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Nutrition and Physical Activity Blog

Sara Lee made their own version of GDA

Jan 8

Posted by Morten in Food labeling | Comments off

On January 6’th 2009 Sara Lee, a North American Bakery, launched their new labels to help consumers make food choices. The GDA / DV like graphics with key nutrition information is called Nutritional Spotlight. And it will appear on all of its bread, bun and bagel products beginning in January.

There are some interesting differences you may want to notice:
1) On their webpage the stated: “The percentage for sugars is not listed because the % daily value has not been established.” Nice to know that not all food industry believe we need 90 grams of sugar daily.
2) They include grams of whole grain. Good news!
3) It seems that they don’t bring %DV for calories. Also very good news!
And in their press release they wrote that folic acid will also be included.

It is not very consumer friendly if food companies each make their own version of GDA as they please.

Oats and Health webpage

Jan 8

Posted by Morten in Whole grains | Comments off

The Nordic research project GRAINITY has been established this website on Oats and Health.

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‘Real Food Is’ – Video Contest

Jan 8

Posted by Morten in School nutrition, Video | Comments off

Create a short video that completes the phrase ‘Real Food is’ and you can win $1,000 for your school food project. The video should inform, inspire, and/or encourage student advocacy to restore connections to community, food, land, and place through Farm to Cafeteria programs.

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New York State will change the WIC program quickly

Jan 8

Posted by Morten in Fruits and vegetables, Whole grains | Comments off

The changed include whole grain bread and cereals, and fres, frosen and canned vegetables and fruits. All US states will only be required to meet new Women, Infants and Children food program requirements by October 2010.

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The built environment, climate change, and health: opportunities for co-benefits

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Environment, Policy | Comments off

Researchers from National Center for Environmental Health at CDC in the US found that working across sectors to incorporate a health promotion approach in the design and development of built environment components may mitigate climate change, promote adaptation, and improve public health.

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Validity and Repeatability of Physical Activity Questionnaire Data

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Physical Activity | Comments off

The researchers from Australia examined whether self-reported confidence in recall of PA was a predictor of the validity and retest reliability of PA measuret by an EPIC and tge IPAQ questionaires. 97 men and 80 women completed 2 questionnaires and wore an accelerometer as an objective comparison measure. Confidence ratings could be useful as indicators of recall accuracy (ie, validity and repeatability) of physical activity measures, and possibly for detecting differential measurement error and identifying questionnaire items that require improvement.

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Motivational signage increases PA on a college campus

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

A signage intervention increased PA by 18.6% on a college campus by providing educational health tips that may have served as motivation to choose the stairs. Authors observed 18,389 ascending trips during the 3 weeks of the study.

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Neighborhood Greenness and 2-Year Changes in BMI af kids

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

3831 kids aged 3–16 years who lived at the same address for 24 consecutive months in Indiana were follwed. Greenness may present a target for environmental approaches to preventing child obesity since higher greenness was significantly associated with lower BMI z-scores regardless of residential density characteristics. This study will be published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine in December.

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Designing residential environments for optimal PA

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Environment | Comments off

This is a study of walkability of local build environment in 898 zones in Canada.

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Chilean school-based obesity intervention effective

Jan 7

Posted by Morten in Playgrounds, School nutrition | Comments off

The intervention included activities in nutrition and physical activity, fully applied the first year and partially in the second one. Obesity declined significantly only in boys during the first year.

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