- Email: [email protected]
Public Health Nutrition, From Principles to Practice
New Resources for Nutrition Educators BOOK Public Health Nutrition, From Principles to Practice. Edited by Lawrence M and Worsley T, 2007. McGraw-Hill, England, www.openup. co.uk, softcover textbook, 492 pp., $63.95, ISBN-13: 978 033522320. The 18 chapters of this book fall under the section headings ‘‘Principles,’’ ‘‘Populations,’’ ‘‘Priorities,’’ and ‘‘Practice’’; each section is preceded by an overview. The 44 authors and 18 referees are primarily Australian or European, and the editors are from the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Contributing authors were asked to ‘‘promote an analytical approach that would challenge the reader to think critically and gain deeper insights into topics to help identify and work towards practical solutions for public health nutrition challenges.’’ This book provides a comprehensive survey of the wide breadth of topics captured under public health nutrition. The authors meet their goal of promoting an analytical approach, and they give readers insights into public health problems; however, it would have been helpful if they had provided more in the way of practical tools and examples of solutions. The strong focus on the foundation of public health nutrition makes the text suitable as a supplement to an introductory course in public health. It defines the core functions for public health nutrition based on workforce development research conducted in Australia in the early 2000s. These core functions, which include research and analysis, building capacity, and intervention management, allow students entering this discipline to understand where to focus their atten-
tion. By defining the skill set of successful public health nutritionists and addressing concepts, guiding principles, research gaps, and priorities at both regional and international levels, the book provides a future-oriented direction and lays the groundwork for the types of challenges (eg, food insecurity, obesity, chronic disease) that practitioners in this field may encounter. The strength of this book is its broad overview of public health nutrition. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring the food and nutrition situations in vulnerable population groups and notes the costs and disadvantages associated with inadequate information. The chapters on research skills, professional practice, and project management with an emphasis on evaluation, along with a chapter on nutrition promotion and communication, will be valuable to students of public health nutrition. Nutrition policy development and the assessment of physical activity also are covered.
Inclusion of any material in this section does not imply endorsement by the Society for Nutrition Education. Evaluative comments contained in the reviews reflect the views of the authors. Review abstracts are either prepared by the reviewer or extracted from the product literature. Prices quoted are those provided by the publishers at the time materials were submitted. They may not be current when the review is published. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2009;41:73-75 Ó2009 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 41, Number 1, 2009
A weakness of the book is that it too broadly defines its audience. The editors intended the book for public health practitioners, researchers, and administrators; students of nutrition, dietetics, and public health; and professionals seeking advanced/specialized competencies in public health nutrition. However, it seems more appropriate as a college text for undergraduate students in public health nutrition and falls short in meeting the needs of established practitioners. Its introductory concepts do not provide the level of detail that would be beneficial to experienced professionals. Although there are no chapters devoted to the functions and dietary sources of nutrients, some of the content is similar to that in basic nutrition textbooks in terms of populations at risk of nutrition problems (mothers, infants, children, adolescents, and older adults) and some basic nutrition issues (obesity, disadvantaged communities, changes in the food system, nutrition monitoring, and physical activity). Readers seeking to find more current information and innovative solutions to nutrition problems may be disappointed. Nevertheless, what may be new to readers is the holistic approach to potential solutions that involves building community and organizational capacity as well as managing interventions and determining their efficacy. For example, one of the core functions of public health nutritionists is described as promoting ‘‘equitable access to safe and healthy food so that healthy choices are easy choices’’ (eg, point-of-sale information promotions and lowering food prices). Missing from this text is a practical discussion of food sustainability as a means to ease shortfalls in food and nutrients and improve health, as well as discussion of the relationships of the food system to global warming and fuel shortages or the impact of fuel costs on food costs and accessibility. The writing is uneven, as might be expected with so many authors; some of the writing is crisp and clear, and some is difficult to read and has repetitive wording. In several places, public
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Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 41, Number 1, 2009
health nutrition is referred to as a relatively new and emerging discipline. Although this may be true in Australia and perhaps elsewhere, this is not the case in the United States, where practitioners have been working in this arena for many decades. Jean Pennington, PhD, RD, and Rachel Fisher, MS, MPH, RD, Division of Nutrition Research Coordination, National Institutes of Health, 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Room 629, Bethesda, MD 20892-5461. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2008.08.001
