CHICAGO (AP) — More than one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help municipal governments cut food waste in their communities.

The letter came on the heels of two recent reports from the EPA on the scope of America’s food waste problem and the damage that results from it. The local officials pressed the agency to expand grant funding and technical help for landfill alternatives. They also urged the agency to update landfill standards to require better prevention, detection and reduction of methane emissions, something scientists already have the technology to do but which can be challenging to implement since food waste breaks down and starts generating methane quickly.

Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the U.S. has taken on before. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress, said Claudia Fabiano, who works on food waste management for the EPA.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Fabiano said.

Researchers say the EPA reports provide sorely needed information. One report found that 58% of methane emissions from landfills come from food waste, a major issue because methane is responsible for about a quarter of global warming and has significantly more warming potential than carbon dioxide.

With the extent of the problem clearly defined, some elected leaders and researchers alike hope to take action. But they say it will take not just investment of resources but also a major mindset shift from the public. Farmers may need to change some practices, manufacturers will need to rethink how they package and market goods, and individuals need to find ways to keep food from going to waste.

So for the first time since the 1990s, the EPA updated its ranking of preferred strategies for waste reduction, ranging from preventing wasted food altogether (by not producing or buying it in the first place) to composting or anaerobic digestion, a process by which food waste can be turned into biogas inside a reactor. Prevention remains the top strategy, but the new ranking includes more nuances comparing the options so communities can decide how to prioritize their investments.

But reducing waste requires a big psychological change and lifestyle shift from individuals no matter what. Researchers say households are responsible for at least 40% of food waste in the U.S.

It’s a more urgent problem than ever, said Weslynne Ashton, a professor of environmental management and sustainability at the Illinois Institute of Technology who was not involved with the EPA reports. Americans have been conditioned to expect abundance at grocery stores and on their plates, and it’s expensive to pull all that food out of the waste stream.

“I think it is possible to get zero organic waste into landfills,” Ashton said. “But it means that we need an infrastructure to enable that in different locations within cities and more rural regions. It means we need incentives both for households as well as for commercial institutions.”

With the problem clearly defined and quantified, it remains to be seen whether communities and states will get extra help or guidance from the federal level — and how much change they can make either way. The EPA has recently channeled some money from the Inflation Reduction Act toward supporting recycling, which did include some funding for organics waste, but those are relatively new programs.

Some local governments have been working on this issue for a while. California began requiring every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services starting in 2022. But others don’t have as much of a head start. Chicago, for instance, just launched a city-wide composting pilot program two weeks ago that set up free food waste drop-off points around the city. But prospective users have to transport their food scraps themselves.

Ning Ai, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, said the report could be bolstered by more specific information about how different communities can adopt localized solutions, since preventing food waste might look different in rural and urban areas or in different parts of the country. But she was also impressed that the report highlighted tradeoffs of environmental impacts between air, water and land, something she said is not often as aggressively documented.

“These two reports, as well as some of the older ones, that definitely shows up as a boost to the national momentum to waste reduction,” said Ai, who was not involved with the EPA’s research.

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PHOENIX (AP) — America’s schools say kids are hungry — just as pandemic-era benefit programs have lapsed. There is growing concern about the effects on kids’ ability to learn.

Congress temporarily made school meals free to all American schoolkids, but since that ended last fall, the need has only seemed to grow.

Soaring food prices are adding strains on families who are seeing reductions in multiple kinds of financial assistance. One federal program that ends this month had given nearly 30 million Americans extra food stamps during the pandemic.

School cafeterias typically don’t turn away a hungry kid, but debts for unpaid school meals have been rising — showing the level of need, and raising questions about how schools will keep feeding everyone, without federal money to do it. The neediest kids are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as before the pandemic, but qualifying for those benefits requires applications that haven’t been necessary for several years.

“Programs that provide direct food assistance are hugely critical and we are going to see the effects of not having them over the next couple of months,” said Megan Curran, policy director for Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy.

