Food for Thought
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
Mary Ellen’s post about groceries in the library and a viewing of the documentary Food, Inc. on PBS last week along with the current news stories about rampant obesity in our society had me thinking about what can be done to improve the situation. The Rudd Center for Food Policy at Yale University exists “to improve the world’s diet, prevent obesity, and reduce weight stigma “to improve the world’s diet, prevent obesity, and reduce weight stigma by establishing creative connections between science and public policy, developing targeted research, encouraging frank dialogue among key constituents, and expressing a dedicated commitment to real change.” Their Web site offers a wide variety tools including guidelines and images for portraying overweight and obese persons in the media, a map of soft drink tax legislation, updates on new laws and legislation in progress in both Congress and state legislatures, current news, hot topics (food and addiction, food marketing, school nutrition, etc.), blogs, podcasts, and policy briefs and reports. The center studies the economics of food as well as food marketing to youth and the psychosocial and clinical aspects of obesity. The site is easy to navigate and provides a great deal of thought-provoking information.
