2009 - 2010 healthy foods, healthy lives institute bi-annual report

HEALTHY FOODS,HEALTHY LIVES InstituteBI-ANNUAL REPORT 2009–2010Uniting researchers and the community to find innovative solutions around food and health

GREETINGS FROM THE DIRECTORThe Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives (HFHL) Institute’s first two years were highly formative years that have provided a foundation for the work we have since accomplished. During this time (2007-2009), we established an all-campus advisory board with members from our five formally affiliated units: the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, the Colleges of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, and University Extension. With their help and our initial strategic planning process, the Institute established two research grant programs that initially awarded 10 grants, ranging in size from $50,000-$200,000 per year and totalling $1.5M. The focus of these grants is to encourage novel, interdisciplinary research in our three priority areas of food safety, food policy, and prevention of obesity and chronic disease as well as grants for the development of community-university partnerships to work in the area of food and health. Since this time, interdisciplinary groups receiving grants have represented over 20 university units and community groups. Our energy has also been focused on educating people on food and health issues and building relationships in the community with such activities as co-sponsoring numerous external speakers, participating in CFANS Classes Without Quizzes, co-chairing the U of M Local Foods Task-force, speaking at the BioBusiness Alliance Destination 2025 Food Project meeting, participating in the University’s Food Science and Nutrition Expo, partnering with the University’s Academic Health Center Program for Health Disparities, and helping present an obesity prevention program for the Twin Cities East African immigrant community (attended by over 100 community members).

This past year, our third year, has been a successful one for the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives (HFHL) Institute. The Institute has blossomed. We have honed our mission and vision, expanded our activities and planted seeds that will set the course of our work for the next few years. This year began with the hiring of Kristine Igo as the Institute’s Assis-tant Director, who along with the all-campus advisory board, has been instrumental in determining our strategic direction and accomplishing our many activities. Kristine was also awarded a 2010-2011 Buckman Fellowship for the study and practice of philanthropy, leadership and personal and community improvement. Congratulations Kris!

Our success in convening interested stakeholders around the topic of food and health was rewarded this past year with a number of grants. In collaboration with the Regional Sustainable Development Part-nership (RSDP), we received a grant from the USDA North Central Regional Center for Rural Development to convene a conference on “Re-localizing our foodshed: models and methodologies”. Organized

Mindy Kurzer

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

2 Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute Annual Report 2009-2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS2 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

4 OUR WORK

5 HFHL RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM

Food Policy, Food Safety

Prevention of Diet-Related Chronic Disease and Obesity

7 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GRANTS

9 EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

2009 Symposium

HFHL Co-Sponsored Events

13 PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

14 ADVISORY BOARD

15 FINANCIAL AND GRANTS INFORMATION

FROM THE DIRECTOR

by Kristine, the conference gathered approximately 75 people in the spring to address the issue and learn from keynote speakers Christian Peters of Tufts University and Gail Feenstra of the University of California, Davis. We also received a grant from the University of Minnesota Consortium on Law and Values to develop a Community of Practice on food and health. The grant will assist the HFHL Institute in bringing together groups from multiple sectors (academia, communities, food industry, agriculture, policy makers, etc.) around the common issue of food and health. This is an ongoing project that will carry into next year.

It was also a year of furthering our education and public engagement programming and building relationships. In the fall of 2009, we held the first annual HFHL Symposium: Critical Issues in Research and Public Policy; attended by over 300 people. We co-sponsored many external speakers, as well as the Youth Voices conference, and the 2010 International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity meeting. We also co-sponsored a gathering between university researchers and Minnesota’s Native American community to discuss issues around wild rice, a topic of critical importance to the Native community. We showcased Institute work at the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Living Green Expo, and participated in the Life-Science Alley program “Creating a Culture of Health-Helping People Stay Well,” and the Community Food Security Coalition’s 13th annual conference. We were invited to discuss food and health work being done at the University of Minnesota with Jacques Diouf, Director General of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations as well as the University Senate Committee on Social Concerns and Food Science and Nutrition alumni. Finally, we gladly contributed our food and health knowledge to the development of the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP) Science and Technology Committee’s Grand Challenge Question, to help identify national priorities related to food and health.

I invite you to read about the five HFHL research and community- university partnership grants awarded in 2009-2010, our 2009 fall symposium, and our achievements of the past year featured in this report. Thank you to everyone who has supported the work of the HFHL Institute in the past year, our Advisory Board members, students, staff, grantees and administrators!