In the last academic year, with nearly all schools back operating in person, the number of school meals served to students jumped dramatically, and was slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to a report Thursday from the Food Research & Action Center. Already, it said, states now are reporting drops in the number of meals served.

More than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, meaning they lack consistent access to enough food for every person in their family to be healthy.

Children in such households are more likely to struggle academically and repeat grade levels, among other challenges, according to researchers.

For fourth-grader Fabian Aguirre, it’s hard to think about math equations when he’s sitting in class with a growling stomach.

When he arrives in the morning, Fabian eats breakfast served by the school in South Phoenix, but he can get hungry in the classes before lunch. On days he doesn’t eat at home first, even the meals offered by the school aren’t enough to keep him feeling full.

“It’s hard to focus in class when I’m hungry. Food helps me pay attention to what I’m learning,” said Fabian, 10.

At his school, V. H. Lassen Academy of Science and Nutrition, all students are eligible to receive free meals. The Roosevelt School District, where 80% of students are Hispanic and 12% are Black, covers the meals with aid from a federal program for low-income school communities.

To reach students who might be embarrassed about not having eaten at home, the school recently changed how it distributes free breakfast. Carts filled with prepackaged breakfast meals are rolled outside by the entrance to the school, instead of being kept in the cafeteria.

“We realized that a lot of our students were going straight to the playground and not going into the cafeteria to eat before school, from the 7 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. timeframe,” said Jessica Padilla, a sixth-grade math and science teacher.

While they lasted, the universal free meals addressed several concerns about student hunger. There was no paperwork involved. And kids who needed them didn’t have to worry about stigma because they were available to everyone. Some states including California are using state money to continue these programs, but most have gone back to charging all but the neediest kids for meals.

When the free meals for all came to an end, “families were left scrambling and confused,” National PTA President Anna King said. They weren’t prepared for the paperwork after two years without it — and many families with young kids had never filled them out.

It can be difficult for parents to ask for the help they need, said Jillien Meier, director of No Kid Hungry. Immigrant parents, she said, might also avoid filling out forms requesting free or reduced-price meals out of concern it could bring unwanted attention if they are in the U.S. illegally.

Teachers often are the ones to pick up on chronic hunger in students.

Martissa Moore, a teacher at Bainbridge Middle School in Bainbridge, Georgia, recalls a seventh-grade student who had his head on his desk during class, picked arguments with other students and struggled to keep up academically. Moore sensed he wasn’t getting enough to eat.

Each day that year, she brought him whatever her daughter had for breakfast and slowly saw progress in his reading skills.

“You just do what you have to do for your students because you don’t want them hungry,” Moore said.

Hilary Seligman, senior medical advisor with Feeding America, said it shouldn’t be up to teachers to address child hunger.

“Because we have so much food insecurity among children, we shift that responsibility to the schools,” she said. “But normal childhood development is having access to food at home. That is part of creating for families in America a stable environment where kids are ready to learn when they arrive in school.”

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The Agriculture Department on Thursday issued new requirements for foods labeled organic, a move aimed at cracking down on fraud and boosting oversight.

The rule strengthens enforcement of the USDA’s strict definitions of organic, which must rely on “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.”

The rule requires USDA’s National Organic Program certification for all imported organic food, increases certifications of more businesses in the supply chain and boosts authority for inspections, record-keeping, traceability and fraud prevention practices.

The Organic Trade Association, which lobbied for rule, said it represents the biggest change to organic regulations since the creation of the USDA organic food program.

OTA officials said in a statement the regulation “will do much to deter and detect organic fraud and protect organic integrity throughout the supply chain.”

Sales of organic foods in the U.S. topped $63 billion in 2021, according to OTA, with consumers willing to pay top dollar for products free of pesticides and other contaminants.

Fresh produce, grains and other foods are vulnerable to fraud. This month, Department of Justice officials issued indictments in a multimillion-dollar scheme to export non-organic grain to the U.S., to be sold as a certified organic product.

