The Future of Food

Food security is an environmental health issue I have become interested in. It is defined as the availability and accessibility of nutritious foods. There are nearly one billion people deprived of both available and accessible foods. Food shortage is a fallacy; the causes are unequal distribution of resources and socio-political environment of the affected society. To make matters worse, the "fresh" foods that are available are composed of synthetic materials, harmful chemicals, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and additives. I would like to discuss GMOs, specifically.

Background 

Biotechnology is used to alter the genetic composition of an organism. The gene is modified through the process of transformation, insertion of a piece of DNA or synthetic combination of smaller DNA pieces. The purpose of creating GMOs is to increase crop production for the increasing population and to maintain food security.

 Do you remember my statement about the hungry people in this world? How are they benefiting from this? 

Other purported advantages are decreased use or herbicide and pesticides, decreased cost of production and more variety of food. This sounds promising, but is this a safe solution?

Biosafety
Literature indicates significant biosafety issues with use of GMOs. Some researchers stated that GMOs should have never been introduced. Pesticides are still used with GMOs, so people are exposed to those in addition to new toxins and chemicals. The organisms have a significant impact on human and environmental health. Studies have shown that GMOs are responsible for allergic reactions, cancer, degenerative disease, antibiotic threats, birth defects, shorter life-spans, and death. They are also poisonous to livestock. Environmentally, GMOs have caused an inundation of superweeds and superpests. There is also concern for toxins in the soil which affects non-GMO crops and destroys forest life. The following YouTube video discusses GMOs and its harmful effects.

After taking an environmental health course and doing my own research, I have become more conscious of what I choose to eat. There are many resources available for consumers to take initiative and become advocates for nutrition labeling of GMO foods and beverages. Recently, I signed a petition that would help stop the Coca Cola company from funding anti-GMO labeling campaigns. We deserve to know everything about what we put into our bodies. If a company cannot do this, it is likely that there are GMOs in their product(s). 

Here is a list of websites that can help you shop for non-GMO foods and beverages:
Non-GMO Project 
Non-GMO Shopping Guide
Tips from Food Should Taste Good

Reference

Khan, S.J., Muafia, S., Nasreen, Z., & Salariya, A.M. (2012). Genetically modified organisms (gmos): food security or threat to food safety. Pakistan Journal of Science, 64(2), 7-12. 

Promoting Sustainable Communities

I will dedicate these next two posts to health promotion of our environment. This is an area of public health that has gained attention in recent years. 

We were asked to watch an online video about Healthy Community Designs. Dr. Frumkin, former Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry discussed the connection between the communities we live in and our health. Better community design can improve physical activity, lower greenhouse gas emissions and increase social connectedness. Here are some take-away points from the video :

During the healthy community designs discussion, Dr. Frumkin refers to urban planners, architects, members of zoning boards and citizens as health professionals, too. It is the duty of both technical and political professionals and public health professionals to advocate for walkable communities. His message presents a few implications (in my opinion) for public health educators and promoters. First, the physical environment impacts both chronic and infectious diseases, access to goods and services, social connectedness, risk of injury and air quality. As public health professionals, we have the epidemiological data showing the connection between disease and social and environmental determinants. Now, the goal is to collaborate with local government officials and others who want safer, cleaner and healthier communities.

Another striking statement Dr. Frumkin made was regarding aging in place. We must give special consideration to the aging population. By the year 2030, people sixty-five and older will account for approximately nineteen percent of the United States’ population (Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Aging). Not all elderly will be able to age in place but if they elect to, there should be options for them to dwell in familiar communities that are conducive to their needs.

A third implication is policy development; an example would be pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure, as well as safety. Better policies and regulations would prevent injury and deaths, while increasing the ability and willingness to commute by foot or bicycle. The video message indicates that there are several aspects of healthy community building that warrant policy and administration intervention. We have the information and know what needs to be done. The difficult part is to collaborate with the other professions and to actually “build” these communities.

Image from Washington State Department of Transportation

Social Cognitive Theory: a Health Promotion Perspective

Throughout my Theories of Health Behavior course, we have learned about several individual and sociocultural theories and what it takes to apply them to public health programs. I chose to create a narrated powerpoint about Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). I believe SCT best describes the self-efficacy construct compared to theories I have studied. You will hear about the history, how SCT evolved, constructs and its limitations. In addition to discussing each construct, I operationalized them. There are tips and steps for health educators to consider for program planning and creating interventions. I intend for the content to serve as a guideline. No single theory is perfect for every public health problem. However, even with one of the most comprehensive theories, SCT, it is still difficult to apply every construct to a health program.