21 Advisory Board Members

646 HFHL_Connect Listserv Members

149 HFHL_Student Listserv Members

317 Symposium Participants

19 Community Engagement Grant Outreach

82 Combined Networking Events

10 Executive Board Meetings

4 Advisory Board Meetings

33 Graduate and Undergraduate Students Supported with HFHL Funds

HFHL INSTITUTE 2009-2010 Numbers

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ANNUAL REPORT 2009–2010 3

FROM THE DIRECTOR


Our MissionThe mission of the University of Minnesota Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives (HFHL) Institute is to increase and sustain the University’s impact in the interdisciplinary arena of food, agriculture and health by building the University’s capacity in research, learning and community engagement. The priority areas for focus are food safety, prevention of obesity and chronic disease, and food policy. Within these priority areas, of special importance is the integration of agriculture and health sciences.

Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute at the Minnesota State Fair

OUR HISTORYThe Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Insti-tute was founded in 2007, evolving from a 2003 University of Minnesota Presi-dential Initiative of Robert Bruininks. By the summer of 2007, Dr. Mindy Kurzer, Professor of Nutrition, assumed lead-ership of the Institute and, along with the Institute’s advisory and executive boards, published its first Requests for Proposals. In January 2008, the first round of grant funding was distributed and since then, ten grants and over $1.9 million has been awarded to research and community projects.

Our GoalThe major goal of the HFHL Institute is to utilize and build the strengths of the University of Minnesota in the area of food and health to advance scientific and public knowledge and influence public policy. This will be done by:

> Funding interdisciplinary research teams whose goal is the development and implementation of cutting edge extramurally funded research and training programs;

> Increasing connections and communication among researchers within the University;

> Developing cross-college programs to expand and coordinate teaching in these areas and to provide innovative training and mentoring oppor-tunities for junior faculty, graduate and professional students and high-performing undergraduate students;

> Encouraging transdisciplinary learning, discussion, and problem solving;

> Promoting community/University partnerships to enhance community- based research and to translate University research for the benefit of Minnesota communities and to share knowledge for collaborative problem- solving; and

> Communicating University findings and their impact to the public, law-makers and members of the agricultural, food industry and health sectors.

FUNDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAMS

HFHL RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAMThe HFHL grant program brings together new interdisciplinary teams to perform research using cutting-edge approaches on improtant food and health issues. Two rounds of Requests for Proposals and proposal reviews are conducted each year with a focus on food safety, food policy, prevention of chronic disease and obesity, and building community-university partnernships. All four focus areas have elicited innovative and interdisciplinary projects that represent the diversity and intellectual capacity on campus and in the community.

FOOD POLICY / FOOD SAFETY / PREVENTION OF DIET-RELATED CHRONIC DISEASE AND OBESITY

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15 Total number of proposals submitted

$1,387,475 Total amount requested

$299,044 Total amount granted

STATE LEVEL FOOD SYSTEM INDICATORSRobert P. King (Department of Applied Economics), Molly D. Anderson (Food Systems Integrity, Arlington, MA), David Mulla (Department of Soil, Water and Climate), Mary Story (Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health)

Amount Awarded: $99,050

Timeframe: January 2010 – December 2011

Today’s food system is complex and multifaceted. It affects human health, the environment, and the economy. It is also closely linked to culture and our sense of community. Sound food policy formation requires a robust understanding of the current food system status as well as of the linkages between policy initiatives and changes in the food system. The Wallace Center has recently developed basic framework and set of national indicators for understanding and monitoring the status and performance of the U.S. food system. These indicators are built around the concepts of “healthy, fair, green, and affordable.” However, national indicators have two significant shortcomings. First, they may mask important heterogeneity across regions, states, and communities. Second, with indicators for only a single geographic area, it is not possible to use statistical procedures to assess the reliability and validity of the food system indicators and the conceptual framework that underlies them.

This study will develop a set of state-level food system indicators and collect data on them for all 50 states for the period 1997–2007. It is hypothesized there will be significant variation in food system status across states and over time. It is also hypothesized the “healthy, fair, green, and affordable” framework developed by the Wallace Center is a valid construct for assessing food system status at the state level. After collecting data on 20 to 30 indicators for 50 states over 11 years, researchers will conduct a confirmatory factor analysis designed to assess the validity of the Wallace Center’s “healthy, fair, green, and affordable” framework. We will also assess the stability of the factors and the associated factor loadings that emerge from the analysis. Project outcomes will serve as a valuable resource for policy makers and planners at the state and national levels.