The new rule takes effect in March and companies will have a year to comply with the requirements.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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STUDY FINDINGS EMPHASIZE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THINKING ABOUT NUTRIENTS

The answer to a relatively concise question – how does what we eat affect how we age — is unavoidably complex, according to a new study at the Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. While most analyses had been concerned with the effects of a single nutrient on a single outcome, a conventional, unidimensional approach to understanding the effects of diet on health and aging no longer provides us with the full picture: healthy diet needs to be considered based on the balance of ensembles of nutrients, rather than by optimizing a series of nutrients one at a time. Until now little was known about how normal variation in dietary patterns in humans affects the aging process. The findings are published online in the journal BMC Biology.
 
“Our ability to understand the problem has been complicated by the fact that both nutrition and the physiology of aging are highly complex and multidimensional, involving a high number of functional interactions,” said Alan Cohen, PhD, associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School. “This study therefore provides further support to the importance of looking beyond ‘a single nutrient at a time’ as the one size fits all response to the age-old question of how to live a long and healthy life.” Cohen also points that the results are also concordant with numerous studies highlighting the need for increased protein intake in older people, in particular, to offset sarcopenia and decreased physical performance associated with aging.
 
Using multidimensional modelling techniques to test the effects of nutrient intake on physiological dysregulation in older adults, the researchers identified key patterns of specific nutrients associated with minimal biological aging. “Our approach presents a roadmap for future studies to explore the full complexity of the nutrition-aging landscape,” observed Cohen, who is also affiliated with the Butler Columbia Aging Center.

The researchers analyzed data from 1560 older men and women, aged 67-84 years selected randomly between November 2003 and June 2005 from the Montreal, Laval, or Sherbrooke areas in Quebec, Canada, who were re-examined annually for 3 years and followed over four years to assess on a large-scale how nutrient intake associates with the aging process. 

Aging and age-related loss of homeostasis (physiological dysregulation) were quantified via the integration of blood biomarkers. The effects of diet used the geometric framework for nutrition, applied to macronutrients and 19 micronutrients/nutrient subclasses. Researchers fitted a series of eight models exploring different nutritional predictors and adjusted for income, education level, age, physical activity, number of comorbidities, sex, and current smoking status.

Four broad patterns were observed:

    •    The optimal level of nutrient intake was dependent on the aging metric used. Elevated
protein intake improved/depressed some ageing parameters, whereas elevated carbohydrate levels improved/depressed others;
 
    •    There were cases where intermediate levels of nutrients performed well for many outcomes (i.e. arguing against a simple more/less is better perspective);
 
    •    There is broad tolerance for nutrient intake patterns that don’t deviate too much from norms
(‘homeostatic plateaus’).
 
    •    Optimal levels of one nutrient often depend on levels of another (e.g. vitamin E and vitamin C). Simpler analytical approaches are insufficient to capture such associations.
 
The research team also developed an interactive tool to allow users to explore how different combinations of micronutrients affect different aspects of aging.
 
The results of this study are consistent with earlier experimental work in mice showing that high-protein diets may accelerate aging earlier in life, but are beneficial at older ages.

“These results are not experimental and will need to be validated in other contexts. Specific findings, such as the salience of the combination of vitamin E and vitamin C, may well not replicate in other studies. But the qualitative finding that there are no simple answers to optimal nutrition is likely to hold up: it was evident in nearly all our analyses, from a wide variety of approaches, and is consistent with evolutionary principles and much previous work,” said Cohen.

Co-authors are Alistair M. Senior, David Raubenheimer, and Stephen J. Simpson, University of Sydney; Véronique Legault and Francis B. Lavoie, University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada; Nancy Presse and Valérie Turcot, CIUSSS-de-l’Estrie-CHUS, Sherbrooke, Canada;  l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, Canada, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada; Pierrette Gaudreau, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; David G. Le Couteur, University of Sydney and Aging and Alzheimers Institute and ANZAC Research Institute, Concord Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.

