Posts Tagged: obesity

UCR scientists continue release of psyllid enemies in SoCal

Mark Hoddle, an entomologist and director of the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside, along with a team of researchers, has been traveling across Southern California releasing Tamarixia radiata, stingless wasps that lay eggs and kill Asian citrus psyllid larva, wrote Joe Nelson in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

An exotic species in California, psyllids feed on citrus or close relatives of citrus and can spread a bacterium that causes Huanglongbing (HLB) disease.

"It's a death sentence for a citrus tree," said CDFA spokesman Steve Lyle. "The only thing left to do with the trees is to cut them down and burn them, and that would be devastating to the citrus industry."

To date, HLB has not been found in California. However, Lyle said its arrival is "not a matter of if, but when."

New CSUF projects help in fight against obesity
Danny Chau, The Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton received more than $800,000 in grants from USDA to fund three new projgrams on campus that will promote nutrition education and the fight against childhood obesity.

The project will train 80 diverse students in nutrition and childhood obesity.

“The nice thing about it is the students will get exposure to leading scientists in the field and by our collaboration with UC Davis,” said Archana J. McEligot, associate professor of health science at CSUF.

Tulare County childhood obesity rates rise

A 30-year trend in increasing childhood obesity rates in California may be leveling off, but rates are still three times higher among 12- to 19-year-olds and four times higher among 6- to 11-year-olds than they were in the 1970s, according to a report released Nov. 9 by the California Center of Public Health Advocacy and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. At the same time, improvements are not being seen evenly throughout the state, with 31 of California’s 58 counties experiencing an increase in childhood overweight over the five-year period from 2005 to 2010.

Tulare County was one of the 31 to see obesity and overweight rates climb in the last five years, according to an article in the Visalia Times-Delta. The rate of childhood obesity in Tulare County is close to 44 percent. Cathi Lamp, a nutritionist with UC Cooperative Extension, outlined UCCE's efforts to turn the tide. She said UC works with local school districts on curriculum for teachers that encourages healthful eating and obesity prevention.

"We reach thousands of families each year," Lamp said.

Riverside officials spray for Asian citrus psyllid
Janet Zimmerman, Riverside Press-Enterprise

Recent discoveries in Riverside of Asian citrus psyllids - which can carry bacteria that have devastated crops in Florida, Mexico and other countries - prompted a round of residential spraying that could be expanded, officials with the California Department of Food and Agriculture said.

The spraying started in October and is expected to continue through Nov. 17. State crews applied insecticide to residential citrus trees in an area bounded by Chicago Avenue on the west, Chapala Drive on the east, La Conte Drive near UC Riverside on the north and Central Avenue to the south.

4-H is about more than agriculture

The 4-H Youth Development program is about sewing, cooking, organic gardening, arts and crafts, scrapbooking, creating PowerPoint presentations and more — all in an effort to build leadership, collaboration and hands-on learning in youth ages 5 to 19 years old, according to an article by Sena Christian on the Granite Bay website. The story centered on the efforts of two 4-H volunteer leaders who rescued a club program "on the verge of extinction."

Obesity Awareness Month
(Solano, Napa) Times Herald, Denise Kirnig, RD, MS

In an article kicking off National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, the Food and Nutrition Network of Solano County asks parents to join the effort to combat childhood obesity. The article notes that UC Cooperative Extension is one of the agencies involved in the Food and Nutrition Network.

State senate approves bills sponsored by State Sen. Anthony Cannella
Merced Sun-Star

The California State Senate approved Senate Bill 707, which adds olives to the list of crops included in the Fruit Tree, Nut Tree, and Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board (IAB) at CDFA and in the Foundation Plant Services program at UC Davis. By including olives, SB 707 provides the industry access to disease-free, virus tested, and true-to-type certification for oil olive trees developed through extensive research.

Leadership, collaboration and hands-on learning are significant parts of the 4-H program.

Farm subsidies' connection to obesity debated

Some experts say federal farm subsidies contribute to the nation's obesity crisis, reports Marni Jameson in the Chicago Tribune. They argue that corn and wheat, the most heavily subsidized crops, are also staples in a variety of common, fattening, nutrition-deficient foods. But UC agricultural economist Julian Alston says farm subsidies are unrelated to obesity. "I get annoyed because everyone points to farm subsidies as one of the top two reasons for the obesity epidemic, but it's irrelevant," Alston said. He believes the elimination of farm subsidies would have a negligible effect on obesity rates.

Master Gardeners ready to help
Karen Rifkin, The Willits News

In a general feature story about the Mendocino County Master Gardener program, volunteer Wendy Roberts was quoted: "Master gardeners are trained volunteer staff of the University of California Cooperative Extension. They are members of the local community who share a common interest in and love of the growth and care of plants and provide practical, scientific horticulture and gardening information to the citizens of Mendocino County."

If farm subsidies have contributed to America's obesity epidemic, the impact has been slight and indirect.

Farm subsidies are not to blame for the obesity crisis

The common notion that the federal government is contributing to the obesity epidemic by providing billions of dollars in annual subsidies to farmers doesn't pencil out, according to UC Davis agricultural economist Julian Alston.

Alston was featured in a six-minute NPR story about farm subsidies yesterday. The story largely dispelled the theory that federal subsidies encourage farmers to grow too much grain, causing commodity prices to drop, making food cheaper and inviting people to eat too much.

Alston said improved agricultural productivity is responsible for cutting the price of food.

"Food productivity is more than doubled, so the real cost is less than half what it was 40 to 50 years ago," he said. "That's the big story. And that wasn't caused by subsidies. That was caused by improvements in productivity on the farm."

Farm subsidies do not necessarily make food cheaper.

"The net effect of the whole set of farm supports is to make food more expensive and actually to discourage obesity," Alston said.

Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, another expert who contributed to the story, said the food environment created by America's food manufacturers and marketers has more influence on consumers' waistlines. Food ingredient costs are small compared to the cost of processing, packaging, transportation, marketing and merchandising.

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