March 2, 2023
Introduction:
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/981446(EurekAlert) DALLAS, March 2, 2023 — Fifty communities nationwide are expanding hands-on nutrition education with $2,500 grants from the American Heart Association’s Teaching Gardens® program, helping address healthy eating challenges facing our nation’s children and families. Access to healthy foods directly impacts a person’s health over their lifetime, but most children are not eating recommended amounts of fruits or vegetables, consuming less than one serving of each per day.[1]
Including these new awards, the American Heart Association, a global force for healthier lives for all, with support from CAULIPOWER, makers of ready-to-use plant-powered food items, has now funded 150 grants over three years to schools and community gardens nationwide. The financial grants boost garden-based learning, helping enable equitable access to healthy foods and innovating nutrition education nationwide.
Through the Association’s Teaching Gardens® program, part of its Teaching Gardens Network, schools and community gardens turn the outdoors into a classroom with an interactive nutrition curriculum to help kids make healthy food choices and build positive, lifelong nutrition habits.
“It’s critical that all kids have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and to proper nutrition education regardless of where they live to support growth and create a strong foundation for a healthy life,” said Michelle Albert, M.D., MPH, FACC, FAHA, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and Admissions Dean for UCSF Medical School. “We had the difficult task of selecting just 50 awardees out of nearly 250 applicants this year. Congratulations to all of the grant recipients and thank you for your commitment to supporting healthy kids by building healthier communities.”
According to the Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke 2023 Statistical Update, it's estimated that children and teens consume less than 1 serving of fruits or vegetables per day, which puts them at higher risk of cardiovascular risk factors, such as childhood diabetes and high blood pressure.
Developing cardiovascular risk factors early in life exponentially increases a child’s risk of heart disease and stroke in adulthood.
[1] https://newsroom.heart.org/news/50-teac ... c6be#_ftn1
To visit the American Heart Association’s Teaching Gardens® program website: https://www.heart.org/en/professional/ ... g-gardens