We’re excited to host our first-ever Twitter Party tomorrow as part of our continued recognition of National Birth Defects Prevention Month. To help up spread the word, we’ve teamed up with @MomCentral to remind all women of child-bearing age about the important role folic acid plays in a healthful diet. Folic acid is critical for the prevention of neural tube birth defects and is found in enriched grains such as white bread, pasta and cereal.
A study published this month in the journal Nutrition Reviews confirms what the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have been saying all along: Americans should choose half of their daily grain servings from whole grain sources, leaving the other half for enriched grains, an optimal combo for good health.
FACT: Of the four million women who give birth in the U.S. each year, some 3,000 babies are born with neural tube birth defects, affecting the brain and spinal cord. That means eight babies born in this country each day have spinal bifida or another neural tube defect.
Approximately 300 million sandwiches are eaten in America each day. Americans have certainly embraced sandwiches as a go-to meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner so it’s only right we give this ingenious creation the recognition it deserves! So, join us in celebrating National Sandwich Day today!
A recent study published in this month’s issue of Pediatrics found that adolescents who consumed a diet rich in folic acid displayed improved academic performance. The students who regularly consumed adequate amounts of folic acid in their diets did better in school than those who did not.
The Interagency Working Group (IWG), which consists of the following government agencies: FDA, CDC, USDA and FTC, recently issued proposed guidelines for regulating food marketing to children in an effort to combat childhood obesity. Following release of the guidelines, the IWG invited public comment and members of the grain chain, including the Grain Foods Foundation, urged the agencies involved to recall the suggested rules.
A recent study published in the July issue of the journal Gastroenterology examined cancer rates since the government-mandated fortification of enriched grains began in 1998. Turns out, eating more enriched grains to increase intake of folic acid can actually be protective against developing colorectal cancer.
Planning nutritious meals on a budget may seem like a challenge, but with a little help from grains, you can be turning out cost-efficient and nutrition packed meals in no time!
An old diet really can do new tricks. A study published in this month’s Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine revealed that adolescent girls who closely followed the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, widely known as the DASH diet, had a smaller tendency to gain extra weight by early adulthood than girls who followed it less closely.
The eagerly awaited MyPlate icon was released today and we commend the USDA for its work in developing it. The new icon replaces the MyPyramid graphic, aiming to help consumers follow a healthy eating pattern based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans released earlier this year.