The study was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC DECRA: DE180101520), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grants 153011 and 62842; as well as grants from Fonds de recherche du Québec(FRQ) grant #2020-VICO-279753, Quebec Network for Research on Aging.

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Cindy Uken | Contributed

For Hunger Action Month® this September, FIND Food Bank will join Feeding America and 200 network food banks to inspire people to take action and raise awareness of locals in the Coachella Valley and Hi-Desert facing food insecurity.

Record high prices at the gas pump and grocery stores are dragging on longer than expected, pushing more working people into food bank lines. FIND is engaging with the public through fundraising and awareness events to leave no local hungry.

“Hunger Action Month is a time when our community comes together to learn and raise awareness of hunger because while we’re making strides in our United States to meet people’s needs, we still have many people who are experiencing food insecurity,” FIND CEO Debbie Espinosa said. “Our service numbers are not back to pre-pandemic levels, and a lot of that has to do with the increasing cost of food and gas. Though we have many employed people, their salaries have not increased at the same rate as the necessities in life. That’s why we count on our community to volunteer, donate, and advocate for their neighbors facing food insecurity this month and year-round.”

FIND Food Bank serves more than 150,000 people on average each month who are struggling to make ends meet while inflation shrinks their household budgets. FIND’s efforts are also challenged by the increases in sourcing and transportation costs, fewer corporate food donations, and the end of pandemic federal nutrition programs.

During September, businesses, city governments, and individuals across the Coachella Valley and Hi-Desert can participate by donating, volunteering, learning, and speaking up about ways to fight hunger.

Go Orange

Nine Coachella Valley cities, Twentynine Palms, and the McCallum Theater and Desert Care Network, including the El Mirador tower at the Desert Regional Medical Center, are lighting up orange throughout September. Orange is the color of hunger awareness because it stands out when hunger is too often a hidden issue. When you see a city hall or monument lit orange, take a moment to speak out about hunger online, sign up for a volunteer event, or donate to support your neighbors facing food insecurity.

Dine, Shop, and Donate for Hunger Relief

Restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and entertainment venues across the Coachella Valley and Hi-Desert are offering special food and beverage items, events, fundraisers, retail specials, and virtual food drives, with a portion of proceeds going to support FIND Food Bank’s hunger relief efforts.

Sponsor is Pioneertown Motel, Pioneertown, Hi-Desert.

Partnering Businesses are:

Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Palm Springs

Birba, Palm Springs

Cork & Fork, Heirloom Craft Kitchen, and Tu Madres Cantina, Indio, and La Quinta

Desert Beer Company, Palm Desert

Desert Wine Shop on 111, Palm Desert

Eight4Nine, Palm Springs

Grill-A-Burger, Palm Desert

Hotel Paseo, Palm Desert

Kimpton Rowan Hotel, Palm Springs

La Fe Wine Bar, Palm Desert

Perfect Pint, Palm Desert

PS Underground, Palm Springs

Starbucks, 37 participating locations in the Coachella Valley region

Hunger Action Month is a time to mobilize to end hunger. You can choose to donate or advocate. You can choose to volunteer or raise awareness. You can choose to help end hunger.

About FIND Food Bank

Founded in 1983, FIND Food Bank is the Desert’s Regional Food Bank serving over 5,000 square miles, including eastern Riverside and southern San Bernardino Counties, from the Hi-Desert and Joshua Tree across the Coachella Valley to Anza, down to the Salton Sea and the border of CA and AZ. FIND is the largest hunger-relief and food rescue organization in the region. They are the Feeding America food bank for the Coachella Valley desert region, recognized as the USDA distributor for eastern Riverside County and the County of Riverside, and the State of CA as the regional Disaster Response food bank. FIND’s mission is to end hunger today, tomorrow, and for a lifetime. To end hunger for Today, FIND currently feeds an average of 150,000 individuals, families, children, seniors, and veterans each month. Their 150 distribution sites include over 80 community agency partnerships (soup kitchens, religious organizations, and local nonprofits) and 44 Community Mobile Markets that serve food deserts and low-income areas. FIND’s two distribution centers in the Coachella Valley and Hi-Desert help ensure equitable food distribution for all. To end hunger for Tomorrow, FIND offers outreach services to connect people who are food insecure with benefits programs that improve financial security. FIND works to end hunger for a Lifetime by identifying the root causes of hunger to break cycles of food insecurity and achieve self-sufficiency.

