Food Nutrition

Monmouth County Division of Social Services is ready to help local seniors who may not be able to afford a nutritionally balanced diet.

As part of the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance for Seniors (SNAS) program, the division is working to support senior citizens who live alone, who receive supplemental security income and who may need help covering their food costs.

While most nutrition experts agree that school lunches should include more whole-grain products, a new study from the University of Minnesota finds that food-service workers lack understanding and the resources to meet that goal.

The study, which involved school food-service directors from across Minnesota, appears in the current issue of the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management. Because they serve so many meals to children each day, school food-service directors have a major influence on students' food choices and in turn their overall health, the authors note.

The Kentucky Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program has become one of the first in the nation to implement new guidelines to improve nutritional and health standards for clients.

Effective May 1, the new guidelines alter the type or amount of food that can be purchased through WIC, in an effort to improve the nutrition and health of the nation’s low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children.

Tens of thousands of Utah moms and kids will get a much-needed nutritional boost with newly-approved WIC food packages. The Women, Infants and Children program is adding fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to the food vouchers it distributes to more than 72,000 Utah WIC participants.

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that Connecticut will receive more than $1.3 million in federal stimulus funds for the state Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program in response to the surge of families seeking assistance during this economic recession.

Ironically, just as solid science has confirmed that a quality overall diet is the key to good health, not a preoccupation with a single nutrient, food alarmists are stepping up their call for government regulation of an essential nutrient: salt.

At a press conference today, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) seemed oblivious to the new scientific findings. They singled out salt as the “single most harmful ingredient in our food supply.” CSPI termed salt “toxic”.

A study from Purdue University shows that dairy products may be better than pills or foods fortified with calcium carbonate for maintaining strong bones. Calcium carbonate from foods and pills were compared to dairy intake by researchers, and is the first direct comparison of the benefits of milk and other dairy versus fortified foods and supplements for developing and maintaining strong bones.

A supplement to be published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition encourages the scientific community and the general public to stop demonizing high fructose corn syrup as the culprit of obesity and to rethink the myths about high fructose corn syrup's impact on the American diet.

According to a NHANES analysis, drinking 100 percent fruit juice daily can lower our risk of chronic diseases.

New research, presented April 22, 2009 at the Experimental Biology (EB) 2009 meeting shows that men and women who drink 100 percent juice daily are leaner, and have lower risk of heart attack, diabetes, and stroke from metabolic syndrome - a cluster of symptoms including high blood pressure, elevated triglyceride levels, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance.

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides additional scientific evidence that the majority of Americans over the age of twenty should limit the amount of sodium (salt) they consume daily to 1,500 milligrams (mg) to prevent and reduce high blood pressure. The new data are published in CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report.