News | College of Public Health

Study examines timing of sleep, eating in childhood weight control

Can consistent sleep, eating and activity routines help children avoid excessive weight gain? Chantelle Hart, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is launching a study, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, to explore a possible connection. “We know it’s important how much sleep kids get, how many calories they're taking in, how physically active they are. What we’re trying to understand better is how much the timing and consistency of those behaviors might also be important for weight regulation in chi...

Nutrition

CORE

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Nutrition MPH preps public health-minded dietitians

Chef Lisa Lombo grabs the whole, uncooked chicken with both hands and shows the students in her Food Preparation and Management class how to divide it into parts. Separating the drumsticks is hands-on work. “Once you hear that snap, it allows the knife to cut right through it,” advises Lombo, who has been an executive chef at trendy Philadelphia restaurants and now plans menus for large institutions. Her students, each with a bird at their test kitchen workstations, put down their knives and imitate the bone-snapping technique. This class session focuses on proteins,...

Nutrition

College of Public Health

Students

Fisher leads panel issuing national recommendations for children’s healthy eating

Providing young children with repeated opportunities to try healthy foods, structured meal and snack environments, and the freedom to make their own food choices are key to helping them develop lifelong healthy eating habits, according to new national recommendations from a panel co-chaired by Jennifer Orlet Fisher of the College of Public Health, convened by Healthy Eating Research. The new recommendations for children ages 2 to 8 supplement the existing U.S. Dietary Guidelines. “The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans represent the state-of-the-art understanding of wha...

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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Research

Obesity

Nutrition

Fisher named associate editor of 'Frontiers in Public Health'

Jennifer Orlet Fisher, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and associate director of Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education, is adding to her portfolio to become an associate editor of the journal Frontiers in Public Health. Fisher, whose work focuses on the development of eating behavior during infancy and early childhood, will oversee peer review for articles in the journal’s new Public Health and Nutrition section and help the publication build a collection of manuscripts that focus on population-level nutrition. “I’m most ex...

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Faculty

CORE

Nutrition

'Game On Philly' collaboration goes virtual

With its playbook revised by COVID-19, the Game On Philly program launched its virtual program earlier this month, delivering free sports equipment, healthy foods, and online coaching to Philadelphia middle school students. The program, now called "Game On Philly: Camp From Home," is a collaborative effort between the College of Public Health, the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, nutrition education organization Eat Right Philly, the School District of Philadelphia’s Department of Athletics, and Temple's School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. The progra...

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Nutrition

Community

Fisher named to panel aiming to develop guidelines to encourage healthy eating behaviors

Jennifer Orlet Fisher, professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Public Health, has been named co-chair of the national Healthy Eating Research (HER) panel, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The panel will develop scientific guidelines to encourage healthy eating behaviors among children ages two to eight. Combating childhood obesity is an objective of the HER panel, "but our primary goal is to focus on what we know about developing healthy eating behaviors," Fisher said. "In contrast to the dietary guidelines, which focus on food and nutrient...

Nutrition

Obesity

Faculty

Healthy, mindful eating during COVID-19

Nutrition is a vital part of overall health as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, Pamela Weisberg-Shapiro, program director for nutrition, and Marissa Cloutier, assistant professor of instruction in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, share tips on how to maintain healthy eating habits—nutritionally, emotionally, and socially. Both faculty members are registered dietitians. Mindful eating over anxiety eating In these uncertain moments and stir-crazy days, we may feel the urge to raid the refrigerator to get a little comfort, or just to fill ti...

Nutrition

Coronavirus

Study finds association between adolescent overweight/obesity and snacking habits

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommend that children eat nutrient-dense snacks throughout the day to meet their nutritional needs. But are teens snacking in ways that lead to better health—or unwanted weight? A new study led by College of Public Health researchers and published in Nutrients has found that adolescents with normal weight had fewer snacks daily and smaller snacks per occasion (i.e., fewer calories per snack) than teens classified as overweight or obese. Other findings from the study include that teens with overweight and obesity were consuming...

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Nutrition