Nutrition Knowledge
By Maryann Manning

My family, like many others, celebrates with food: we have cakes for birthdays, weddings and showers; hot dogs and hamburgers on the Fourth of July; abundant multiple-course dinners for the end-of-the-year holidays. As teachers, we're seeing the results of this lifestyle affecting our students. All of us agree that we must be more effective in educating our students about proper nutrition.

Researching food and nutrition is one of the most interdisciplinary studies possible; it includes reading, writing, mathematics, geography, cultures, physical science, biology and more. This month, I'd like to talk about how to use food labels as a beginning point for research and expanding that research to include nutrition lessons.

A greater perspective
The percentages on a nutrition label are based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Changing the number of calories offers a real-world math challenge and a study of calorie requirements for different child and adult physical activity patterns. Comparing labels from different brands of the same product can create awareness that not all orange juice has calcium added and that fat content differs among brands of cookies.

Geography lessons can result from studying where ingredients are grown or manufactured. Sometimes there are multiple sources and some ingredients may be grown in one place and packaged in another.

The American Diabetes Association food exchange lists are interesting for students; many of the children may have a personal connection to the information through family members and friends who have diabetes. Students can develop a diet for diabetics and people with other health issues.

A study of warnings on food packages also relates to health issues. A label that includes the warning, "made on equipment that processes peanuts" can help you move into a study of food allergies and sensitivities.

You are what you eat
Discussing where a food fits into a healthful diet can result in a study of the food pyramid. Comparing the old and new food pyramids can help students note changes in what is considered a healthful diet. Empty food packaging or pictures of foods from grocery ads can be used to illustrate pyramids that students draw.

Consider having students analyze a diet that consists of cookies and hamburgers. They'll have to read food packages and nutrition information charts. This junk food study can be expanded to fast foods and a look at the nutrition in the typical child's meal that's available from national fast food chains. Writing persuasive pieces about the benefits of eating a healthful diet is a natural outgrowth of this study.

Can you believe this?
Cereal boxes can provide text for the study of exaggerations used in advertising. It won't be long before students ask themselves, "Who should I believe?" when packaging from various brands of oatmeal is compared. The alleged presence of herbs, vitamins, low carbohydrates and artificial sweeteners in different brands of oatmeal can be the basis for the study of how marketing agencies choose certain words in the hope of influencing or confusing consumers.

Delicious reads
An excellent series for primary children that features all food groups is Pyramid Pal – Fruits (Griffin Publishing Group, 2000, ISBN: 1-580-00066-5). Other topics in the series include Vegetables, Milk, Sweets and Grains. Another book for that same age group is The Food Pyramid, by Janine Scott (Compass Point Books, 2003, ISBN: 0-756-50447-3). The more we integrate the study of nutrition and health into our curriculum, the more knowledge our students will have to help them make food choices that will keep their stomachs full and their bodies healthy.

Maryann Manning is on the faculty of the School of Education, the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

October, 2003, Vol.34, No.2