Review of “The sugar film”

Forum Nutrition Awareness Week Dunng National Nutrition Month in March, the campus of the State UnIversity of New York at Oneonta was the site of Nutrition Awareness Week. The university's Student DietetiC Association sponsored the event; and faculty, staff, and area health professIOnals helped organize the week-long senes of lectures, exhibits, and displays on diet, food, nutntlon, and health. A student from the Dietetics Department at SUNY -Oneonta coordinated the activIties and chose for discussion such highly pubhclzed and controversial nutntlon topICS as cancer, heart disease, vitamin C, and Iron. These tOPICS were chosen m the hope of attractmg a wider audience and because they were relevant to other departments on the campus A senes of lectures and panel discussions on these topics hlghhghted the week. A committee deSigned displays, exhibits, and posters and identified printed matenal suitable for distribution at the exhibits. The committee pnmanly chose free government pubhcations because this matenal has accurate information and does not emphasize the need to purchase any speCific food product. In order to publicize NutntlOn Awareness Week, three displays were exhibited at a local shoppmg mall. Representatives from local Cooperative Extension, WIC, and EFNEP Programs assisted With these exhibits. Local and campus newspapers and radiO statIOns proVided pubhcity for the event as well, and the campus graphiCS department deSigned material used m publicizing the activities. The Instructional Resource Center at SUNY-Oneonta provided space for diSplays dunng Nutrition Awareness Week. The college foodservice assisted by displaymg posters in cafeterias These posters emphasized the need for balanced meals and Identified nutnent denSity of selected foods. The Physical EducatIOn Department and the campus club of the Amencan Home Economics ASSOCiatIOn prOVided some additional financial support. Attendance at the lectures averaged 200, and Nutrition Awareness Week at SUNY86

JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION

Oneonta was a great success. By sharing our Ideas and expenences in organizmg this event, we hope to help your readers generate similar programs in their areas. Anne Rogan, Director, NutritIOn Program at Russell Sage College, Troy, NY 12180, and Janet Brzowsky, Diet SuperVisor, Rochester United Methodist Home, Rochester, NY 14607.

School Dining LUNCHTIME! Was the chatter. Pizza or burgers? Doesn't matter! A few sweets On the side. Empty calories, Eaten with pride. Picking up trays, Single file. Seated at tables, Prison style. Consuming food, Thrrty mmutes or less. Returning traysCafeteria's a mess! Questionable benefit, Despite the bash. Lunch time food, Often finds trash. When day concludes, At three ten, The cafeteria experience Is planned once again ...

Richard L. Sartore, Arbor Hill Elementary School, Albany, NY 12210. EDITOR'S NOTE

The above poem, submitted by an elementary school counselor, emphasizes the need for the continuation of the Federal Nutrition Education and Training Program, which has, as one of its objectives, the improvement of the school lunch experience. Under full implementation of the NET Program,

school lunch need not be the dismal experience described above. Susan M Oaee

Review of "The Sugar Film" While the review of The Sugar Film, produced by Pyramid Films, (JNE 13:158,1981) alluded to misinformation and suggested the need for "knowledgeable gUidance," we would hke to provide a more in-depth viewpomt. Although we agree with the film's pnmary objective, which IS to promote the reductIOn of sugar in the Amencan diet, we cannot condone the means through which the film attempts to reach this objective. The film IS filled with half-truths and mismformation and IS touted by so-called nutritIOn experts, e.g., Lmus Pauling, Ph.D. and Lendon Smith, M.D. The film seems mtent on fnghtenmg viewers With talk of sugar addictIOn, lowered hfe expectancy, abnormal blood glucose levels, extreme behavior problems in children, nutnent depletion, Impaired bram function, and more. An amazmg hst of diseases IS included, and the film hnks sugar mtake to such conditions as asthma, anemia, kidney leSIOns, allergies, the common cold, ulcers, and so forth. Thankfully, thiS hst does mclude two conditions, obeSity and tooth decay, that can be hnked to high sugar intake. Educationally, the film may have little practical Impact on ItS audience. While strongly condemnmg the use of sugar, the film gives viewers few, If any, practical suggestIOns on how to moderate and control their use of sugar m the daily diet. No methods except abstmence were mentIOned for the reductIOn of tooth decay risks when sugar foods are consumed. Thus, we feel that viewers may be left fearful rather than mformed by thiS film. Due to misinformation and an mappropnate approach, we have not recommended The Sugar Film for use in North Carohna public health agencies. Barbara F. Mann, M.S., Carolyn Sparks, M.S., R.D., and Beth Everly, R.D., M. P. H., NUlritlOn Consultants, North Carolina DIVISIon of Health SerVices, P.O. Box2091, Raleigh, NC27602. VOLUME

14

NUMBER

3

1982