Overview. As reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the rate of overweight and obesity among Caucasian children has increased 50 percent, to one in eight. About one in five African American and Hispanic children are overweight or obese, more than double the rate 10 years ago. Health experts are concerned by these trends. Obesity that begins in childhood often remains in adulthood and could set the stage for many health issues including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In fact, among adults, over 300,000 deaths annually are linked with obesity.

North Dakota has some unique health- and nutrition-related concerns, including an increased risk of diabetes. NDSU has developed a range of programs that target those problems.

Participants in the Food and Nutrition Program defined a variety of means to help them effectively manage their limited resources. Surveys show 94 percent use a spending plan more often than before their participation in FNP; 93.7 percent use a menu planning process and 91.8 percent use comparison shopping techniques such as reading labels, unit pricing, and reading nutrition fact labels.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in North Dakota. Nationally, 40 percent of the deaths in the U.S. are due to heart disease and stroke, with a national annual health care cost of $260 million. Proper nutrition and regular physical activity are two ways to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. A North Dakota Department of Health survey found that only 18 percent of North Dakota adults eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and 34 percent of North Dakotans are completely physically inactive outside of work.

The North Dakota 5 Plus 5 program is an educational campaign designed to encourage participants to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and to engage in 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days per week as recommended by health and nutrition experts. The program is led by the North Dakota State University Extension Service, the North Dakota Department of Health and the Healthy Heart Council, which includes representatives from the American Heart Association, the Dairy Council of the Upper Midwest, the North Dakota Beef Commission and healthcare centers, parks and recreation departments, registered dietitians and other agencies across North Dakota.

A pilot 5 plus 5 intervention targeting fifth and sixth grade students was conducted with about 80 students. The program included lessons and skill building activities.

Over 100 adults participated in a six-week 5 plus 5 program using technology as a means to educate participants. Consisting of email messages/lessons, a listserv and chat room discussions with experts, the program also including pre/post testing.

Impact – Among participating fifth grade girls, 69 percent reported they had increased their fruit and vegetable consumption, 86 percent reported they had increased their physical activity and 92 percent reported they had met their goals. Girls reported a 44 percent decrease in screen activities (tv, videos) of three hours or more. Among fifth grade boys, 45 percent reported they had increased their fruit and vegetable consumption, 80 percent felt they had increased their level of physical activity, and 80 percent felt they had met their goals. Fifth grade boys reported a 37 percent decrease in screen activities of three hours or more. Among the participating sixth grade girls, 33 percent reported increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption, 50 percent reported they had increased their physical activity and 59 percent reported meeting their goals. A 39 percent decrease in screen activities of three hours or more was reported by sixth grade girls. Among participating sixth grade boys, 57 percent reported they had increased their fruit and vegetable consumption, 64 percent reported increasing their physical activity and 86 percent reported meeting their goals. A 45 percent decrease in screen activities of three hours or more was reported.

In the educational program using technology as a means of delivery, knowledge scores increased by 14 percentage points from pre- to post-survey. On the post-survey, self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption increased from 9.5 percent meeting the 5-a-day recommendation to 42 percent meeting the recommendation. Ninety percent of the participants reported increased fruit and vegetable consumption, 72.5 percent reported increased physical activity, 50 percent reported cooking healthier meals and 23.5 percent reported weight loss.

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: State specific

Healthful nutritional choices, food security and stretching the food dollar remain focal points of the programming in the Family Nutrition Program, which targets food stamp recipients. Low income families are at particular risk for poor nutrition and malnutrition. They often lack the skills and education to plan nutritionally balanced meals, shop wisely, and prepare meals in a wholesome and safe manner.

Impact - Follow-up evaluation has shown that the participants have increased their knowledge and changed their behavior regarding food spending and food choices.

Source of federal funds - Smith Lever

Scope of impact - Multistate Extension. The FNP is a national program.

The overall goal of the food resource management program of the Family Nutrition Program is to help clients maximize the use of their limited food resources. Utilizing the food resource management components from the Building a Healthy Diet curriculum developed by Iowa State University, nutrition education assistants/agents for the Family Nutrition Program are delivering programs targeted for limited resource audiences across the state of North Dakota. Classes are often held at variety of cooperating agencies such as county social services, tribal organizations, WIC or Head Start.