Know Your Power Campaign

According to Potter (2010), there are 20% of undergraduate females who have been sexually assaulted while attending college. The Prevention Innovations team at the University of New Hampshire developed the Know Your Power   social marketing campaign to reduce intimate partner abuse and sexual assault. This team is also known for their Bringing in the Bystander training program, an "in-person training program that teaches bystanders how to intervene safely before, during, or after an incident of sexual and relationship violence or stalking". Yet, the Know Your Power Bystander campaign uses marketing materials and social media to promote the importance of bystanders intervening in cases of intimate partner abuse. 

Image from Know You Power

                                                                                                                           Image from Know You Power

The website discusses intimate partner violence and how bystanders can safely intervene. The intervention slogan is ABCs: Assess for safety. Be with others. Care for the victim. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Image from Know You Power

In the resources section, there is local contact information for both on and off-campus authorities. There were 8 primary images used in the campaign to demonstrate bystander intervention for incidences of stalking, sexual and relationship violence (Potter, 2012). Employing a social marketing campaign on college campuses is exceptionally beneficial because much of what college students do involves a higher level of social engagement and interaction. Often, these interactions require a variety of social negotiation skills (Potter, 2012). 

Know Your Power used a modified version of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Results indicated that exposure to such campaigns increases the students' awareness of the bystander role, as well as their willingness to intervene. Those who participated in the campaign were more likely to report taking action to reduce intimate partner violence and sexual assault (Potter, 2012). 

References

http://cola.unh.edu/thecollegeletter/2013-02/prevention-innovations
http://know-your-power.org/index.html

Potter, S. J. (2012). Using a multimedia social marketing  campaign to increase  active bystanders on the college campus. Journal of American College Health, 60(4), 282-295.

A closer look at Social Marketing

I will be honest--I was unaware that social marketing could be applied to public health issues. One of our assignment consisted of reviewing a CDC module on social marketing. Here is what I discovered...

Social marketing encompasses key elements of influencing health behavior. Although commercial strategies are applied, changing health behavior is voluntary and marketing techniques are not used to force or coerce target populations. Social marketing principles also recognize the importance of individual welfare and how it affects the community at large. This debunks the assumptions of social marketing as advertising or awareness campaigning to reach everyone. This is a methodical process that seeks to target certain sub-populations through formative research and segmentation.Throughout our coursework in this program, instructors have emphatically expressed that thorough research of the target population is what makes an intervention or program successful. I believe social marketing principles, which is not a theory or a conventional health planning model, best embodies this mission. The quote from Wendy Carlin, a program coordinator, confirmed my sentiment. It is not a matter of raising awareness in the target population, but to understand what needs to happen to create change. 

I am amazed by the versatility in applying social marketing concepts; the CDC states that concepts can be used for environmental and policy changes, considering who the actual target audience is. Social marketing also considers  current behavior, as seen in TTM, and what motivate that current behaviors, as opposed to immediately attempting to change that behavior. It appears to be a more realistic approach to health issues in a target population. Competition is noted as “behaviors and related benefits that the target audience is accustomed to or may prefer to the behavior you are promoting”. Following social marketing planning process, researchers would know why someone would prefer a behavior with negative health outcomes over the health-promoting behavior.

As in the individual, social and environmental health behavior theories, self-efficacy is also emphasized in the exchange concept of social marketing. Starting with small, feasible goals will allow for the target audience to move towards the ideal behavior.The objective of the exchange is to increase benefits, while minimizing costs, which are also constructs of HBM. Social marketing borrows from SCT, referring to expectations and expectancies for the marketing mix. The CDC also reiterated that the planning process for social marketing is cyclical, which allows planners to evaluate from the beginning to the implementation of the program intervention. After completing the CDC social marketing module, I have discovered the usability of social marketing for health-promoting behaviors. I would have never inferred how relatable it is to the health behavior theories we have discussed.

In my next post, I will discuss Know Your Power, a great example of a social marketing campaign.