Kent State Interns

This blog post ( here ) and corresponding audio clip piqued my interest for a few reasons.   Tulane University medical students along with Johnson & Wales culinary students teamed up for a new and unique program ( which you can read more about here ) through Tulane’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine.   This partnership was formed to teach both culinary and medical professionals about nutrition.   The goal of the program is to change doctors’ thinking on food.   The article focuses on that day’s task of creating recovery meals for the Johnson & Wales track team.   One student was also quoted as saying “We need to learn how to be able to make nutritious meals and to discuss diet in an educated manner.” It is indeed true that MD’s don’t get that much nutrition exposure throughout their education (I went to a GAAND meeting back in Fall 2011 where this was discussed and the main speaker (also a doctor) praised RDs as the Nutrition Experts). ...

The study entitled “WIC in your neighborhood: New evidence on the impacts of geographic access to clinics” by Maya Rossin-Slater explores the relationship between access to a WIC clinic and food benefit take-up, as well as other pregnancy-related outcomes.   The researcher decided to examine this issue because previous studies have found that not all individuals who are eligible for WIC take advantage of the benefits; she hypothesized that the reason for this is geographic proximity to a WIC office.   As stated in the article, the “results suggest that ZIP-code-level access to WIC services increases food benefit take-up by 2 to 5 percentage points, raises birth weight by 22-32 g, and increases the likelihood of breastfeeding at the time of hospital discharge by 4 percentage points for mothers with a high school degree or less”.   One important factor to keep in mind while reading this article is that the study is a look at the determinants of WIC benefit take-u...

As the obesity epidemic continues in the United States, companies are scrambling to offer alternatives for those seeking out healthier options. Burger King recently announced their venture into the "healthy" drive through food option called 'satisfries' to satisfy the consumers desire for healthier options. The question becomes, "How do you these new fries compare the regular fries?" Well these fries are crinkle cut and have a new batter that supposedly decreases the amount of oil absorbed during the frying process. Thus they are still french fries that are deep-fat fried to golden goodness. The calories are not dramatically different however it does help some. A small serving has 270 calories and 11 g fat compared to the regular fries with 340 calories and 15 g fat. What do you think? Good idea to cut calories and fat or just another marketing ploy? You be the judge :) http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/24/burger-king-french-fries-satis...

As part of my elective internship hours, I am assisting with KIDS camp (Kids interested in Diet and Sports) at KSU. At KIDS camp, overweight or obese children or children at risk of becoming overweight or obese participate in 45 minutes of physical activity and 45 minutes of nutrition education every Thursday for an 8 week period. Interestingly, this article demonstrates the power of such programs! In Portugal, 683 children ages 8-10 were examined to determine attraction to physical activity, perceived physical competence, and socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status was measured by participation in the school subsidized education and meal program. If students did not participate in the subsidized program they were considered high class, if students received a discounted school lunch they were deemed middle class, and students participating in the subsidized program were considered to be of lower socioeconomic status. Results showed boys reported greater enjoyment in sports and ...

Using social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter, consumers can get practical information where and when they need it to make informed decisions about following a healthy diet.  In February 2013, MyPlate partnered with Let's Move! and top recipe creators to start a MyPlate recipes page on Pinterest. In March, USDA launched its MyPlate Facebook page.  More than 44, 000 people are following @MyPlate on Twitter, which sends out tweets daily with helpful messages about eating healthy.  The Academy is encouraging dietetics professionals to direct patients and clients to these resources where nutrition information is easily accessed and can be shared with others. Source: http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/2212-2672/PIIS2212267213004668.pdf -KC

This article, from the most recent issue of JAND (read it here ), looked at African-American women utilizing Medicaid and that were eligible for WIC.   The researchers were able to identify 10 themes that were motivators or barriers to healthy eating during pregnancy.   They also found that the definition of “healthy” was not clear in this population.   Educating this population on the facts behind some misconceptions with pregnancy feeding and energy needs, as well as on healthy and affordable foods may improve the diet quality in this group of people.   When doing any sort of work out in the community, it’s essential that you know what barrier(s) that the population you are trying to serve has so that you have ways to work around those barriers.   This article caught my eye since it was a qualitative study, which is not done that often with nutrition.   This article is especially important though as it highlights a high risk group of people, i...

http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/13/jpepsy.jst023.full.pdf+html Motivational Interviewing to Enhance Self-Efficacy and Promote Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial   This study looked at motivational interviewing to see if it enhances self-efficacy and promotes weight loss in adolescence. There were 40 participants in the study ranging from 10-18 years of age. The study found that MI does work and is best when used in combination with other counseling interventions. I read this study because it was a topic that was discussed last semester in my Clinical Nutrition course. I think it is interesting to see how motivational interviewing fits into an effective counseling method and how it works in different subpopulations, like the adolescence in this study. It definitely does seem to have a place in nutrition counseling and it will be interesting to see how is added to other types of counseling interventions...

When it comes to community nutrition, WIC is definitely an interest of mine and I try to stay up to date with the new food package updates and implications. This article discusses the new guidelines put into effect in 2009 regarding a mother’s infant feeding decision: - Increase in the amount and variety of food benefits for fully breastfeeding woman and infants receiving no formula with the increase occurring immediately postpartum or at 6 months of age for infants -For those receiving formula, calibration of infant formula amounts to the age of the infant -No issuance of formula to postpartum breastfeeding mothers for 30 days In 2012, the implications of these 2009 package updates were studied at a health department in Southern California. The most significant finding was that there was an 86% increase in issuance rate of “fully breastfeeding” packages! Interestingly, prior to 2009 studies showed women enrolled in the WIC program were less likely to breastfeed than n...