Impact - Participants defined a variety of means to help them effectively manage their limited resources. Surveys show:

! 94 percent use a spending plan more often than before their participation in FNP.

! 93.7 percent use a menu planning process.

! 50.5 percent shop from a list more often since participating in FNP.

! 91.8 percent use comparison shopping techniques such as reading labels, unit pricing, and reading nutrition fact labels

Source of federal funds: FNS, USDA, Food Stamp Program

Scope of impact: State specific

Key Theme - Human Nutrition: Food Security

The goal of food security is to help food stamp recipients have an adequate supply of food throughout the month. Food security issues were incorporated into a variety of educational topics presented by nutrition education agents/assistants (NEAs) at their nutrition education classes. Emphasized themes included increasing knowledge and/or use of food assistance programs provided in their community. Classes were offered at a variety of locations including the tribal commodity warehouses, food pantries, Headstart, county social services, or transitional living facilities.

Impact - Upon completion of FNP programming, 55 percent of respondents indicated they had enough food to eat throughout the month. In addition, 76.9 percent decreased the frequency with which they used emergency food assistance and 33.6 percent increased their use of available non-emergency food assistance programs including WIC, food stamps, school breakfast, and school lunch.

Source of federal funds: USDA Food Stamp Nutrition Education.

Scope of Impact: State Specific

Key Theme – Nutricueticals: Pasta as a Functional Food

Researchers at the Department of Cereal Science, NDSU, are investigating the development of a functional food using durum wheat and flaxseed. These foods can be used as a part of a dietary regime designed to improve nutrition or prevent disease. Secoisolariciresinol diglycoside (SDG), dietary fiber, and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) are three nutraceutical compounds in flaxseed. Thus, pasta fortified with ground flaxseed has improved nutritional quality.

Success of pasta fortified with ground flaxseed depends on the stability of the nutraceutical compounds during processing, storage, and cooking. Researchers have shown that ALA and SDG are not affected by pasta processing or cooking. ALA and SDG were stable in dry flaxseed-pasta for eight months.

Impact – Flax-pasta is close to commercialization. Mid-size pasta manufacturers have shown interest in producing a flax-pasta product. Economic benefit has been estimated to be $2.6 million. Consumers would benefit by the availability of nutritionally enhanced pasta.

Source of Federal Funds: none

Other Sources of Funding: SBARE; APUC; North Dakota Oilseed Council

Scope of impact: State Specific. (Regional)

NDSU scientists are adding oilseeds to the diets of dairy cows to see if they increase the levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk. CLA has been identified as an anti-cancer agent and dairy products are the primary source of CLA in the human diet.

Impact – Feeding sunflower seed as 15 percent of dairy cow diets increased the CLA content in milk fat by about 20 percent. Including sunflower in dairy diets could use production from about 2.1 million acres annually. Similarly, canola contains high amounts of protein and energy from unsaturated fatty acids making it a useful feed for lactating dairy cows. Cows fed 12 percent canola showed a 17 percent increase in CLA in milk.

Source of federal funding: Hatch

Scope of impact: Multi-state research.

Agricultural engineers are developing dry mechanical processes that could be used to increase the recovery of secoisolariciresinal diglycoside (SDG), a form of lignin that has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Researchers were able to about double the amount of SDG recovered from flax seed known to have high levels of SDG.

As an offshoot of research to boost mammary development and lactation development in cattle, researchers are extending their studies into nutritional control of mammary growth and breast cancer development in humans. Just as nutritional strategies can influence productivity in animals, strategies may lead to ways to prevent and treat breast cancer in humans.

Researchers are studying plant compounds that contribute to human health by reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. One compound, chlorogenic acid (CGA), is found in plants and serves as an antioxidant. Research with rates shows treatments can reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels by 44 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

Impact – Research into functional foods and functional food compounds could lead to improved nutrition and improved human health. In addition, many of the compounds being studied are found in abundance in the region’s crops. Nutricuetical uses for those crops and for compounds made from those crops could expand markets or create specialty markets, generating increased revenue for producers and processors.

Source of federal funding: Hatch

Scope of impact: Multi-state Research