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Medical student initiative of monitoring USDA nutritional guidelines adherence with novel application of digital photography in elementary school meals
Author(s) -
Monlezun Dominique,
Rodman Adam,
Telsey Ben,
Leong Benjamin,
AbuShamat Layla,
Kay Danielle,
Green Deanna,
Sarris Leah,
Harlan Timothy
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1063.7
Subject(s) - guideline , medical education , psychological intervention , photography , calorie , medicine , environmental health , psychology , gerontology , nursing , art , pathology , visual arts , endocrinology
The rising childhood obesity epidemic exacerbates the challenge of no broadly accepted evidenced‐based monitoring and implementation methods for USDA guidelines regulating elementary school meals (Guthrie 2012). The traditional techniques of obtrusive physical measurements of consumed food and visual estimation (Comstock 1980) flawed by intra‐observer variability are not promising. Tulane University School of Medicine responded to this challenge through its Center for Culinary Medicine. Medical student teams investigated the novel application of digital photography (Williamson 2003) for monitoring USDA guideline adherence at three elementary schools. Compared to visual estimation checklists, digital photography of consumed food showed statistically different results for consumed vegetable and fruit servings. Unlike visual estimation, this latter method accounted for serving variability and allowed calculation of students’ consumed calories, fat, sodium, and vitamins. Further validation of this protocol can produce more accurate monitoring of USDA school nutritional guidelines and improved assessment of targeted nutritional educational interventions for students. Research support: Tulane University Center for Culinary Medicine Grant Funding Source : Tulane University Center for Culinary Medicine