Objective: Describe lay food group categories of low-income African American women and assess the overlap of lay food groups and MyPyramid food groups. Design: A convenience sample of African American mothers from a low-income Chicago neighborhood performed a card-sorting task in which they grouped familiar food items into food groups. Setting:…

College students are a generally healthy lot. But as they grow heavier each year, reflecting the national rise in obesity rates, campus officials are trying to promote healthier habits--and, they hope, mitigate the impact of a sobering trend. More than one-third of college students have a body-mass index, the main measurement for obesity, that…

Ideas to aid the classroom teacher include integration of emphasis on reading into health education; definitions pertinent to contemporary health education; teaching students to read food labels; identification of implications of scientific advances such as test tube reproduction; and a card game to teach food groups to middle school children.…

The Health Habits Inventory was completed at two time intervals by 71 nursing and 83 other students. Nursing students scored higher in health habits and improved significantly over 2 years, especially in such behaviors as eating breakfast, performing self-exams, reading food labels, wearing seatbelts, and exercising. (SK)

Consumers in two studies (n=374 and 500) were surveyed regarding their nutrition knowledge and the information on food labels. Validity of the survey instrument was supported by comparing results from professional nutritionists and dietitian students. Knowledge level was an important factor in consumer comprehension of and attitudes toward label…

Health professionals can work to correct common misconceptions through nutrition and fitness education and sharing information and resources to provide consistent public messages. The article discusses the impact of the media, food labels, and the Fuel for Fitness program, encouraging teamwork to ensure proper communication of diet and exercise…

This integrated unit focuses on healthy hearts and how to use exercise and nutrition to be "heart smart" for life. The unit includes activities on heart function, exercise, workouts, family activities, nutrition, cholesterol, and food labels. The activities help develop research techniques, thinking skills, and cooperative learning…

Provides information on food nutrition labels and discusses the benefits of adolescents' using them to plan healthy diets. Suggests that teachers and educators should encourage appropriate label reading education for adolescents to promote healthy eating practices. Provides definitions of nutrient content claims. (SG)

This fact sheet on blood cholesterol examines the connection between cholesterol and heart disease, lists risk factors for heart disease that can and cannot be controlled, points out who can benefit from lowering blood cholesterol, distinguishes between blood and dietary cholesterol, describes low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein…

This set of inquiry lessons is adaptable for middle school through high school life science or biology classrooms and will help meet the NSTA scientific inquiry position statement (2004) and the AAAS benchmarks (1993) and NRC standards (1996; 2000) related to health and food literacy. The standards require adolescents to examine their own diet and…

This booklet of teacher-developed and teacher-tested activities and strategies draws upon the curriculum areas of language arts, mathematics and social studies. Though prepared for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students, the material is adaptable for primary grades and can be used for group activities or as individual task cards. Activity sheets…

The document is a learning package on purchasing food, designed for use by instructors in adult consumer-homemaking programs. The target population is adults in socioeconomically disadvantaged inner city and rural areas. The four units are: shopping tips for food, labels for food, grades of food, and brands for food. The units may be used together…

Objective: Between January and September 2006, the authors examined when, why, if, and how nutrition labels impact food purchase decisions of college students. Participants: Participants were 16 college-aged students at a large northeastern university. Methods: As part of a larger study undertaken at a large northeastern university on the effect…

The objective of this study was to evaluate preschool teachers' attitudes towards nutrition labels. A sample of 154 preschool teachers was surveyed to determine their label-reading behaviours and knowledge. A total of 71.5% of the preschool teachers reported that they read food labels when purchasing food items (i.e. rather often or sometimes).…

The purpose of this article is to review relevant background literature and research regarding the evidence linking high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mercury, and the increased incidence of autism among the population in the United States. Results of review suggest that rigorous scientific studies need to be performed to conclusively identify the…