During the first week of February 2010, Purdue's wellness community implemented a new model of intervention to improve the health of local and global communities. Healthy Planet 2010 integrated programs in learning, teaching, research, engagement, and outreach to raise awareness of the benefits of prevention and a balanced life.

The weeklong celebration of health highlighted many of Purdue's resources and the research that is making an impact locally and globally. Programming focused on health education, physical activity, nutrition, financial management, and mental health.   Nutrition specific activities included a nutrition knowledge contest at five different campus locations on topics such as beverage sugar content and food myths, chef demonstrations of healthy cooking, and portion distortion displays at five different campus dining courts.  A symposium was also organized by a partnership between the Department of Foods and Nutrition and Health and Kinesiology focusing on the environmental and policy approaches to promoting healthy eating and physical activity in Indiana communities.  Keynote speaker, Jackie Epping, a lead public health scientist from the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention addressed specific strategies in promoting healthy eating and physical activity through policy and environmental change.  Over 100 students, faculty, staff, Extension educators, health professionals and community members attended the symposium which featured five different speakers, with many joining attendees via webinar.  Please contact Amy R. Mobley, PhD, RD (armobley@purdue.edu) for more information about the symposium.

Healthy Planet is scheduled to be a recurring event each year.  Look for future events in 2011.

Each spring and fall, Corporate Affiliates representatives and guests visit Purdue to hear faculty symposiums on the latest research findings on topics such as macronutrients, functional foods, nutrient-gene interaction, botanicals, lipids, biotechnology and dietary guidelines, and nutrition and aging. From an initial meeting of six members, the program has grown to nearly 30 affiliates.  The Spring 2010 Symposium featured Purdue researchers and Corporate Affiliate presentations related to “Eating Patterns”.  Topics included: Infradian patterns of feeding (Dr. Rick Mattes), Cross cultural patterns (Dr. Sharon Williams), Circadian patterns of feeding (Dr. Megan McCrory), Dietary pattern assessment (Dr. Carol Boushey), Toddler eating habits – 2008 FITS study (Dr. Kathleen Reidy), and Eating patterns:The challenges of communicating to consumers (Sylvia Rowe).  Hot topics with foods and nutrition research were also discussed.  Dr. Connie Weaver provided the seminar on the topic, “Evidence based approaches for determining nutrient/diet recommendations:  Is it enough?”  The Spring Corporate Affiliates meeting also included a poster session featuring research from the Interdepartmental Nutrition Graduate Program, with monetary awards given to the students whose posters are deemed best in each category .  Future issues of Food for Thought will describe the posters and the winners. 

The Foods and Nutrition Department welcomed a new professor this academic year, Dr. Sibylle Kranz. Dr. Kranz earned her BS and MS from Florida International University in dietetics and nutrition and her PhD in Nutrition Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a Registered Dietitian. 

Associate Professor, Dr. Sibylle Kranz’s current research area includes childhood obesity with a special focus on dietary intake and diet quality of preschool-age children.  Dr. Kranz has a number of peer-reviewed publications on the issue of nutrition and childhood obesity as well as chronic diseases which are known comorbidities reflecting analysis of secondary, nationally representative data, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, as well as primary data gathered in intervention studies.  Dr. Kranz will be a great asset to the department, serving as the Director of the Department’s Coordinated Program in Dietetics.

Dr. Kranz can be reached at kranz@purdue.edu.