2009 Awards

FUNDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAMS


MOTHER-INFANT FEEDING INTERACTIONS AND INFANT PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: A TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH COLLABORATIONStephanie M. Carlson (Institute of Child Development), Ellen W. Demerath (Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health), Michael K. Georgieff (Center for Neurobehavioral Development)

Co-Investigator: Danielle M. Beck (Department of Psychology, Simpson University)



Obesity is associated with severe health risks and has become an epidemic in many developed nations. The most marked increases in obesity over the last three decades have occurred in children. Research is needed by multidis-ciplinary teams to extend current understanding of links between infant nutrition, maternal perceptions of infant hunger and feeding practices, and the neurocognitive factors associated with obesity, especially in early childhood. The proposed research, spanning three departments and disciplines, aims to develop a valid questionnaire on maternal perceptions of infant hunger and satiety; examine relations between these perceptions/feeding practices and parent attributes including executive function (self-control of thought and action); and investigate a media-tion model in which parent attributes influence infant feeding practices, which in turn influence infant/child growth and weight status and executive function. Preliminary data suggest these links exist, but no prior study has examined these factors in conjunction. The project will take place over a 2-year period and include at least 125 mother-infant dyads. It will have a significant short-term impact on measurement tools available to obesity researchers, offer a novel direction for research on the neurocognitive bases for the development and maintenance of child obesity, and provide a springboard for external funding on a larger scale.

PREVENTING OBESITY IN THE WORKSITE: A MULTI-MESSAGE, MULTI-”STEP” APPROACHJennifer Feenstra Schultz (Department of Economics, UMD) and Lara LaCaille (Department of Psychology, UMD)

Co-Investigators: Rick LaCaille (Department of Psychology, UMD), Ryan Goei (Department of Communication, UMD), Rebecca de Souza (Department of Communication, UMD), Amy Versnik Nowak (Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, UMD)



Over one-third of Americans are now considered obese. Efforts to prevent obe-sity involve changing the individual behaviors that contribute to obesity, mainly healthful eating and physical activity, as well as the social and physical context in which those behaviors take place. Due to their existing networks and available resources, worksites are a logical place to help individuals make healthy choices through health promotion efforts. The purpose of this project is to partner with a community hospital to plan, implement, and evaluate a multi-component obesity prevention program in their workplace. The prevention program will target individual and interpersonal determinants of eating behavior and physical activity, as well as the context in which these behaviors take place. It is hypothesized that simultaneously offering individual tools, providing information and persuasive messaging, and changing the social environment will lead to healthier eating, increased participation in physical activity, and reduced risk for obesity. The established relationship with St. Luke’s hospital, the willingness of their employees to participate in prior research studies, and a corporate culture that is supportive of innovation, offers an ideal environment to test a novel worksite obesity prevention program. This intervention will include four integrated components: (1) nutrition labeling in the worksite cafeteria, (2) distributing pedometers to employees, (3) persuasive media messaging, and (4) the use of “influentials” to address social norms around eating and physical activity behaviors. A quasi-experimental design will examine the effectiveness of this multi-component worksite obesity prevention program.

LITTLE EARTH FOOD JUSTICE AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT Jay Clark (University of MN Center for Neighborhood Organizing) and Lucy Arias (Little Earth of United Tribes)

Co-Investigator: Margaret Kaplan (MN Center for Neighborhood Organizing)


Timeframe: June 2009 – July 2010

The purpose of this project is to improve the health of young children in Little Earth and the surrounding community through a program that combines education and access to healthy food options, traditional foods and food production opportunities. Through early intervention and access, this project hopes to not only reach young children, but also parents and siblings. The aim of this project is to develop community based strategies to address healthy food issues in a manner that is culturally appropriate, sustainable and meaningful to the community. The three specific areas will be improving food options at the Neighborhood Early Learning Center, teaching children about healthy and traditional foods, and creating broader community learning opportunities. The methods utilized for this project will be based on a community organiz-ing model of social change. We will use community learning opportunities and community generated strategies. The significance of this project will be building community capital and skills, creating a more just food environment in Little Earth, and developing a powerful model for replication in other communities.

