Bolstering Nutrition Security: Public Health Strategies That Promote Healthier Food Environments

Overview:

This is a recording of a webinar on March 22, 2024.

Poor nutrition is associated with early disease and death in the United States due to the increased risk for diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. While poor nutrition can affect anyone, not all Americans have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food. This talk will cover evidence-based nutrition interventions that are part of state and community efforts to improve nutrition security. The webinar will touch on nutrition standards within early care and education (childcare), food banks and pantries, as well as food service guidelines that can be used in parks and recreation, worksites, hospitals, and other community settings. The webinar will also discuss community fruit and vegetable programs, including voucher incentives and Produce Prescription programs to help individuals become more food secure and help support chronic disease self-management. CDC’s web resources, such as Data, Trends, Maps, and its State and Community Media Center, which hosts nutrition content for reaching consumer audiences, will be provided.

Heidi Michels Blanck, Ph.D., (Retired, Captain USPHS), Branch Chief, Obesity Prevention and Control, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Blanck serves as CDC’s Chief of Community Nutrition and Obesity Prevention and Control. In this capacity, she supports teams working on national and state nutrition and obesity surveillance, applied research, and technical assistance to state and local partners to improve health and nutrition security through early childcare and education (ECE) programs, nutrition standards, fruit and vegetable community programs, and family healthy weight programs to support healthy child growth.  Dr. Blanck also supports research-practitioner partnerships, including the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) and the National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR). Dr. Blanck received her Ph.D. in Nutrition and Health Science from Emory University and her M.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Identify evidence-based nutrition interventions to improve nutritional security.
• Explain the use of nutrition standards and food service guidelines in a variety of settings.
• Promote community food and vegetable programs that can help individuals become more food secure and help support chronic disease self-management.
• Locate web-based resources with nutrition content aimed at reaching consumer audiences.

CERTIFICATE: The course contains two modules: a module to access the webinar and an evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.