Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) impose a growing burden on the health, economy, and development of South Africa. According to the World Health Organization, four risk factors, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity, account for a significant proportion of major NCDs. We analyze the role of tobacco, alcohol, and…

Objective: To identify how qualitative research has contributed to understanding the ways people in developed countries interpret healthy eating. Design: Bibliographic database searches identified reports of qualitative, empirical studies published in English, peer-reviewed journals since 1995. Data Analysis: Authors coded, discussed, recoded, and…

Connecting wider economic, technological, or cultural trends to the everyday life of students can be a challenge. Food can serve as a course-long theme that helps students comprehend the essential connection between personal actions and national or international trends and develop skills of critical analysis. The author describes four activities…

Studies have suggested that skill-building through hands-on cooking as a nutrition education strategy, is effective to improve overall dietary quality among participants. FamilyCook Productions' "Diet for a Healthy Planet with Teen Battle Chefs(TM)" curriculum using this approach, was piloted in 2008 in a Brooklyn public high school…

Purpose: Dietary variation is important for health maintenance and disease prevention among older adults. However, oral health deficits impair ability to bite and chew foods. This study examines the association between oral health and foods avoided or modified in a multiethnic rural population of older adults. It considers implications for…

Background: Assessing actual consumption of school cafeteria meals presents challenges, given recall problems of children, the cost of direct observation, and the time constraints in the school cafeteria setting. This study assesses the use of digital photography as a technique to measure what elementary-aged students select and actually consume…

Lunches served in many school cafeterias are low in fiber and high in fat and salt. Some food service directors are willing to transform standard programs into models of healthful eating. School lunches teach children what is nutritionally desirable. (MLF)

Schools are increasingly turning to fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut to fill the stomachs of kids turned off by standard school lunches. Kids are delighted, but critics say fast-food infiltration of school cafeterias encourages poor nutrition. Schools might consider adopting lighter fast-food fare or starting…

By offering healthy fare and providing nutrition education, school districts across the country are trying to lessen problems of childhood obesity while selling food that kids will eat. Luckily, chicken nuggets and other "fast foods" can taste just as good when made with less fat. (MLH)

Oregon's Food Pyramid Choice Menus (FPCM) require that participating elementary schools offer three to seven entrees, at least two types of milk, and six to ten fruits and vegetables, as well as three or more types of grain products in a variety bar daily. The study discussed in this report was designed to answer two questions: (1) do the menus,…

In November 1996, the American School Foodservice Association surveyed 600 school district food service directors to determine how meeting the new dietary guidelines for school lunch and breakfast programs would affect cost, student participation, and wasted food. Most directors felt that meal cost will rise and that including less popular foods…

In examining the childhood obesity epidemic from the perspective of economics, John Cawley looks at both possible causes and possible policy solutions that work through markets. The operation of markets, says Cawley, has contributed to the recent increase in childhood overweight in three main ways. First, the real price of food fell. In…

This publication reports the Student Parent Educator Administrator Children (SPEAC) for Nutrition Program evaluation of the effectiveness of a child care food service personnel training curriculum and a model curriculum package for preschool children. Evaluation of the food service curriculum package was accomplished in part by a pre- and…

This document is part of a five-volume nationwide study of Nutrition Services operations and elderly citizens participating in congregate dining and home delivery services authorized by Title III-C of the Older Americans' Act. The Nutrition Services address a number of problems faced by the nation's elderly, such as dietary inadequacy, declining…

This document is part of a five-volume nationwide study of Nutrition Services operations and elderly citizens participating in congregate dining and home delivery services authorized by Title III-C of the Older Americans' Act. A descriptive report is contained in this volume, which presents non-selective and preliminary analysis of the data base…