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It’s hard to be healthy when you’re hungry. 

According to the USDA, 38 million Americans don’t have enough food to eat. Nearly a third of those are children. Black families are three times as likely as whites to experience what experts call “food insecurity” — not knowing where your next meal will come from. One in six Hispanic households are short on food, compared to one in 10 nationally. 

In the early months of the pandemic, the food insecurity rate doubled for American households and tripled for those with children. And while researchers found that racial and ethnic disparities did not widen during the pandemic, differences became more evident, according to a study in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. “Black households were more likely to report that they could not afford to buy more food; Asian and Hispanic households were more likely to be afraid to go out to buy food; Asian households were more likely to face transportation issues when purchasing food; while White households were more likely to report that stores did not have the food they wanted,” the study’s authors write. 

Because of the disproportionate impact of poverty in America, lack of food is an issue in many Black and Brown communities. The COVID-19 pandemic shone a bright light on a problem that predated the virus. It illuminated the problem for millions of our neighbors whose health is at risk, not only because of a worldwide pandemic, but also because their refrigerators and cupboards are nearly empty. 

In March 2020, schools shut down while their meal prep ramped up. When classroom doors closed, two meals a day disappeared for many children. Before figuring out how to educate students stuck at home, schools had to figure out how to feed them first. 

One month into the pandemic, I launched a long-planned family engagement advisory team with the school district where I live in Montgomery County, Maryland. We planned to provide input on things like graduation and how to include families in learning. Those issues were put on hold. One of our first tasks was to help identify gaps in food delivery. The district opened meal distribution sites in high density, underserved communities. We needed more. I had so many messages from community members needing food that our PTA Council started keeping a list to share with school leaders. We heard from neighborhoods, apartment complexes and other areas that needed walkable distribution sites, because young children of essential workers learning at home alone couldn’t cross busy highways to get lunch. Teens didn’t have time to dash to school, pick up lunch, and get home in time for virtual afternoon classes. We had to adjust rules and hours because parents working second shift couldn’t pick up their children’s meals in bulk and get to work on time.

It turns out food insecurity isn’t entirely geographic. A parent leader in one of our wealthiest neighborhoods — where the median income is three times the national average — called requesting meals for isolated families in her community, who lacked transportation to get to the nearest distribution site three miles away.

COVID taught us a lot about feeding people, especially children. Most significantly, we learned that nutritional standards matter because meals provided by schools are the only meals some children eat all day.  We learned that it takes a coordinated community effort by local leaders, restaurants, community groups and volunteers to feed the masses. We learned that rules and regulations that make sense in normal times can prevent people from being fed in a crisis. Leaders must be nimble, flexible and willing to exercise common sense to prevent red tape from getting in the way. And we learned that people may not know who to ask for help when they need it, or may be uncomfortable doing so. 

Now, we have the opportunity to use those lessons moving forward. The federal government responded to the pandemic food crisis by creating new food programs, expanding old ones and making existing programs more flexible. Agencies cut red tape so millions of people — many of them out of work — could eat. For example, USDA created waivers allowing parents to pick up meals in bulk for children to eat at home during virtual learning. The agency enrolled 6 million people in SNAP benefits after dropping its personal interview requirement. The IRS sent three rounds of direct cash payments – stimulus checks – to families in need. Real-time reporting of food insecurity waxed and waned with those payments. This is proof that permanent solutions are needed.

