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The purpose of this newsletter is to provide quick contacts to KNN partner agencies and to other resources that might be helpful to our partners. You should be able to read this newsletter in less than 5 minutes – that’s our goal!

KNN March 2007 Newsletter

Welcome to the March 2007 issue of KNN’s email newsletter. Please visit our web site at www.kansasnutritionnetwork.org We are always interested in how our partners are “partnering” to improve nutrition and physical activity education throughout Kansas.
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Upcoming Meetings:

March 9, 2007 Manhattan Barbara LaClair will give an update on the Kansas Food Security Task Force. Karole Bradford will talk about the Benefits Bank. This project will allow people to complete the paperwork for their taxes and several benefits without having to re-enter all the same data over and over again. The meeting will be at the K-State Alumni Center in Manhattan. We will meet in the Purple Pride Conference Room ( 3rd Floor) from 10 am to 2pm. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP Sally Price if you plan on attending. sprice@ksu.edu

May 8-9, 2007 KNN will meet in partnership with the KACAP Conference on Poverty in Topeka.

 

March is National Nutrition Month® (NNM)! This is an excellent opportunity to encourage and motivate your target audience to balance what they eat with what they do! The Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ Campaign has resources and ideas that make it easier for you to promote this message. Click on Bright Ideas and be sure to check out the previous issues!

Study Suggests Social Class Stronger Determinant of Physical Activity Level Than Race. A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise suggests that socioeconomic class is a more accurate indicator of adults' physical activity level than race or ethnicity, the Indianapolis Star reports.

Arizona Program Encourages Students to Walk 10,000 Steps Per Day. More than 33,000 fifth-grade students at 425 Arizona public schools have registered to participate in the state's Walk On program, which challenges students to take 10,000 steps per day and adopt healthier lifestyles, the Arizona Republic reports.
CDC released a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) article titled, Prevalence of Heart Disease — United States, 2005. The study provides, for the first time, state and U.S. territory information on the percentage of people living with heart disease. The study showed a wide range of variation in the prevalence of certain heart diseases across states and territories, and also identified gender, racial/ethnic, and educational level differences in heart disease prevalence. www.cdc.gov/mmwr.

Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $53 billion in fiscal 2006, a 4-percent increase over the previous fiscal year. This report uses preliminary data from the Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in the programs at the through fiscal 2006. It also discusses a recent ERS study that examined income volatility among households with children and the implications of volatility for eligibility in the National School Lunch Program. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB6-4/

Thanks to Dan Nagengast and the Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Food Policy Council now has the beginnings of a website. http://www.kansasruralcenter.org/kfpc.html
The January 2007 issue of the Food & Nutrition Research Briefs is now available on the web at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb/fnrb0107.htm
Food Stamp Nutrition Education Systems Review:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/MENU/Published/NutritionEducation/NutEd.htm#FSNE
Look under “Food Stamp Nutrition Education Systems Review” for a 2-page report summary, executive summary, the entire report, and state profiles.
Kansas Health Institute: Your one stop for Kansas health news and policy analysis. www.khi.org
"Although education and the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process, starting early in life is crucial. Recent research — some sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in collaboration with the University of Minnesota — has documented the high returns that early childhood programs can pay in terms of subsequent educational attainment and in lower rates of social problems, such as teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency. The most successful early childhood programs appear to be those that cultivate both cognitive and noncognitive skills and that engage families in stimulating learning at home." Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce on February 6, 2007. Access Bernanke's entire speech and references
Study Finds Children Eat More When in Larger Groups
A study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood shows that young children consume more food when eating in larger groups, United Press International reports.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves 29 million lunches daily, and nearly half of those are served free to low-income students. ERS researchers found that two-thirds of students receiving free lunches were in households that did not participate in the Food Stamp Program or in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), even though their income levels were sufficiently low to qualify for benefits.
See http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February07/Findings/National.

Each year, the University of Baltimore Obesity Initiative grades states on their efforts to pass obesity-reducing legislation. This year, for the first time, six states -- California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee -- received A's for their legislative and public-policy work to control obesity in children." www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/01/30/obesity.report/
Researchers in Britain are claiming success with an educational video that relies on peer pressure and role modelling by superhero characters to persuade kids to make healthier food choices. The Food Dudes video stars four pre-adolescent kids who get superpowers from eating fruits and vegetables. The program now in 150 schools in Ireland, targeting about 30,000 children aged two to 11, has doubled the intake of fruit and vegetables and in some cases boosted consumption of such foods by 10 to 14 times, the organizers say.
www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/02/13/food-dudes.html
KidFood Newsletter: Happy, Healthy and Wise High Iron Foods High Iron Snacks Mexican Bean Dip Recipe Spaghetti and Meatballs
View the newsletter here.

I think our 5 minutes is just about up. Send an email to Karen Fitzgerald kfitzger@ksu.edu if you have information you want to include in next month’s KNN email newsletter.
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