Making the case: sustainability and public health
Making the case: sustainability and public health
Medical importance of food policy
June 2011
Real
Food
Real
People
Eat
Real
Real
Soil
Advocate Food Policy
•Access to locally grown real food creates healthier citizens
Support Green Dining & Sustainability
•Sample best practices
Strategize for Wise Nutrition
•A great leader sets the pace
Medical Importance of Food Policy
Cancer
Cardiovascular
Diabetes
Food borne illness
Obesity
Acanthosis Nigricans
Cancer
“In high income countries about a third of the most common cancers and in low and middle income countries about a quarter, could be prevented by eating healthily,
staying lean and being physically active.”
Sir Michael Marmot MB BS MPH PhD FRCP FFPH
World Cancer Research Fund International
University College London, United Kingdom
Chair, Expert Report and Policy Report Panel
~ June 2011
Cardiovascular
Blood pressure increases with each year we age
Hypertension, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, can be reduced by half incidence eating a semi-vegetarian DASH diet generous in fresh produce
DASH diet meal planning prevents hypertension in the general population
Meat, fish, poultry once per week is semi-vegetarian
DASH is Dietary Approaches to stop Hypertension and uses a plant-based, but not vegetarian diet, that is sodium sensible
Fraser, GE. Diet, Life Expectancy and Chronic Disease: Studies of Seventh-day Adventists and other vegetarians, 2003.
Blackburn GL. The public health implications of the dietary approaches to stop hypertension trial. Am J Clinical Nutrition 74:1,2001.
Diabetes:
Cheap Food
Food accounts for 10% of total household expenditures; an all time low
[2010 data]
Eleven percent, 11% of Americans are victim to diabetes mellitus, most due to ubiquitous cheap food
Less healthy foods are cheap – refined white flour, hydrogenated frying oils, refined sugars in highly processed, shelf stable packaged snack foods and soft drinks
(Reuters) - More than half of Americans will have diabetes or be pre-diabetic by 2020 at a cost to the U.S. health care system of $3.35 trillion if current trends go on unabated, according to analysis of a new report released November 23, 2010by health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Obesity:
Abundant Cheap Food
America grows enough food to provide
3,900 calories per person per day
Forty percent [40%] of food produced for
U.S. consumption will never be eaten
Food waste is 1,400 calories per person per day
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, published November 2010, Public Library of Science
Jonathan Bloom, M.A., American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference & Expo speaker, Denver, CO, October 20, 2009
Virginia Tech
Food Waste
Audit
Reducing
Food Waste
Schools
When recess is scheduled
before lunch, school children consume significantly more food and have less plate waste than children who recess after lunch.
Also, when recess is scheduled before lunch, children consume more total nutrients, including calcium, vitamin A, iron
Bergman EA, Buergel NS, Englund TF, Femrite A. The relationships of meal and recess schedules to plate waste in elementary schools.
J Child Nutr Manage.
http://docs.schoolnutrition.org/newsroom/jcnm/04fall/bergman/bergman2.asp
School Meals
2011 monetary data
Lunch tray without 6¢
& with current policy
Lunch tray with 10¢
& with ‘real food’ policy
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Food Wasters
Contributors and Culprits *
Perfect Food slaves
•
When in doubt, throw it out” mentality
Serve sensible portion sizes
Buy less; shop more often
Keep fridge half-empty – avoid over purchase
$200 of produce rots in the refrigerator vegetable bin [per family per year]
5-A-Day for Better Health
[2007 data] www.WastedFood.com
* Palmer, S. Paying the High Price of Food Waste, Environmental Nutrition , March 2010
What’s the Point!
The Reporter – January 2011
Locally grown food
Reduces the incidence of foodborne illness
Helms, M; Vastrup, P; Gerner-Smidt, P; et al. Short and long term mortality associated with foodborne bacterial gastrointestinal infections: registry-based study. BMJ, 2003, 326-357.
Fleury. Int J Biometeorology (2006) 50:385-91
Food-borne
Infection
Higher ambient temperatures
Outdoor eating
Faster growth of food-borne pathogens
Eight percent [8%] increase in food borne illness per each degree C above normal average temperature
Reported cases of Campylobacter, E coli,
Salmonella by week and temperature.
