Information appears in the following order: Center posts by year, followed by posts from other organizations in alphabetical order. Site navigation tips
The article "Dietary intakes of urban, high body mass index, African American children: family and child dietary attributes predict child intakes", published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior in 2011, describes the relationship between family and child nutrition attributes related to children's dietary intakes.
Fruits and vegetables are essential for the promotion of health and the prevention of chronic disease. Higher intake of fruits and vegetables has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and ischemic strokes —the three leading causes of death in the United States.
Dairy foods are important in a healthy diet—as long as they are lower-fat dairy. Whole-fat dairy products are high in saturated fats, which have been shown to raise blood cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. Whole-fat milk and cheese are among the leading sources of saturated fat in American diets.
When grains are processed or refined, most of the bran and some of the germ are removed, eliminating most of the beneficial parts of the grain. Whole grains, and foods made from them, include the entire germ seed, usually called the kernel, which consists of the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.
Scientific evidence continues to mount supporting the importance of breastfeeding for infants and their mothers. Breastfeeding significantly reduces children’s risk for acute infections and chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and obesity. Breastfeeding also reduces the mother’s risk for type 2 diabetes and breast and ovarian cancers.
The Happy, Healthy & Well (HHW) toolkit was developed for use with child care and early childhood education staff to support adopting healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviors in the child care work environment. Research has shown that staff is more likely promote healthy habits if they have adopted these behaviors themselves. HHW program materials include:
For most children, school is the largest source of meals eaten outside of the home. School food service offers an ideal setting for experiential learning around food for children and for engaging parents in modeling healthy eating habits at home.
The 2007 California Childhood Obesity Conference (CCOC ‘07), held in Anaheim, California, addressed the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic. The primary focus was on prevention strategies aimed at high risk and low-income communities.
The Asian Language Nutrition and Physical Activity Brochures project published a series of culturally sensitive and relevant educational materials that can help immigrant parents understand how they can adapt to a new environment and food supply in a way that will foster the health and welfare of their children.
Since 1993, CANFit has been at the heart of the movement to improve healthy eating and physical activity environments for adolescents. From grassroots to government, CANfit works with community-based and youth-serving organizations to identify local solutions and support the development of culturally competent policy and practices.