Laura in the Little Earth Garden

16 Total number of proposals submitted

$764,758 Total amount requested

$84,201 Total amount granted

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GRANTS

2009 Awards

INCREASING CONNECTIONS


HFHL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GRANTS PROGRAMThis unique grant program requires equal involvement in the development of the proposal and leadership from both the community and university, recognizing shared knowledge and expertise between both groups. Propos-als were writtent for a one-year project timeline with the option for a one time request for additional funding.

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DEFINING THE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR REGION: REALITIES AND POTENTIALS FOR A HEALTHY LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM FOR HEALTHY PEOPLEStacey Stark, (Geographic Information Sciences Lab, University of Minnesota Duluth) and David Abazs (Round River Farm, Finland, MN)

Co-Investigators: David Syring (Department of Anthropology, UMD), Gayle Nikolai (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation), Mike Mageau (Environmental Studies, UMD)


Timeframe: May 2009 - June 2010

This research will describe the agricultural landscape of a fourteen county area in Northeast Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin, including its capacity to provide food for the regional population based on the Standard American Diet (SAD) as well as a “regional pattern” diet. Community farmer interest and collaborations to explore the capacity of the region to produce food, based on local definitions of workable land, spawned the University involvement. The University expertise in this proposal includes ethnographic interviewing, geographic information systems data development and analysis, and community economic analysis. The outcomes of this work will provide a research-based assessment of the current food system; including community supported agriculture, livestock producers, wild food harvesters and commercial growers. A “regional pattern” diet will be conceptualized, which will be used to analyze the impact that a shift in local foods eating would have on the collective physical and economic health of the region in contrast to the SAD. The model for this regional diet will be explored in collaboration with tribal groups, who provide the historical precedent for what a regional diet could look like, and who conduct significant educational work related to the negative health impacts of the SAD diet on the health of indigenous populations in the region. The producers and supporters collaborating in this effort emphasize that information about the capacity of this region to produce food and to meet consumers’ needs is vital to integrate local food systems into the long term sustainability of this region.


Stark and Abazs

Participants with a mixture of expertise, backgrounds, and opinions gathered on September 21, 2009, to demonstrate their interest in the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute’s interdisciplinary approach to examining food, health, and policy issues. The Institute set, and achieved its goal, of a Symposium that generated exciting and fruitful discussion by hosting informed participants from diverse sectors and disciplines to gather around the most pressing conversations in the food policy world.

Fifteen speakers provided their expert research and practical experience to lead discussions on the healthiness of processed foods, agricultural practices on food quality and nutrient density, diet versus drugs for obesity treatment, the effects of soft drinks on increasing obesity, and the affects on human health from antibiotic use in animals. Dr. Barry M. Popkin from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, delivered the keynote speech entitled “New dynamics of US and Global Shifts in Diet and Body Composition: The World is Fat.” In his speech, Dr. Popkin noted that overweight and obesity is the biggest growing nutrition problem. In the last six decades, the population’s activity level has decreased while diets have experienced increased consumption in high-caloric beverages (2/3rds of the population’s added sugar has come from beverages) and increased snacking. In lower-income countries, the consumption of edible oils, animal products, ultra-processed foods, and refined carbohydrates have increased. Other contributing factors include the decreased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and legumes, larger portion sizes, and an increased fre-quency of snacking. As a result, over the past couple of decades the average caloric intake has increased by a couple hundred calories. Finally, he noted, globalization with the help of technology has increased the speed of food product distribution across the world.

“The evolution of processed foods and opportunities for improving health” was the theme of the second session and featured speaker Dr. Eric Decker from the University of Massa-chusetts, Amerherst, panelists David Wallinga from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Phil Minerich from Hormel Foods, and was moderated by Dr. Ted Labuza from the University of Minnesota Department of Food Science and Nutrition. In his talk, Dr. Decker noted that we need to be careful with the term “processed foods” and what it really means because processed foods can be a way of improving heath and producing enough food to meet everyone’s nutritional needs. Food manufacturers will play a critical role in feeding the world, and they, along with policy planners, must be practical in how to feed the population, ensuring processed foods are economical and widely availability, and matching consumer lifestyles. He also emphasized the importance of nutrition recom-mendations being based on strong science to avoid consumer confusion.

