In This Edition...

House to Vote on Economic Stimulus Bill, Advocates Anticipate Funds for Prevention

On January 15, 2009, President Obama and the House of Representatives revealed the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an economic stimulus plan that includes a $3 billion investment in prevention. $500 million has been set aside for the Healthy Communities program.  Such funds could be used to finance community-based prevention efforts to reduce chronic disease and health disparities.  In a constrained economy, this is indeed a positive development for food and physical activity advocates who have long been focused on prevention.  Strategic Alliance is pleased to see such positive action by our nation’s leaders.  The bill, currently under debate, could be voted on as early as Wednesday, January 28th.

***

School Breakfast = Brain Power: Strategies to Increase Participation

This informative presentation, compiled by California Food Policy Advocates, serves as a follow-up to a recent Harvard study that discovered millions of American children may be attending school without the nutrition necessary to learn despite the fact that Congress has made the funds available.  It was originally presented to both the California School Board Association and the California School Nutrition Association at their annual conferences.   

***

Reducing Costs to Boost Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

While the U.S. diet tends to fall short of the recommendations for fruits and vegetable consumption, low-income households, in particular, face challenges in achieving adequate intake.  For low-income families, the price of fruits and vegetables is a significant barrier to healthy eating.  A new USDA Economic Research Service study suggests an intervention strategy to combat this problem: a price subsidy for low-income households. To learn more, click here…

The ERS study estimated that a 10-percent subsidy would encourage low-income consumers to increase their consumption of fruits by 2.1 to 5.2 percent and vegetables by 2.1 to 4.9 percent. The annual cost of such a subsidy for low-income Americans would be about $310 million for fruits and $270 million for vegetables. The study authors hope that this research will encourage the federal government to subsidize the consumption of healthful foods, allowing for low-income Americans to eat more nutritious diets.

To read the entire report, click here…

Not So “Happy” Meals: Nutritious Fast-Food Kids’ Meals Are Rare

In light of the increased prevalence of childhood obesity and the amount of food consumed away from home, the quality of fast food kids’ meals has garnered greater attention. A groundbreaking, new study has found that only 3% of kids’ meals served at fast-food restaurants meet federal dietary guidelines.  Click here to read more . . .

Last year, Sharon Hoerr, a food science and human nutrition researcher, worked with economist Sharon O’Donnell and pediatrician Jason Mendoza to evaluate the nutrient quality of kids’ meals in Houston, Texas. Houston served as a prime location for this research as it is the fourth largest U.S. city and its fast-food restaurants include 12 of the 13 national and regional fast-food companies that serve children’s meals.

To compare the nutrient quality of all combinations of fast-food kids’ meals, the researchers used nutrient values provided by the major fast food companies, the seven nutrient criteria from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and dietary guidelines for sodium, fiber, added sugar and trans fat.

Results show that meals that did not meet the federal dietary guidelines had more than 1.5 times the calories of those that did meet the criteria. Over 65% of these meals exceeded guidelines for total fat, 75% were deficient in calcium, 82% were deficient in iron and 85% were deficient in vitamin A.

Of the small percentage of meals that did meet dietary guidelines, nearly all were deli-sandwich meals and included milk and fruit as a side dish. They had about one-third the fat, one-sixth the added sugars, twice the iron, and three times the amount of vitamin A and calcium as did meals not meeting the guidelines.

These findings underscore the need for healthier kids’ meals.  The researchers concluded that parents, physicians, consumer groups, policymakers and public health professionals must push for fast-food companies to foster the development and marketing of more nutritious kids’ meals.

To view the abstract of the report, please click here…  

National Grocery Chain Launches Healthy Foods Identification Program

Supervalu, a national grocery chain, has announced plans to introduce a nutritional information initiative to label all items in its stores that meet the federal dietary guidelines. Over the course of six months, Supervalu shoppers in 1,300 stores will be able to identify items that meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) nutrition criteria based on a system of colored tags. While nutrition advocates praise the program for helping consumers make better informed decisions about their food choices, some critics say the labeling system does not teach consumers about which foods to avoid and which can be consumed in moderation. To learn more about Supervalu’s new Nutrition IQ program, please click here…

Updated WIC vendor rules released 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published final rules for retail vendors authorized by state agencies to provide supplemental foods to WIC participants.  The rules strengthen due process for vendors, prevent defective infant formula from being consumed by WIC participants, insures that the program does not pay high food prices, and adjusts the vendor civil money penalty (CMP) levels to reflect inflation. To learn more, please click here…

***

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities: Due February 3, 2009 Call for Proposals from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE): Brief Proposals due February 26, 2009

***

Upcoming Events

The 2009 Food Stamp Forum

February 10, 2009, Sacramento, CA

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network: Planning for Healthy Communities Convening

February 11, 2009, Sacramento, CA

Click here to learn more about CPEHN’s Spring Convenings...

Unlocking the Playground: Achieving Equity In Physical Activity Spaces

April 9, 2009 - Fresno

April 21, 2009 - Oakland

April 28, 2009 - San Diego

May 4, 2009 - Los Angeles

Registration and more information will be available in March.

 The Praxis Project: Learning Circle Series, 2009

Community Organizing: Building Toward Long-Term Change, March 13-15, 2009

Policy Advocacy: Creating Better Policies, May 29-31, 2009

2009 Childhood Obesity Conference: Creating Healthy Places for All Children

June 9-12, 2009, Los Angeles, CA

Back to the top

Thanks for reading!  The Strategic Alliance is currently engaged in building a broad and diverse statewide membership.  If you were forwarded this e-mail and want to receive your own copy in the future, please click here or e-mail shakirah@preventioninstitute.org.  And if you’re already a member, please forward this message to your colleagues so we can continue to strengthen our coalition.  Thank you!

WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE?

The Strategic Alliance is reframing the debate on nutrition and physical activity away from a focus solely on individual choice and lifestyle towards one of environmental influences and corporate and government responsibility. Current Steering Committee members are: California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program (CANFit), California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS), California Project LEAN, California WIC Association (CWA), Child Care Food Program Roundtable, Latino Health Access, Partnership for the Public’s Health, Prevention Institute, and Samuels & Associates.

Home | About Us | Our Approach