Notes from the VRG Scientific Department
VRG In The News
VRG Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, was interviewed by the Press and Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) for a story about vegetarian teens and by the Longmont (Colorado) Health & Wellness magazine for a story about children who decide on their own to become vegetarians. In addition, Reed’s article, “Strategies for working with vegetarian infants, children, and adolescents,” was reprinted in the American Dietetic Association’s Medical Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group and Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group newsletters. VRG Nutrition Advisor Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, RD, was interviewed for a story that compared the effectiveness of popular weight loss diets for The Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Sun News. Currently, Sue’s diet and health column, “On the Table,” is reaching 400,000 readers weekly in The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Charlotte Observer.
VRG Outreach
VRG’s Food Service Advisor Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD, CCE, did a series of presentations for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. With this program, she visited area elementary schools and spoke about making healthy snacks, largely based on soy and rice milk and seasonal fruit. Parents, students, and educators attended, received recipes, sampled snacks, and participated in question-and-answer sessions. In late July, Nancy presented the American Culinary Federation’s yearly 8-hour nutrition refresher course; this year’s topic was vegetarian applications for food service. Approximately 90 culinary educators, nutrition educators, professional chefs, and food service professionals participated. In addition, Nancy has contributed to chapters of textbooks being used by first-year medical students. Her portions explain the use of vegan and vegetarian diets when patients are being treated for various diseases, such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, cystic fibrosis, and osteoporosis.