This fall Congress will decide whether to reauthorize and expand access and funding for child nutrition programs like SNAP, WIC, school breakfast and lunch — and lesser-known federal programs such as the law that provides $200 million a year for fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income elementary schools. In a May policy brief in Health Affairs, nutrition experts argue this legislation offers an opportunity to make changes enacted during the pandemic permanent, with improvements. One example: the federal government’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program. Struggling farmers and food distributors shipped 175 million boxes of fresh produce, dairy and cooked meats to families across America. The program shut down May 31 due to massive problems, exacerbated by supply chain issues. That doesn’t mean it won’t work. It means that now, without the pressure of a growing global pandemic, the government can and should figure out how to run this program more efficiently.

The policy brief makes several recommendations, including keeping COVID policies that make it easier for families to qualify for food benefits, incentivizing the purchase of high-quality, fresh food, and more funding to help farmers and other agricultural producers stay afloat by getting healthy food to those who need it most.      

Now is the time to have this conversation, and to act on it. In a few months lawmakers will face the annual September 30 deadline to authorize funding. If they follow the pattern I saw for 18 years covering Congress, they’ll miss the deadline. There will be arm-twisting, grandstanding and finger-pointing for months. Everyone will say they’re frustrated but no one will act. At the end of the year lawmakers will go home to turkey dinners and holiday feasts while millions of people who sent them to Washington struggle to afford a ham sandwich.          

It’s up to the representatives we elected to make food security a priority. It’s up to us to remind them why that’s important. Now is the time to use what we’ve learned in this pandemic to ensure that our neighbors aren’t hungry, and that they have access to affordable, healthy food. 

Because as a coworker often reminded me: “People gotta eat.”

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This list is based on prior customer reviews.

5. Chef’s Kitchen To-Go

Have you ever tried soft Korean fried wings? If you have, then be happy because it is quite rare for a person who lives in Moreno City to try this great delight. Saucy Korean fried chicken is now common in the USA, but this restaurant has unique soft fried wings.

4. KK’S Oh Taste and See

Finding soul food in California is not a big deal. Right? But to find the real and authentic flavor from an American-African is quite a tough task. But you don’t have to do this tough task as we have done it on your behalf and got your favorite soul food and southern fried chicken. So what else do you want?

3. Byrd’s Hot Chicken

This is one of the famous places not only in this city but in California when it comes to hot and spicy chicken recipes. And fried chicken is on top of them.

2. Krispy Krunchy Chicken

Are you a lover of crispy and crunchy Cajun fried chicken? If so, why are you finding more restaurants when you have a Krispy Krunchy Chicken restaurant in your city near you? Stop waiting anymore and give a treat to yourself.

1. Hotties Chicken

This is one of the most famous in California and the best place in this city for fried chicken, especially when it comes to Nashville’s hot fried chicken. You can see the lovers of Nashville hot chicken in almost every street. But not everyone knows how to cook it. But the one who knows is like a celebrity.

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CEREAL FIBER BUT NOT FRUIT OR VEGETABLE FIBERS IS ASSOCIATED WITH A LOWER RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues evaluated whether dietary fiber intake was associated with a decrease in inflammation in older adults, and if fiber was inversely related to cardiovascular disease. The results showed that total fiber, and more specifically, cereal fiber, but not fruit or vegetable fiber, was consistently associated with lower inflammation and lower CVD incidence. Until now, there had been limited data on the link between fiber and inflammation among older adults, who have higher levels of inflammation compared with younger adults. The study findings are published in JAMA Network Open.

The research includes data from a large and well-characterized prospective cohort of elderly individuals, with detailed data on dietary intake, inflammation, and incidence of CVD. The research confirmed previously observed associations between dietary fiber and CVD and extended those investigations to include the source of the fiber, the relationship of fiber with multiple inflammatory markers, and to test whether inflammation mediated the relationship between dietary fiber and CVD.

Of the 4,125 adults enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study from 1989 to 1990, participants received a food frequency questionnaire that was administered to those without prevalent CVD at enrollment and then were followed up visits for development CVD (stroke, myocardial infarction, atherosclerotic cardiovascular death) through June 2015. Blood samples were assessed for markers of inflammation. 