The last session of the morning discussed the health implications of organic agriculture. “Getting to the root of food quality: The influence of agriculture system practices on the nutrient density of organic foods” was presented by session speaker Dr. Alyson Mitchell from the University of California, Davis and was followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr. Carl J. Rosen from the University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water and Climate and Francisco Diez-Gonzalez from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Food Science and Nutrition. The session was moderated by Gary M. Gardner from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Horticultural Sciences.


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ENCOURAGING TRANSDISCIPLINARY LEARNING, DISCUSSION, AND PROBLEM SOLVING

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIESTHE FIRST ANNUAL HEALTHY FOODS, HEALTHY LIVES SYMPOSIUM: CRITICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH AND POLICY

Dr. Mindy Kurzer

Dr. George Bray

Processed foods panel discussion

continued on page 10

Over lunch, a distinguished panel gathered to discuss “Diet vs. Drugs for Obesity Treatment.” Dr. Charles Billington from the University’s Department of Medi-cine, Dean Allen Levine from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and Barry Popkin comprised the panel that was moderated by Marilyn Nanney of the University’s Department of of Family Medicine and Community Health.

The afternoon block began with a discussion on the impacts of fructose on diets. “Evidence relating soft drinks to obesity: it’s a matter of fructose” was presented by session speaker Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The panel discussion featured Dr. Howard Towle from the University’s Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics; Dr. James Rippe Director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute; and was moderated by Charles Billington.

The final session of the day was featured a conversation on the impacts of antibiotic use in animals. Session speaker Dr. Rebecca Irwin from the Public Health Agency of Canada presented her research titled “Does antibiotic use in animals affect human health?” In her session presentation, Dr. Irwin noted that antibiotic press coverage can get very inflammatory considering there is a very complex system of antimicrobial resistance on which this information is based. From a public health stand point, she encouraged greater scrutiny of when and how the microbials are being used, because they are valuable agents for treating humans and animals and practitioners need to be careful to preserve their effectiveness.

The panel discussion featured Dr. Randall Singer from the University’s Department of Epidemiology, Dr. Satish Gupta from the University’s Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, and was moderated by Dr. Craig Hedberg from the University’s School of Public Health.

The Institute’s inaugural fall symposium was attended by 300 participants comprised of researchers, industry, policy, and student participants. They agreed the Symposium provided valuable information and a framework for how they approach their research and contributions to the food and health system. Happily, they would plan to attend next year.


ENCOURAGING TRANSDISCIPLINARY LEARNING, DISCUSSION, AND PROBLEM SOLVING

HEALTHY LIVES SYMPOSIUM (continued)

REARCH AND NETWORKING EVENTSThe Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute considers its role as a connector of researchers and ideas an important one.

Two University events were held during the 2009-2010 year to foster researcher collaboration—a University & Community Researchers Fall Networking Event and a Faculty & Student Spring Networking Event. After our Spring Community-University grant RFP was released in March, a Community Engagement Grant Forum was held at the University Research and Outreach Center to bring together interested community groups, answer their questions about the RFP, and to help them find University partners. Thirteen diverse community groups attended this event and of those attending, 6 grant proposals were generated and submitted for HFHL funding.

On October 25, HFHL sponsored a student leadership luncheon, attended by 75 (mostly graduate) students representing a vareity of University disciplines. Following the luncheon, an active student working group, composed of approximately 150 students from 12 disciplines formed its own cohort and remain involved via the HFHL student listserv. The students also self-organized an “Open Conver-sation Forum” with Jean Ronnei, Director of Nutrition and Commercial Services for St. Paul Public Schools.


PROMOTING COMMUNITY/UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS

In March 2010, the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute co-hosted a symposium and workshop to address the growing interest in regionalizing the American food system. To achieve such a large goal, HFHL and the Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (RSDP) convened this gathering as a catalyst for the needed planning, modeling, and research that would be needed to implement this major infrastructure reconfiguration. The American land-grant university system was originally established to assist the public in conducting this sort of work, and being part of the University of Minnesota land-grant system, the Institute brought together faculty, staff, visiting experts, and community partners to discuss the novel models and methodologies needed to realize a food system that would meet the public’s need and interest.

