Princess Health and Wellness coalition in Perry County, where life expectancy is state's lowest, gets funding from Foundation for a Healthy Ky.. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Wellness coalition in Perry County, where life expectancy is state's lowest, gets funding from Foundation for a Healthy Ky.. Princessiccia

Appalachia children children's health education farm to school farmers' markets food Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky foundations grants hospitals life expectancy nutrition philanthropy schools

Gusty 10:14 Add Comment

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has funded the Perry County Wellness Coalition's three-year plan to encourage fitness and better nutrition in school-age children, "Kids on the Move!"

The wellness coalition will receive $144,450 from the foundation this year, matched by $124,944 from the community, to increase access to physical activity and provide healthier food options and nutrition education. Perry County has the lowest life expectancy in Kentucky.

"Our children are the most valuable resource we have," said Gerry Roll, executive director of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, which is serving as fiscal agent for the coalition. "It's the best investment we can make as a community partner."

The health coalition will work with local schools to implement physical activity and nutrition-policy changes, collaborate with local farmers' markets for a strong farm-to-school component, and coordinate with other community agencies to create a lasting and collective impact.

The project also will implement best-practices nutrition and exercise programs in schools, support community gardens, summer feeding programs, and a "Farmacy" program to increase the purchase of healthier produce at farmers' markets and local grocery stores, among other changes to be coordinated by the agencies in the coalition.

The Appalachian Regional Healthcare hospital in Hazard will be the administrative hub for the coalition, providing leadership and sharing its expertise in promoting community health. "We have already begun these efforts by providing fitness fairs and health screenings to over 20 schools in our service area and reaching a little more than 2,500 middle school and high school age kids this year alone," said Hazard ARH Community CEO Dan Stone said.

The coalition is among seven Kentucky communities funded by the foundation's "Investing in Kentucky's Future" initiative, which is spending $3 million over five years to fund communities working to improve the health of their school-aged children. The other groups are in Breathitt, Clinton, Grant, Jefferson and McLean counties, and in Boyd and Greenup counties. Perry County was in the original announcement and recently completed its detailed plan. It shares with Breathitt and Wolfe counties the state's lowest life expectancy, 70 years.

Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

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Gusty 14:14 Add Comment

Associated Press

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

Nutrition labels on food products will undergo a facelift over the next two years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized plans Friday to change labeling to emphasize calorie count and added sugars in an effort to simply nutrition labels and clarify serving sizes.

First lady Michelle Obama, a longtime crusader against childhood obesity, said parents will benefit from the upcoming changes.

"You will no longer need a microscope, a calculator, or a degree in nutrition to figure out whether the food you're buying is actually good for our kids," she told The Associated Press.

The overhaul puts less emphasis on fats and more on caloric value and added sugars. Calories on upcoming labels will be listed in larger font than other nutrient facts. Added sugar will get its own line, separate from naturally occurring sugar.  Currently, both added and naturally occurring sugars were lumped under one category, "Sugars."

New labels will also include a new "percent daily value" for added sugar, which will tell consumers how much of their recommended daily intake they will get from a given item. The FDA recommends consuming less than 10 percent of total daily calories (200 calories in a typical diet) from added sugar.

"The new labels should also spur food manufacturers to add less sugar to their products," Michael Jacobson, president of the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told AP. He said that under current labeling, it's nearly impossible for consumers to know how much sugar fits into a reasonable diet.

The footnote will better explain what "percent daily value" means. It will read: �The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.�

Serving sizes will also be clearer. The biggest difference will be that serving sizes will be based on what consumers typically eat instead of what they should eat. About one-fifth of foods will undergo revised calculations. For example, a serving size of ice cream will be 2/3 of a cup; previously it was a 1/2 cup.

If you've ever been duped into consuming more calories than you intended, or tried to calculate exactly what fraction of a slice of pizza constitutes a serving size, you're in luck. Package size affects what people eat, the FDA noted. So, products that were previously between one and two servings, such as a 20-ounce soda, will be labeled as a single serving, since consumers generally eat or drink the entire contents in one sitting.

Larger containers, like pints of ice cream, will have dual column labels: one column with information for a single serving and the other with information for the entire container.

Labels will also include two additional nutrients: potassium and Vitamin D.

Industry reaction was predictable. A representative for the Sugar Association told AP that emphasis on added sugar could confuse consumers, but other industry leaders welcomed the changes.

"This update is timely as diets, eating patterns and consumer preferences have changed dramatically since the Nutrition Facts panel was first introduced," Leon Bruner, of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told AP.

Most food manufacturers have until July 2018 to comply. Smaller manufacturers will have an additional year.