CURRICULA Teen Parents, Curriculum for Pregnant Teens. University of MissouriColumbia Extension Publications, 2800 Maguire Blvd, Columbia, MO 65211, [email protected]. Curriculum $18, 10 newsletters $6, Take a Taste for You and Your Baby Recipe Cards $2. Pdf free download at http://extension. missouri.edu/explorepdf/hesguide/food nut/n00714.pdf. Accessed November 13, 2008. Teen Parents, a 12-week curriculum, provides practice and discussion of nutrition and health for pregnant and parenting teens and their babies. Teen Parents focuses on how to be healthy during pregnancy and how to deliver a healthy baby. Interactive activities help teens learn to make important feeding decisions for their infants and young children, plan meals, shop for food, keep food safe, and access community resources. Although teen pregnancy trends have declined in the past decade, the outcomes of teen pregnancy are often negative. The need for strategies and programs working to decrease pregnant teens’ greater risk for mental and physical health issues holds steadfast. The Teen Parents curriculum addresses specific health and nutrition topics relevant to the needs of this population in an effort to improve their health and well-being. Authors used the National Health Education Standards as well as the State of Missouri Education Standards as a basis for developing the curriculum and selected specific performance indicators to ensure learning. The 12 Teen Parents lesson plans are well organized and include at least
one knowledge objective and one behavioral objective, an outline of steps for completing the lesson, core and additional activities that reinforce lesson objectives, taste-testing activities, and a sidebar that indicates supplies needed, pertinent student handouts, suggested teacher references, and advanced preparation steps. During the first lesson, participants engage in a short icebreaker and then discuss the community resources available to meet their needs. In the following weeks, new parents and pregnant teens learn about MyPyramid; special nutrient needs; discomforts during pregnancy; risks associated with drug, alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco use; breastfeeding; feeding young children and toddlers; comparing nutritional and economic values of food; and food safety. Lesson outlines are easy to follow. The lessons are organized in a logical progression but could be easily rearranged in order of relevance to teens. Instructors also could choose to focus on select lessons instead of all 12. Individual lessons include instructions for a brief review of the previous week, directive statements and relevant points, and potential questions to generate discussion. It ends with a review of the new material. However, it is unclear how long each lesson and its individual components should take to implement. Handouts and visual aids are included as references for all 12 lessons. Each core activity includes a clearly defined purpose, lists pertinent
handouts, and describes advanced preparation and supplies needed. The activities are creative and appropriately reinforce lesson objectives. Students work in groups to help build social support and self-efficacy. Many of the activities require minimal advanced preparation, such as cutting trivia cards or assembling activity cards. The taste-testing activities call for more advanced preparation, and instructors should be prepared to provide food, ingredients, and equipment. Recipe cards offer simple, economical breakfast, snack, main dish, soup, side dish, and dessert ideas— some that are kid-specific. The cards provide preparation time, number of servings, and nutrition information. Also included in the set of recipe cards are cooking tip cards that explain how to cook fruits and vegetables in the microwave and emergency substitutions. Core curriculum materials include the 12-lesson curriculum, pertinent student handouts that are organized to coincide with lesson instructions, recipe cards, some teacher references, and the color, bi- and tri-fold Teen Parent newsletters. Several lessons reference optional supplemental videos that need to be purchased from an outside source. Overall, the Teen Parent curriculum is a comprehensive resource and would benefit educators looking for materials and activities to educate parenting and pregnant teens. It is flexible enough to stand alone or to be integrated into an existing curriculum to fulfill national or state education standards. Leigh Ann Edwards, MPH, RD, Manager, Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline, 1730 M Street, NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2007.07.005 Growing Food, An Inquiry-Based Science and Nutrition Program. Koch P, Barton AC, and Contento IR, 2007. Teachers College Columbia University and the National Gardening Association, www.kidsgardening. org. Curriculum for grades 4-6, softcover book, 256 pp., $34.95, ISBN 978-0-915873-47-0. In this inquiry-based curriculum, you and your students embark on an exciting
tion. By defining the skill set of successful public health nutritionists and addressing concepts, guiding principles, research gaps, and priorities at both regional and international levels, the book provides a future-oriented direction and lays the groundwork for the types of challenges (eg, food insecurity, obesity, chronic disease) that practitioners in this field may encounter. The strength of this book is its broad overview of public health nutrition. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring the food and nutrition situations in vulnerable population groups and notes the costs and disadvantages associated with inadequate information. The chapters on research skills, professional practice, and project management with an emphasis on evaluation, along with a chapter on nutrition promotion and communication, will be valuable to students of public health nutrition. Nutrition policy development and the assessment of physical activity also are covered.
