Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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A new study published in the July/August 2013 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior evaluated the motivational effects of Project WebHealth, a web-based health promotion intervention developed to prevent excessive weight gain in college students. Researchers found that specific procedures and components of Project WebHealth successfully motivated students to improve their weight-related health behaviors and that the level of motivation differed by gender.

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Much attention has focused on school meals, both in the United States and across the globe. Researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden, evaluated teachers eating lunch with the school children. In Sweden, this practice is referred to as “pedagogic meals” because it offers the opportunity of having children learn by modeling adults. The researchers wanted to observe how the teachers interacted with the children during meals in order to better understand how to interpret results of this practice. The study is published in the September/October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

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The knowledge and skills required to change poor nutrition and health behavior choices are often unavailable to those living with financial limitations. Competing demands on time and resources may pose obstacles to their achieving better diets. However, two researchers at the University of Minnesota recently completed a study that looked at the effects that three educational sessions might have on knowledge and behaviors of 118 low-income women of ethnically diverse backgrounds.

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More people are cooking at home, and more people are finding their recipes online via food blogs. The photos of dishes posted on the blogs, however, may attract potential cooks more than the nutritional value of the recipes. In addition, many food companies sponsor these sites, so the recipes become advertisements for their products. This has the potential to change the healthfulness of the recipes.

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. In the past, SNAP has been shown to reduce poverty among the poorest Americans and generate economic activity. However, according to a new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, SNAP benefits alone may not be enough to provide its beneficiaries with the long-term food security or dietary quality they need.

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Consumers tend to view full-service restaurants as providing healthier, higher quality food than fast-food restaurants, but some studies have found much higher calorie, fat, and sodium levels in food at full-service restaurants. Researchers from Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania studied more than 2,600 menu items served at full-service restaurant chains operating in Philadelphia and concluded that foods served at full-service restaurant chains are high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium, and that standard definitions are needed for ‘‘healthy choice’’ tags and for entrees targeted to vulnerable age groups.

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Young adults, aged 18 to 25, are at high risk for weight gain. Being mild to moderately overweight during this period substantially increases the likelihood of obesity at age 35 to 37. To prevent weight gain and promote healthy decision making, researchers from 14 institutions collaborated to develop a tailored, theory-based, web-delivered course to prevent excessive weight gain in young adults. The results are published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

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Although weight gain intervention for young adults attending two- or four-year colleges has been studied extensively, there has been little research into effective weight management programs targeting low-income, non-college bound young adults. A team of registered dietitian nutritionists from the University of Maine, in collaboration with scientists from multiple institutions from around the US, have now developed a weight management intervention program that is particularly relevant for disadvantaged young adults. Their results are published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

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A recent pilot study in Brooklyn, New York, with minority students found that exposure to Manga comics (Japanese comic art) promoting fruit intake significantly improved healthy snack selection. As snacking accounts for up to 27% of children's daily caloric intake, and childhood obesity has been linked to inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables, the results of this study could have wide-reaching implications.

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To address the issues of food selection and rapid weight gain among children observed in the summertime, researchers used summer day camps as a unique opportunity to influence food and beverage choices of children attending. By implementing the Healthy Lunchbox Challenge, an innovative theory and incentive-based program, at four community-based summer day camps, they noted significant increases in the amount of healthy food brought by children as well as decreases in foods such as sugar-sweetened beverages and salty snacks.