Alberta, Canada 1992-2000.
Green Dining
Sample Best practices
Community Supported
Agriculture [CSA]
Sustainable Food Transport
Green Dining
Sample Best practice
Tray less Dining
Green Dining
Beverage liquid waste
38 gallons per day saved
- 53% reduction
Post-consumer food waste
275 # / day - 38% reduction
Paper trash waste
11# - 9% reduction
Posters and table tents advocating benefits (pre-trials) and results (post-trials), the University of Kansas Dining Services, 2008.
Green Dining
Tray less
Sample Best practice
80,000 gallons water saved each quarter
A Great Leader
Strategic Plan for Wise Nutrition
A Leader
models eating well
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Makes breakfast and work lunches contribute fruit, vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy
Keeps an emergency desk kit of healthful foods for time crunches
Heeds the # of discretionary calories they need based upon age, sex and activity level to guide food selection
A Leader
practices healthy behavior
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Shops at farmers’ markets and buys local produce
Selects foods that reduce chronic disease even when no one is looking
Files a survival shopping list to prepare speedy suppers with quick recipes in ≤ 30 minutes during periods of work stress
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A Leader
motivates colleagues
Encourages co-workers to access their personal eating plan at www.MyPlate.gov
Suggests a work group to advocate local foods in the work site cafeteria and vending
Adds employee incentive and recognition programs that reward healthful eating behavior goals
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A Leader
stewards others
Creates a healthy legacy by selecting foods that nourish significant others according to evidence based nutrition
Rewards the work place food service with patronage of healthy choice selections
Supports colleagues efforts to dine at restaurants offering variety, improved food selections and reasonable portions
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A Leader
changes work place policy
Arranges catering that upholds dietary guidelines
Empowers cognitive performance by including fruits and vegetables in complimentary lunches
Questions routines detrimental to nutritional health; like food as reward
& suggests alternatives
Recommends work place vending of fresh foods rather than all packaged and processed items
Financial services’ Sherry Carter selected an afternoon snack in the Westwood Atrium, the University of Kansas Hospital ▪ the University of Kansas
Medical Center eXpress newsletter, June 2-8, 2011.
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A Leader
expects paradigms to shift
Asks “what is impossible to do today, but if it could be done, would fundamentally change nutrition lifestyles?”
Advocates composting in government, hospital and worksite kitchens
Creates systems that support food as medicine
Designs an environment where real foods are available
All citizens, regardless of income, need access to
“real food”.
~ A key message proposed for 2011 Food Day Kansas City
Adrienne Moore Baxter MS RD LD
Membership co-chair, Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition
Clinical Instructor, School of Health Professions
The University of Kansas Medical Center
Department of Dietetics and Nutrition abaxter@kumc.edu
@ KCFoodPolicy.org
Advocate Food Policy
•Access to locally grown real food creates healthier citizens
Support Green Dining & Sustainability
•Sample best practices
Strategize for Wise Nutrition
•A great leader sets the pace
U.S. government's 2011graphic symbol of nutritional advice
Web Resources
Acquaint yourself with the Declaration for Healthy Food
and Agriculture at www.FoodDeclaration.org
Estimate the carbon dioxide emissions of your meal at www.eatlowcarbon.org
Evaluate your ecological intelligence at www.GoodGuide.com
Sign the pledge to choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible and support policies that promote clean, affordable tap water for all, www.takebackthetap.org
A Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge exists for your institution’s Food Team to sign, visit Health Care without
Harm at http://www.noharm.org/us_canada/issues/food/pledge.php
References and recommended readings
Center for Science in the Public Interest. Eating green.
Available at: http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/index.html
.
Accessed April 1, 2011.
Food & Water Watch. About us.
Available at: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/about/ . Accessed April 1, 2011.
LocalHarvest, Inc. Community supported agriculture.
Available at: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ . Accessed April 1, 2011.
Monterey Bay Aquarium. Seafood recommendations.
Available at: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendation s.aspx
. Accessed April 1, 2011.
Thegreenmentality.com.
Get a green diet: good for you and our planet.
Available at: http://www.thegreenmentality.com/green_diet.html
.
Accessed April 1, 2011.
