In brief<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statewell Consulting is working on a huge problem<\/strong>. It is a problem that every one of the more than 8 billion people on Earth<\/a> will eventually face. That problem is death<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the world, long-term illnesses<\/strong> like heart disease, stroke and diabetes are the leading causes of death<\/strong>. These illnesses killed around 43 million people in 2021, and heart disease and stroke alone accounted for at least 19 million of those deaths (World Health Organization<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unhealthy diet<\/strong> is one of the main risks behind them. About 1.4 billion adults have high blood pressure<\/strong>, and 44% of them do not know it. Too much salt, diets high in saturated and trans fats, and too few fruits and vegetables are among the main risk factors (World Health Organization<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here in Brockton, about 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure<\/strong>, about 1 in 3 has obesity, and about 1 in 8 has been diagnosed with diabetes<\/strong>. One in four adults faced food insecurity in the past year (CDC<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also demand for this information at restaurants. In the FDA\u2019s 2019 national survey, 70% of U.S. adults had seen calorie information<\/strong> on menus, and 53% of those who saw it used it<\/strong>, most often to avoid high-calorie items (FDA<\/a>). This kind of information can help different communities be more aware<\/strong> of what they put in their bodies, for longer and healthier lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, the FDA requires restaurants to display calories<\/strong> on menus and menu boards. Written nutrition information must also be available upon request<\/strong>, listing the calories, total fat<\/strong>, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol<\/strong>, sodium<\/strong>, carbohydrates<\/strong>, fiber<\/strong>, sugars and protein<\/strong> of any item on the menu. Menus must also state that 2,000 calories a day<\/strong> is used for general nutrition advice, but calorie needs vary. These menu-labeling requirements, however, only apply to chains with 20 or more locations<\/strong>, which means large franchises rather than<\/strong> small local businesses (FDA<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n About a third of U.S. adults do not accurately know their typical daily calorie needs<\/strong>, according to the FDA\u2019s 2019 nationally representative survey. That knowledge is divided by race and ethnicity: 55% of non-Hispanic Black adults<\/strong> gave an incorrect estimate of their daily calorie needs, compared with 34% of Hispanic adults<\/strong> and 26% of non-Hispanic white adults (Lando et al., 2021<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where we start to see the problem<\/strong>. It is not simply that people are being fed bad food. It is that they are not being given the knowledge<\/strong> they need about the food they eat. We plan to fill that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small restaurants are not required to count calories, and many people in our community were never given<\/strong> nutrition education, so they are left without the information they need. At Statewell, we support the need for more transparency<\/strong>. Our community deserves to know how it can improve its health, and that is what we stand for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this initiative, we are taking action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the time being, we are offering free services<\/strong> to help any restaurant in the city of Brockton add nutritional information to its menu. That includes a free menu evaluation<\/strong>, so small restaurants can meet the same standard the FDA sets for large chains, even though they are not required to. We are starting here in Brockton<\/strong>, our home, but restaurants in other cities and towns are welcome to reach out as well, and we will look at each one case by case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are also releasing pamphlets<\/strong> in Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole and other languages, so more of our neighbors can read them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you run a restaurant in Brockton, or anywhere else, email andrewpreval@statewell.ink<\/a> to get started. If you know someone who would use this information, share it with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This post is for general information and is not medical advice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Written by Andrew Preval In brief Statewell Consulting is working on a huge problem. It is a problem that every one of the more than 8 billion people on Earth will eventually face. That problem is\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statewell.ink\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n