“Higher intakes of dietary fiber is associated with lower CVD risk. A common hypothesis has been that higher fiber intakes reduce inflammation, subsequently leading to lower CVD risk,” said Rupak Shivakoti, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School. “With findings from this study, we are now learning that one particular type of dietary fiber—cereal fiber—but not fruit or vegetable fiber was associated with lower inflammation. With findings from this study, we now are learning that cereal fiber has the potential to reduce inflammation and will need to be tested in future interventional studies.”

Although there are data to suggest that fiber, in general, might have anti-inflammatory effects by improving gut function, modifying diet and satiety (e.g., reduced fat and total energy intake), and improving lipid and glucose profile metabolism, why cereal fiber but not vegetable or fruit fiber is associated with lower inflammation is not clear and warrants further investigation, noted Shivakoti. Further, he noted it is not clear whether cereal fiber per se or other nutrients in foods rich in cereal fiber are driving the observed relationships. 

“Additionally, we learned that inflammation had only a modest role in mediating the observed inverse association between cereal fiber and CVD,” observed Shivakoti. “This suggests that factors other than inflammation may play a larger role in the cereal fiber–associated reduction in CVD and will need to be tested in future interventions of specific populations.” 

Co-authors are from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; University of Washington; Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Harvard Medical School; Boston Veterans Healthcare; Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System; University of California–San Francisco; Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; New York Academy of Medicine; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.  

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The Habit Burger Grill, the California-based restaurant company renowned for its award-winning Charburgers grilled over an open flame, signature sandwiches, fresh-cut salads and more announces the grand opening of a new location in North Corona. Located at 870 N Main Street, the fast-casual restaurant will serve up its ‘Habit Hospitality’ on January 5th.

In honor of the exciting grand opening, The Habit Burger Grill is hosting exclusive pre-opening VIP events for The Habit’s CharClub members. Guests can receive an invite to this exclusive sneak peek by signing up for the CharClub at www.habitburger.com/northcorona.

• Free Charburger Day (Monday, January 3rd): The first 200 guests at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. will receive a free freshly-made Charburger, Fries and Drink. Must be a CharClub member and present VIP invitation. (Safely serving our guests is our top priority, proper safety measures will be in place.)
• Free Habit Day (Tuesday, January 4th): The first 200 guests at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. will receive a free chargrilled meal from one of our pre-set menus. Must be a CharClub member and present VIP invitation.

Upon opening, the local restaurant will offer dine-in, takeout and drive-thru ordering. Convenient curbside pick-up and delivery is available via The Habit Mobile App and online at order.habitburger.com. Contactless delivery is also available through DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats. Guests also have additional convenient ordering options including state-of-the-art indoor self-serve kiosks and ordering ahead via phone.

“It is a great joy for our team to bring The Habit Burger Grill’s one-of-a-kind flavor to North Corona. Guests can look forward to trying some of our signature items, like the Charburger, cooked fresh to order,” said Iwona Alter, Chief Brand Officer at The Habit Burger Grill.

The Habit Burger Grill is California’s best-kept secret, as it was recently named in Thrillist’s list of “Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State!” With its cooked-to-order mantra, The Habit Burger Grill’s open flame sears a distinctive smoky flavor into their famous Charburgers, fresh marinated chicken, sushi-grade Ahi tuna and USDA choice Tenderloin steak. The Habit Burger Grill also offers three family bundles at an unbeatable value, perfect for lunches or dinners at home. Guests at The Habit Burger Grill can always count on freshly-made, handcrafted quality served up with genuine hospitality.

This Habit Burger Grill restaurant’s dining room will be open Monday to Sunday from 10:30am – 10:00pm with the drive-thru remaining open until 11:00pm.

Connect with The Habit Burger Grill on social media at facebook.com/habitburger, instagram.com/habitburgergrill, twitter.com/habitburger, and youtube.com/habittube.