The FDA proposed the changes two years ago. They are the first major update to nutrition labels since labeling was introduced in 1994. So far, more than 800,000 foods have nutrition labels.

For more information on the changes, click here.

Princess Health and House Republicans want to make it harder for schools to get free meals for all students; could affect more than 350 Ky. schools. Princessiccia

Princess Health and House Republicans want to make it harder for schools to get free meals for all students; could affect more than 350 Ky. schools. Princessiccia

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Gusty 10:38 Add Comment

Photo from npr.org

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky school officials are concerned about a proposal by Republicans in the U.S. House that would make it harder for schools to offer free meals to all students using federal money.

The House is considering changes to the 2010 Hunger-Free Kids Act, now in its second year, which allows schools who serve a high-poverty population to offer free meals to every student.

Instead of collecting individual applications for free or reduced-price meals, the Community Eligibility Provision uses data that illustrates how many students in a given school may be "food-vulnerable": how many students live in households that receive government assistance, live in foster care, are homeless, and other similar criteria.

Under current CEP rules, schools with greater than 40 percent of students who qualify as food-vulnerable are eligible to offer free meals to all students. A bill approved May 18 by the House Education and Workforce Committee would raise the threshold to 60 percent, forcing schools between 40 and 59 percent range off the program.

"Proponents of community eligibility say it spares schools from paperwork and administrative burdens, and that it allows low-income children to eat free meals without the stigma or red tape of particpation in the free meal program, which is often a barrier for participation," Evie Blad reports for Education Week. "But Republicans on the committee said the provision is wasteful, potentially allowing children from higher-income families access to free meals."

The change could affect more than 350 Kentucky schools. Kentucky has 804 schools eligible to offer free meals under current CEP rules, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Under the proposed bill, only 441 would qualify, according to the center.

More than 10,000 students at 17 public schools in Lexington alone would be affected, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. More than 190,000 students statewide could be affected, the Herald-Leader said.

Nick Brake, superintendent of Owensboro schools, told Keith Lawrence of The Messenger-Inquirer that he is hopeful that his district will be spared cuts.

"I have been working with Congressman (Brett) Guthrie�s office on this issue," Brake said. "We are still looking at the overall numbers, but our district average is 63 percent, so it looks favorable that we will be able to continue to provide the benefit of this vital program in the future."

Muhlenberg County Supt. Randy McCarty told Lawrence he thought his district would still qualify. "Once a district goes CEP, it stays in place for four years," he said.

Hopkins County, which recently expanded its use of free meals to all public schools, faces uncertainty if the changes are passed.

"I have no idea if school districts will be grandfathered in, or how Congress will write everything, but I am afraid that if we don't jump on this now, we may not get this opportunity again," Michael Dodridge, food services director of Hopkins County schools, told Laura Buchanan of The Messenger in Madisonville. "I would hate to pass this up."

UPDATE, May 26: The Harlan Independent School Board voted to join the program, Joe Asher reports for the Harlan Daily Enterprise.

The proposed CEP changes are part of House Resolution 5003, the child nutrition reauthorization bill introduced by Indiana Republican Rep. Todd Rokita. For more information on the proposed changes, click here.

Princess Health and Study indicates fast food contains industrial chemicals linked to health problems such as infertility, diabetes and allergies. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Study indicates fast food contains industrial chemicals linked to health problems such as infertility, diabetes and allergies. Princessiccia

allergies diabetes environmental health food infertility nutrition processed food research

Gusty 08:03 Add Comment

People who eat a lot of fast food have higher levels of chemicals that "have been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes, including higher rates of infertility," especially among men, Roberto Ferdman reports for The Washington Post.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., say the connection could have "great public health significance," Ferdman writes. "Specifically, the team found that people who eat fast food tend to have significantly higher levels of certain phthalates, which are commonly used in consumer products such as soap and makeup to make them less brittle. . . . The danger, the researchers believe, isn't necessarily a result of the food itself, but rather the process by which the food is prepared."

Here's how the study was done: Researchers analyzed diet and urinalysis data for nearly 9,000 people, collected as part of federal nutrition surveys in 2003-2010. "Food eaten at or from restaurants without waiters or waitresses was considered fast food. Everything else � food eaten at sit-down restaurants and bars or purchased from vending machines � was not," Ferdman writes. "The first thing the researchers found was that roughly one-third of the participants said they had eaten some form of fast food over the course of the day leading up to the urine sample collection," which fits with government estimates.

People who said they had eaten fast food in the previous 24 hours "tended to have much higher levels of two separate phthalates," Ferdman reports. Those who said they ate only a little fast food had levels 15 and 25 percent higher than those who said they had eaten none. "For people who reported eating a sizable amount, the increase was 24 percent and 39 percent, respectively. And the connection held true even after the researchers adjusted for various factors about the participants' habits and backgrounds that might have contributed to the association between fast-food consumption and phthalate levels."