Inclusion of any material in this section does not imply endorsement by the Society for Nutrition Education. Evaluative comments contained in the reviews reflect the views of the authors. Review abstracts are either prepared by the reviewer or extracted from the product literature. Prices quoted are those provided by the publishers at the time materials were submitted. They may not be current when the review is published. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2009;41:73-75 Ó2009 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 41, Number 1, 2009
A weakness of the book is that it too broadly defines its audience. The editors intended the book for public health practitioners, researchers, and administrators; students of nutrition, dietetics, and public health; and professionals seeking advanced/specialized competencies in public health nutrition. However, it seems more appropriate as a college text for undergraduate students in public health nutrition and falls short in meeting the needs of established practitioners. Its introductory concepts do not provide the level of detail that would be beneficial to experienced professionals. Although there are no chapters devoted to the functions and dietary sources of nutrients, some of the content is similar to that in basic nutrition textbooks in terms of populations at risk of nutrition problems (mothers, infants, children, adolescents, and older adults) and some basic nutrition issues (obesity, disadvantaged communities, changes in the food system, nutrition monitoring, and physical activity). Readers seeking to find more current information and innovative solutions to nutrition problems may be disappointed. Nevertheless, what may be new to readers is the holistic approach to potential solutions that involves building community and organizational capacity as well as managing interventions and determining their efficacy. For example, one of the core functions of public health nutritionists is described as promoting ‘‘equitable access to safe and healthy food so that healthy choices are easy choices’’ (eg, point-of-sale information promotions and lowering food prices). Missing from this text is a practical discussion of food sustainability as a means to ease shortfalls in food and nutrients and improve health, as well as discussion of the relationships of the food system to global warming and fuel shortages or the impact of fuel costs on food costs and accessibility. The writing is uneven, as might be expected with so many authors; some of the writing is crisp and clear, and some is difficult to read and has repetitive wording. In several places, public
73
74 Barale
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 41, Number 1, 2009
health nutrition is referred to as a relatively new and emerging discipline. Although this may be true in Australia and perhaps elsewhere, this is not the case in the United States, where practitioners have been working in this arena for many decades. Jean Pennington, PhD, RD, and Rachel Fisher, MS, MPH, RD, Division of Nutrition Research Coordination, National Institutes of Health, 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Room 629, Bethesda, MD 20892-5461. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2008.08.001
CURRICULA Teen Parents, Curriculum for Pregnant Teens. University of MissouriColumbia Extension Publications, 2800 Maguire Blvd, Columbia, MO 65211, [email protected]. Curriculum $18, 10 newsletters $6, Take a Taste for You and Your Baby Recipe Cards $2. Pdf free download at http://extension. missouri.edu/explorepdf/hesguide/food nut/n00714.pdf. Accessed November 13, 2008. Teen Parents, a 12-week curriculum, provides practice and discussion of nutrition and health for pregnant and parenting teens and their babies. Teen Parents focuses on how to be healthy during pregnancy and how to deliver a healthy baby. Interactive activities help teens learn to make important feeding decisions for their infants and young children, plan meals, shop for food, keep food safe, and access community resources. Although teen pregnancy trends have declined in the past decade, the outcomes of teen pregnancy are often negative. The need for strategies and programs working to decrease pregnant teens’ greater risk for mental and physical health issues holds steadfast. The Teen Parents curriculum addresses specific health and nutrition topics relevant to the needs of this population in an effort to improve their health and well-being. Authors used the National Health Education Standards as well as the State of Missouri Education Standards as a basis for developing the curriculum and selected specific performance indicators to ensure learning. The 12 Teen Parents lesson plans are well organized and include at least
one knowledge objective and one behavioral objective, an outline of steps for completing the lesson, core and additional activities that reinforce lesson objectives, taste-testing activities, and a sidebar that indicates supplies needed, pertinent student handouts, suggested teacher references, and advanced preparation steps. During the first lesson, participants engage in a short icebreaker and then discuss the community resources available to meet their needs. In the following weeks, new parents and pregnant teens learn about MyPyramid; special nutrient needs; discomforts during pregnancy; risks associated with drug, alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco use; breastfeeding; feeding young children and toddlers; comparing nutritional and economic values of food; and food safety. Lesson outlines are easy to follow. The lessons are organized in a logical progression but could be easily rearranged in order of relevance to teens. Instructors also could choose to focus on select lessons instead of all 12. Individual lessons include instructions for a brief review of the previous week, directive statements and relevant points, and potential questions to generate discussion. It ends with a review of the new material. However, it is unclear how long each lesson and its individual components should take to implement. Handouts and visual aids are included as references for all 12 lessons. Each core activity includes a clearly defined purpose, lists pertinent
handouts, and describes advanced preparation and supplies needed. The activities are creative and appropriately reinforce lesson objectives. Students work in groups to help build social support and self-efficacy. Many of the activities require minimal advanced preparation, such as cutting trivia cards or assembling activity cards. The taste-testing activities call for more advanced preparation, and instructors should be prepared to provide food, ingredients, and equipment. Recipe cards offer simple, economical breakfast, snack, main dish, soup, side dish, and dessert ideas— some that are kid-specific. The cards provide preparation time, number of servings, and nutrition information. Also included in the set of recipe cards are cooking tip cards that explain how to cook fruits and vegetables in the microwave and emergency substitutions. Core curriculum materials include the 12-lesson curriculum, pertinent student handouts that are organized to coincide with lesson instructions, recipe cards, some teacher references, and the color, bi- and tri-fold Teen Parent newsletters. Several lessons reference optional supplemental videos that need to be purchased from an outside source. Overall, the Teen Parent curriculum is a comprehensive resource and would benefit educators looking for materials and activities to educate parenting and pregnant teens. It is flexible enough to stand alone or to be integrated into an existing curriculum to fulfill national or state education standards. Leigh Ann Edwards, MPH, RD, Manager, Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline, 1730 M Street, NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2007.07.005 Growing Food, An Inquiry-Based Science and Nutrition Program. Koch P, Barton AC, and Contento IR, 2007. Teachers College Columbia University and the National Gardening Association, www.kidsgardening. org. Curriculum for grades 4-6, softcover book, 256 pp., $34.95, ISBN 978-0-915873-47-0. In this inquiry-based curriculum, you and your students embark on an exciting