The symposium attracted a diverse group of enthusiasts to begin work on a comprehensive food system plan. Over 80 people registered for the event, including participants from seven regional and coastal states and 13 different University of Minnesota disciplines ranging in expertise from Geography and Landscape Architecture, Applied Economics, Anthropology, and Conservation Biology. By the end of the two-day event, participants had articulated and proposed the following needs and ideas for future collaboration on foodshed activities:

> Conceptually mapping different food goals and values in a way that helps people understand how the food system works and how they relate to various parts and processes of the food system.

> Finding and utilizing established data sets.

> Discussing and brainstorming about how we creatively rebuild the “middle infrastructure” of a regional food system.

> Development or working groups and partnerships between existing local foods work and researchers in Minnesota (similar to Iowa model).

> Assessing the connection between conducting food shed/system assessments and mobilizing communities and policymakers. Learning more about how Food Policy Councils use this information.

> Locating funding for regular assessments.

Happily, one of the community members who presented at the workshop, David Abazs, subsequently applied for the University of Minnesota Endowed Chair in Food Systems and was awarded a one year fellowship for 2011 and will be working on foodshed planning and analysis among other projects.

EVENTS CO-SPONSORED BY THE HFHL INSTITUTERE-LOCALIZING OUR FOODSHED CONFERENCE MARCH 15 & 16, 2010 Co-Investigator and project coordinator with the Regional Sustainable Development PartnershipsUniversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities

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PROMOTING COMMUNITY/UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS

As the University of Minnesota’s leader on food and health issues, the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute was asked by the University of Minnesota Extension program to help develop a half-day program on food and health issues for the Midwest Land Grant Administrators Conference held in July. The conference theme addressed how the American food system is influencing human health. HFHL developed a program that brought together University and community experts to discuss the current food system and its intersection with human health as well as featured HFHL as a model for how land-grant institutions can support food and health related activities and research. The goal of the conference was to gather and support academic and community partners in bringing forward unique models and methodoligies to improve human health through land-grant institutional efforts.

People Protecting Manoomin: Manoomin Protecting People: A Symposium Bridging Opposing World ViewsAugust 25 - 27, 2009 | Mahnomen, MN

Sponsor

An event hosted by reservation communities of the Upper Midwest and the University of Minnesota to explore a “mutual understanding” of the significance of wild rice. The symposium examined the role of wild rice in Anishinaabe culture, the threats to wild rice in the future, and the possibilities and risks of genetically engineered wild rice.

Designing Garden-based Programs for Children and Youth— Youth Voices ConferenceOctober 2010 | Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Co-Sponsor

Tending the Land of Our Grandchildren | 2010 Larson-Allmaras Lecture in Soil and WaterApril 2010 | Dr. Henry Janzen, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lethbridge, Alberta

Co-Sponsor

The Future of Grains in School | Grains for Health Foundation ConferenceJune 2010

Co-sponsor and planning team

University of Minnesota Department of Food Science and Nutrition Annual Alumni EventJune 2010

Co-Sponsor and presenter

International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual MeetingJune 2010 | Minneapolis

Co-Sponsor

NORTH CENTRAL REGION MINI LAND GRANT CONFERENCE JULY 2010


PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONSSharing findings from HFHL funded research is a critical component of the Institute’s work. Below is a select list of article, presentation, and publication contributions by HFHL researchers to the Institute’s goal of advancing scientific and public knowledge and informing public policy as it relates to food and health.

Contentious food issues topic of U of M health symposiumby Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio, September 21, 2009 MPR featured a preview of the 2009 Healthy Foods, Healty Lives Institute fall conference

U studies shift focus to communities: Two new research projects work to engage the community as well as learn about healthy eating.MN Daily, 6/16/2009, by Casey Merkwan Feature article on HFHL “Defining the Agricultural Land-scape of the Western Lake Superior Region” and “Little Earth Food Justice and Youth Empowerment Project.”

Locally Adapted Food System for the Western Lake Superior RegionNorth Central Land Grant Administrators Conference Grantee project report by Stacey Stark, Director of Geo-graphic Information Sciences Laboratory, University of Minnesota Duluth, and David Abazs, Owner of Round River Farm & Renewables

Adequacy of Federal School Lunch Reimbursement AdjustmentsChoices Magazine, 3rd Quarter 2009 24 (3) Koel Ghosh and Benjamin Senauer

Local view: Can our region feed itself?Editorial, David Abazs Duluth News Tribune, 11/13/2009

Changes in overweight status among very young children: Recent longitudinal findings from national US data on toddlers and preschoolers Poster presentation at the Minneapolis meetings of the International Society on Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, June 2010. Judy A. Temple, Christopher Moore, and Jayne Fulkerson.