About The Habit Restaurants, Inc.
The Habit Burger Grill is a burger-centric, fast-casual restaurant concept that specializes in preparing fresh, cooked-to-order chargrilled burgers and handcrafted sandwiches featuring USDA choice Tenderloin steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade Ahi tuna cooked over an open flame. In addition, it features fresh-cut salads and an appealing selection of sides and shakes. The Habit Burger Grill was named the “best tasting burger in America” in July 2014 in a comprehensive survey conducted by one of America’s leading consumer magazines. The first Habit Burger Grill opened in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 and was recently named in Thrillist’s list of “Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State!” The Habit Burger Grill has since grown to over 285 restaurants in 14 states throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Washington as well as 12 international locations, eight in China and four in Cambodia. More information is available at www.habitburger.com.

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As part of its commitment to help create healthier generations, The Walt Disney Company has made a contribution to Feeding America® to support efforts to source more produce and increase the number of nutritious meals provided to children and families who need it most. The funds will be distributed to 30 Feeding America member food banks throughout the U.S. Last year, Feeding America secured more than 2.1 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables and plans to provide even more nourishing produce to families in need this year.

“We are grateful for Disney’s multifaceted support of our work and nearly decade-long collaboration that has helped provide much needed meals for our neighbors facing food insecurity across the country,” said Casey Marsh, Chief Development Officer at Feeding America. “From helping us source more nutritious produce, to showing up in person with their Disney VoluntEARS program, to raising crucial awareness through all of their media platforms, Disney has provided unwavering support to our work and the fight to end hunger in America.”

Disney has supported Feeding America’s efforts to end hunger in the U.S. since 2012, providing significant funding for the organization’s produce programs and volunteer efforts at member food banks. This year’s funding will help food banks provide more fresh produce to kids and families facing hunger by removing barriers to sourcing and distributing produce, such as building capacity by increasing refrigeration and equipment at food banks or helping to store and distribute fresh produce within communities to people who need it most.

In addition to the funding Disney provides each year, the company regularly donates unserved food to support people in need in our local communities, as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing food waste and helping address food insecurity. Each year, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort provide more than 1.2 million meals* as well as Disney VoluntEARS who participate in efforts where cast members collect, sort and distribute food to their local Second Harvest Food Banks which are part of Feeding America’s network of food banks. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in the U.S. have contributed more than $6.7 millionworth of food donations to hunger-relief organizations nationwide.

Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, Feeding America helped provide 6.6 billion meals** to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America estimates that at least 60 million people turned to charitable food assistance in the United States last year.

See list of grant recipient food banks below.

Central Texas Food Bank – Austin, TX
Connecticut Foodshare – Wallingford, CT
Lowcountry Food Bank – Charleston, SC
Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina – Charlotte, NC
Greater Chicago Food Depository – Chicago, IL
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano – Concord, CA
Montgomery County Food Bank               – Conroe, TX
Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina – Fayetteville, NC
Treasure Coast Food Bank – Fort Pierce, FL
Central California Food Bank – Fresno, CA
Northern Illinois Food Bank – Geneva, IL
Long Island Cares, Inc. – Hauppauge, NY
Community Foodbank of New Jersey – Hillside, NJ
Houston Food Bank – Houston, TX
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County – Irvine, CA
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank               – Los Angeles, CA
Food Bank For New York City – New York, NY
City Harvest – New York, NY
Alameda County Community Food Bank               – Oakland, CA
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida – Orlando, FL
Food Share of Ventura County – Oxnard, CA
Feeding South Florida – Pembroke Park, FL
Philabundance – Philadelphia, PA
Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina – Raleigh, NC
Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino Counties – Riverside, CA
San Francisco and Marin Food Banks – San Francisco, CA
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley                – San Jose, CA
Redwood Empire Food Bank – Santa Rosa, CA
Food Lifeline – Seattle, WA
Capital Area Food Bank – Washington, DC

To learn about Feeding America and the network of food banks, visit FeedingAmerica.org/Disney.

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