Drug Administration requires all food companies to include trans fat levels in labeling information.
Several restaurant chains, including Wendy’s, Starbucks and Subway, have announced efforts to eliminate or sharply reduce trans fats. McDonald’s, which has not, “will closely examine the board’s proposal,” said Walt Riker, a company spokesman.
“Concerning trans fats, McDonald’s knows this is an important issue, which is why we will continue to test in earnest to find ways to further reduce” their use, he said.
For the Board of Health, the trans fat plan is the latest in a series of regulations that have placed New York City in the forefront of regulating behavior and products’ content in order to benefit public health.
Three years ago, the city banned smoking in restaurants, a measure angrily protested by some restaurant owners, but it led to similar bans in several other cities. Yesterday, health officials compared the restrictions on trans fats to the city’s 1960 prohibition on the use of lead paint, years before it was banned in most of the country.
“Like lead paint, artificial trans fat in food is invisible and dangerous, and it can be replaced,” said Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner, after the Board of Health vote yesterday. “No one will miss it when it is gone.”
Correction: Sept. 29, 2006
A front-page article on Wednesday about New York City’s plan to bar restaurants from serving food with more than a minute amount of artificial trans fats referred erroneously to a similar proposal in Chicago. It would impose trans fat limits on restaurants with more than $20 million in annual sales, not less than $20 million.
Genetic Study of Anorexia Nervosa in Families
The National Institute of Mental Health is recruiting families with at least two relatives (sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents) who have or had anorexia nervosa, and who would be willing to participate in this study. Experts from around the world are working to identify the genes that might predispose individuals to develop anorexia nervosa. For more information or to enroll, call 1-800-895-3886, email edresearch@upmc.edu or fill out a contact form at www.angenetics.org.
Building Better Bones: An Osteoporosis Quiz and other Dairy Council Resources
The 3-A-Day of Dairy program of the National Dairy Council has a new osteoporosis quiz that is now available at WebMD. Visit http://www.betterbones.webmd.com to try it out.
For additional information on bone health and nutrition visit the Health Professional Resources section on this site.
Consumers can access information at www.3aday.org
Legislation
No update this month.
Grants/Awards
Fundraisers Find: Top Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising Online (From the October 2006 Folic Acid Now Newsletter (FANow)
About.com’s nonprofit site features a new article offering the “Top 10 tips for Online Fundraising,” written by Madeline Stanionis, author of a book on leveraging the Internet for nonprofit development. To check out this free article, go to Top Tips for Online Fundraising.
Allen Foundation Inc. Grants
The Allen Foundation Inc. is accepting applications for projects that primarily benefit programs for human nutrition in the areas of health, education, training, and research. Established in 1975 by agricultural chemist William Webster Allen and based in Midland, Michigan, the Allen Foundation makes grants to projects that benefit human nutrition in the areas of education, training, and research.
For more information go to this site.
Public Health Conference Support Program
Letter of Intent is due by February 2, 2007
Application is due by March 3, 2007
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are accepting applications for grants under the Public Health Conference Support Program. This program provides funding for conferences that address Healthy People 2010 focus areas, including (among other issues) nutrition and overweight; diabetes; educational and community-based programs; health communication; heart disease and stroke; maternal, infant, and child health; and physical activity and fitness. The average award range for a one-year project period will be $20,000 to $75,000. There are two funding cycles. Letters of intent are due by November 9th for the first cycle and February 2nd for the second cycle. (From NCPPA News, 11/1/06) To read the funding announcement, go to this site.
Training and Professional Development
Free Professional Continuing Education Credits
The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion is offering free continuing professional credits for dietitians and dietetic technicians for reviewing certain MyPyramid materials on their Web site. See this link for more information.
Nutrition and Physical Activity Teleconferences
Every month, the CDC Division of Nutrition & Physical Activity (DNPA) sponsors a monthly teleconference on a variety of topics, but mostly dealing with nutrition &/or physical activity. The calls are scheduled the 2nd Thursday of each month from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The next call will be held on December 14, 2006. The topic will be “Getting Kids Physically Active: Training After-School Staff to Promote Physical Activity to All Youth” presented by Aaron Beighle, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, University of Kentucky. Anyone who would like the handouts or participate in future calls please send an email to NC5ADAY@ncmail.net.
2007 National Health Education Conference & SOPHE’s 2007 Midyear Scientific Conference
“The Changing Face of Health Education and Health Promotion”
June 7-9, 2007
Seattle, Washington
Call for Abstract Submissions:
You are invited to be part of a premier national health education and health promotion conference cosponsored by the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE), Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the 2007 National Health Education Conference & SOPHE’s 2007 Midyear Scientific Conference, June 7-9, 2007, in Seattle, WA.
The conference theme, “Changing Face of Health Education and Health Promotion” speaks to breaking down sub-categories within the profession such as infectious vs. chronic, global health vs. domestic health that serve as barriers to progress. This conference will encourage re-conceptualizing health education and health promotion programs, research and practice to cross over professional boundaries and seek an integrated approach to solving health education challenges. Abstract proposals from all professionals and public health partners involved in health education, health promotion, health communication, community health, and behavioral research are encouraged to respond to this invitation.
For more information visit: www.sophe.org.