Institutional and Consumer Decision-making in the Hospital Setting: An Evaluation of a Healthy Food Practices ModelProject Presentation at the American Public Health As-sociation Annual Meeting, November 2010.

Little Earth Food Justice and Youth Empowerment ProjectState Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Community Leadership Team Presentation, October 2009

Composting on Small FarmsFact Sheet published online by the College of Vetrinary Population Medecine Department, University of Minnesota. A publication of the Microbial Ecology and Factors that Influence the Occurrence of Foodborne Pathogens in Fresh Vegetables research project

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* Sara A. Axtell, PhDCommunity-Campus Health Outreach Liaison

Jeff B. Bender, DVMVeterinary Public Health Director, Center for Animal Health and Food Safety

* Charles J. Billington, MDMedicine Associate Director, MN Obesity Center

Vincent A. Fritz, PhDHorticultural Science Southern Research and Outreach Center

Daniel D. Gallaher, PhDNutrition

* Gary G. Gardner, PhDHorticultural Science

Craig W. Hedberg, PhDEnvironmental Health Sciences

Richard Isaacson, PhDVeterinary and Biomedical Sciences

* Robert W. Jeffery, PhDDivision of Epidemiology and Community Health Director, UMN Obesity Prevention Center

Shaun P. KennedyVeterinary Population Medicine Director, National Center for Food Protection and Defense

Director of Partnerships and External Relations, College of Veterinary Medicine

Jean Kinsey, PhDApplied Economics Director, The Food Industry Center

MaryJo Kreitzer, PhD, RNDirector, Center for Spirituality and Healing

* Theodore P. Labuza, Ph.DFood Science and Engineering

Alex J. Lange, PhDMedicine and Biochemistry Molecular Biology and Biophysics

* Melissa Nelson Laska, PhD, RDDivision of Epidemiology and Community Health

Marilyn “Susie” Nanney, PhD, RDFamily Medicine and Community Health

Carl J. Rosen, PhDSoil, Water and Climate Horticultural Science

C. Ford Runge, PhDDistinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics

Randall Singer, DVM, PhDVeterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Jamie S. Stang, PhD, MPH, RDDivision of Epidemiology and Community Health

Mary T. Story, PhD, RDDivision of Epidemiology and Community Health

* Executive Committee Members

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Re-Localizing Our Foodshed: New Models and Methodologies for Planning Our Food Future

Symposium funding by North Central Region Center for Rural Development

Funding received: $17,210 (2010)

Kathy Draeger, Principal Investigator

Mindy Kurzer, Co-Investigator

Kristine Igo, Conference Organizer Event Partners:

Department of Agronomy & Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota

Department of Geography, University of Minnesota

Department of Health, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences, North Dakota State University

Dickinson Research Extension Center, North Dakota State University

GIS Lab, University of Minnesota

Leopold Center, Iowa State University

Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, University of Minnesota

School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

University of California, Davis

Tufts University

Creating a Community of Practice to Address the Affects of our Food System on Human Health Funding Funded by the University of Minnesota Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences

First year funding received: $36,978

Mindy Kurzer, Principal Investigator

Kristine Igo, Project Lead

Robin Schow, MPH Candidate, Student Research Assistant Event Partners:

College of St. Benedict’s School of Nutrition

Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota

Duluth Superior Grown

Extension, University of Minnesota

Family Medicine & Community Health, School of Public Health

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

National Center for Food Protection and Defense

HEALTHY FOODS, HEALTHY LIVES FISCAL YEAR BREAKDOWN

FINANCIALS

GRANTS RECEIVED

THANK YOU to the following organizations for their grant support, expanding the Institute’s capacity and scope of its work.

61% 23% 12%

4%Community of Practice Project *

0.2%Sponsorship

Community-University Partnership Grants

Administration **Research (New & Existing)

FY10 EXPENSES: $819,035

* Community of Practice Project funded by the University of Minnesota Consortium on Law & Values** Administration expenses include all non-research Institute annual expenses

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2009 - 2010 healthy foods, healthy lives institute bi-annual report

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