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Making the case:
sustainability and
public health
Medical importance
of food policy
June 2011
Real
Food
Eat
Real
Real
People
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
Reducing
Food Waste
Schools
Virginia Tech
Food Waste
Audit
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
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 –
•
$200 of produce rots in
the refrigerator vegetable
bin [per family per year]
•
avoid over purchase
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.
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.
Fleury. Int J Biometeorology (2006) 50:385-91
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
•
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
•
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
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
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
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.
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
[email protected]
@
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.