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Next Month
Discovery
Highlights from The Nutrition Continuum: Lab Bench
to Policy Plate conference.
Extension
Family Nutrition Program
Children and Weight – What Communities Can Do
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Welcome to the “Food for Thought”
Newsletter
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I am pleased that Angie Abbott will become
communications staff person for Outreach/Extension for the Foods and
Nutrition Department at Purdue
University. Angie is the director of the Family
Nutrition Program. She brings a rich
experience in communication through her work with the media and health
professionals translating research into tips people can use in their
everyday lives. One of her first
assignments is to prepare monthly updates on news of the Foods and Nutrition
Department and national topic news that would be useful to you and your
audiences. Please find the first
update and subsequent updates at www.cfs.purdue.edu/f&n. Please welcome Angie into this role. She can be reached by phone (765) 496-2488
and e-mail abbottar@purdue.edu.
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Connie Weaver
Department Head
Foods and Nutrition
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NATIONAL
NEWS
What an
exciting time for Foods and Nutrition Educators!
Dietary
Guidelines and MyPyramid
In January the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
were released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Connie Weaver, head, Foods and Nutrition Department at Purdue was
appointed to the Advisory Committee charged with compiling the
science-based advice for the guidelines. This
sixth edition places stronger emphasis on avoiding excess calorie
consumption while meeting nutrient requirements and increasing physical
activity. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the federal government's
science-based advice to promote health and reduce risk for chronic disease
through nutrition and physical activity. For details on the key
recommendations visit www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines.
Last month the new symbol and interactive food guidance
system, MyPyramid, was unveiled by USDA.
MyPyramid is the educational tool designed to help consumers make
healthier food and physical activity choices for a healthier lifestyle that
are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. You can get more in-depth information
from the new Web site, www.MyPyramid.gov. The new symbol was designed to be
simple. It  reminds consumers to make
healthy food and physical activity choices and be physically active every
day. Each person has a Pyramid that
is right for them based on their age, sex and physical activity level. Consumers are encouraged to get their own
personalized eating plan at www.MyPyramid.gov.
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PURDUE
DISCOVERY
Botanical Center for
Age-Related Diseases
Purdue University’s Botanical Center
for Age-Related Disease CREATED IN 2000 will receive $6 million in funding
over the next five years. The center
is one of five centers in the country to receive funding from the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements. Research conducted by these centers will
advance the scientific base of knowledge about the safety, effectiveness,
and mechanisms of action of botanicals.
Botanical products are widely used by many Americans
despite a lack of evidence for most regarding whether they are safe or
effective. The 2002 National Health
Interview Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention indicated that about 19 % of American adults use nonvitamin,
nonmineral natural products, and primarily botanical supplements.
 “As the aged population grows,
this kind of research becomes more critical for maintaining quality of
life,” said Connie Weaver, director of the center and head of the
Department of Foods and Nutrition.
Purdue’s research has produced data in areas such as soy protein,
green tea and supplement regulation that need future examination.
Weaver’s research group plans to investigate the health
effects of polyphenols from sources such as soy and kudzu. They will study the ability of these
agents to prevent and treat common conditions associated with aging,
including osteoporosis, cognitive decline, and cataracts. For more information on the Botanical Center please visit their Web site http://fn.cfs.purdue.edu/bot.
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PURDUE
EXTENSION
Dining
With Diabetes
Dining With Diabetes is a four-session educational program that will
help persons with diabetes or persons who prepare meals for someone with
diabetes change their food preparation
to lower calories, fat, and salt. The program was adapted for
Purdue Extension by a task force of county educators and state
specialists. Using the expertise of county Extension
educators to explain and demonstrate healthy food preparation techniques,
and registered dietitians and local hospitals to explain the medical
aspects of diabetes, this statewide Extension offering is a long term
effort to reduce the serious complications that arise when blood glucose is
not in controlled. The end result will be a much higher quality of life for
people who have this lifelong health problem.
“It was well worth the time as they took the guesswork out of meal
management and explained the “plate method,” the use of non-nutritive sweeteners
in cooking, how to read food labels, and recent changes to the Food Guide
Pyramid,” said a program participant.
The program was adapted for Purdue Extension by a task force of
county educators and state specialists.
For more information about the Dining With Diabetes program contact
your county Extension-CFS educator.
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Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
EFNEP
(Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) celebrated its 36th
anniversary in 2005. EFNEP uses Family Nutrition Advisors
(trained paraprofessionals known as FNAs) to teach a series of food and
nutrition topics that lead to behavior change to limited resource families
in their homes or community sites in 14 Indiana counties. Lessons often include
a food preparation activity to reinforce the principles taught. Evaluations show that EFNEP participants
improve their intakes of nutritious foods, improve their food resource
management skills such as using a shopping list, improve at least one food
safety skill such as using a meat thermometer, improve their use of
nutrition labels, and improve planning.
This is an exciting time to
be part of the federally funded EFNEP program. Due in part to efforts by NASULGC
(National Association for State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges),
who has made increased funding for EFNEP one of their priorities for the
last several years, the FY06 President’s Budget includes the largest ever
appropriation for the program. In
addition, reports like the recent GAO (Government Accounting Office) report
on nutrition education give EFNEP high marks for its strong national
evaluation component.
Exciting
things are happening as well here in Indiana. A study conducted at  Purdue showed that EFNEP
participants retained newly acquired knowledge and behaviors change at
least 9 months after completion of the program. Twelve new staff were hired and trained
over the last several months bringing us close to our full staff of 35. There are now four bilingual staff
members working in the Latino communities in Lake and Marion counties. For more information about the EFNEP
program contact Donna Vandergraff, EFNEP Coordinator vandergraff@purdue.edu.
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