The study was reported in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"There is little consensus on the harms of phthalates, which are widely used in commerce and give materials such as food packaging added flexibility, except that exposure to them is widespread," Ferdman writes, citing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But there is growing concern that the chemicals could pose a variety of risks, particularly when observed in the sort of levels seen in the study."

Noting several other studies, such as those linking the chemicals to diabetes and allergies, Ferdman reports, "Many governments have moved to limit exposure to the industrial chemicals. Japan disallowed the use of vinyl gloves in food preparation for fear that their use was compromising health. The European Union, which limits the use of the chemical, has been nudging manufacturers to replace it. And the United States restricted its use in toys."

So, why do people who eat fast food seem to have much higher levels of these chemicals? That is unclear, Ferdman writes, "but it's easy enough to guess: the sheer amount of processing that goes into food served at quick-service restaurants. The more machinery, plastic, conveyor belts, and various forms of processing equipment that food touches, the more likely the food is to contain higher levels of phthalates. And fast food tends to touch a good deal more of these things than, say, the food one purchases at a local farmers' market."

Ferdman concludes, "It certainly seems as though eating fast food is more toxic than avoiding it, and not for the obvious reasons." He quotes Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University: "Traditional fast food was never meant to be daily fare, and it shouldn�t be," said  "It�s too high in calories and salt and, as we now know, the chemicals that get into our food supply through industrial food production."

Princess Health and Public is invited to join discussion about food sustainability systems at UK April 7; will help shape UK's food-systems studies. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Public is invited to join discussion about food sustainability systems at UK April 7; will help shape UK's food-systems studies. Princessiccia

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Gusty 11:29 Add Comment

The public is invited to a discussion about sustainable food systems at the 2016 Food Studies Symposium at the University of Kentucky April 7 to "share current learning, build collaborations, identify opportunities, stimulate research and envision an interdisciplinary foods program," a UK news release says.

The panel discussion, "Building a Campus-wide, Multi-stakeholder Initiative/Program on Sustainability and Food Systems Studies: Learning from Our Leaders in the Field," will be held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7 in the E. S. Good Barn, followed by a reception.

"Participants will help shape the future of food systems studies at the university," says the release.

Invited speakers include Peggy Barlett, faculty liaison to Emory University's Office of Sustainability Initiatives; Tom Kelly, founding executive director of the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire; and Jane Kolodinsky, former chair of the University Food System Initiative Steering Committee and chair of the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Sustainability Challenge Grant, The Food Connection at UK and the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment. Click here for more information.

Princess Health and Annual health policy forum set Sept. 28 in Bowling Green.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Annual health policy forum set Sept. 28 in Bowling Green.Princessiccia

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Gusty 19:58 Add Comment

This year's annual Howard L. Bost Health Policy Forum "will offer new insights and opportunities from a range of civic sectors for a shared vision, policies, and actions for community health," says its lead sponsor, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

"Local, regional, and national speakers will share their knowledge and experiences in building healthy communities, with a focus on transportation and housing, education, food systems and policy, and employers and workplaces," the foundation says. "TED style" speakers will make presentations on each of the forum's four focus areas: education, food systems and policy, employer/workplace, and transportation/housing.

The forum will be held at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green on Monday, Sept. 28. For the registration website, click here.

Princess Health and Trimble County parents protest 'humiliating' treatment of students whose school lunchroom accounts are in the red.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Trimble County parents protest 'humiliating' treatment of students whose school lunchroom accounts are in the red.Princessiccia

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Gusty 17:52 Add Comment

Parents in Trimble County are demanding that the county schools stop serving cheese sandwiches to students whose lunchroom accounts are in the red, Kayla Vanover of WAVE-TV in Louisville reports.

"Embarrassing, humiliating and 'flat out wrong' is how parents described the school's policy to take a student's lunch right off the lunch table and toss it because the child's parents had not replenished their account to cover the meal," Vanover reports.

On May 20, Lori Ritchie's daughter "sat down to eat, but her hot meal was thrown away and she was given a cheese sandwich with a side," Vanover reports. "Ritchie said she doesn't blame the workers, but she said the policy needed to be changed a long time ago. Wednesday, a special called public meeting with the school board allowed other parents and community members to voice their opinions on the current policy, in hopes an agreement could be made."

Doug Joyce, grandfather of a student, told the board, "It is bullying. We throw kids out of school or reprimand them for bulling, so why should we let grown-ups bully kids like that?" A board member, unidentified in Vanover's story, said "We don't want any child to be embarrassed or receive an alternative meal, so we are really going to beef up the communication."