Movers and Shakers in Memoriam

MOVERS AND SHAKERS of new business models and retail modernization, and fostering, strengthening, and supporting a culture of food Houlton Named Dean of Cornell's College of safety will reduce the number of foodborne illnesses, an- Agriculture and Life Sciences nounced in the FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety Benjamin Z. Houlton, director of the John Muir Institute of Blueprint. the Environment and professor of global environmental The blueprint is a 10-year framework for food safety that studies at the University of California, Davis, has been builds on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The named Cornell University's Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the plan describes how the government and industry will use College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He also will be technology to add to the goal of reducing the number of appointed a professor in the Departments of Ecology and cases of foodborne illness. Evolutionary Biology and of Global Development. This new set of guidelines, which were delayed by An accomplished environmental scientist, Houlton is 4 months because of the pandemic, revolve around 4 core recognized internationally for research collaborations into principles that require the use of digital tools and new ecosystem processes and solutions to ameliorate climate technologies such as blockchain, end-to-end traceability, change and to improve carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus e-commerce, big data, and predictive analytics to mod- cycles for energy and food production. ernize food safety. One of the pilot initiatives that the Houlton succeeds Kathryn Boor ‘80, who will become FDA is conducting is artificial intelligence and machine dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate learning review of imported foods at US ports of entry. education. The adequate intake will model historical shipment data Houlton will share responsibility for leadership of Cornell to assist with product screening and determine if products Cooperative Extension throughout New York State with meet US food safety standards. Rachel Dunifon, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean Food manufacturers and experts have been pushing for of Cornell's College of Human Ecology. blockchain technology and interactive packaging for years Houlton has served on the University of California, Davis, in order to increase supply chain traceability and give con- faculty since 2007, teaching global environmental studies, sumers more insight into their products' origins. The FDA and published more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles wants to use this plan to encourage more widespread in such leading journals as Nature, Science,andthePro- adoption of these technologies by incentivizing the crea- ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. tion of solutions with low and no cost, enabling food pro- In 2006, he won the Gene E. Likens Award from the ducers of all sizes to participate. Additionally, the FDA Ecological Society of America. The award is named for said it will implement an internal digital technology system Likens, who was a Cornell professor (1969–1983) in the to track data elements from industry and regulatory part- Section of Ecology and Systematics, the predecessor of ners. The blueprint also addresses business models that the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He did not exist when FSMA was passed, but are common to- has also received an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Young day. It includes setting several standards for food delivery Investigator Award (2008) and an NSF CAREER Award (2011). safety, providing training for those who do food delivery Houlton earned a bachelor's degree in water chemistry as well as creating educational materials for consumers (1998) from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; a about the safety of foods that are delivered. It also outlines master's degree in environmental engineering (2000) from plans to work with retailers, reviewing the effectiveness of Syracuse University; and a doctorate in ecology and evolu- current ways they try to prevent foodborne illness and tionary biology (2005) from Princeton University. After- working with them on effective facility design. ward, he served for 2 years as a postdoctoral scholar in For more information, go to: https://www.fda.gov/ biological sciences at Stanford University and the Carnegie media/139868/download. Institute of Science at Stanford. Houlton grew up in Wisconsin, where his family roots span a long line of Midwestern dairy and poultry farmers. We wish him well in Ithaca! IN MEMORIAM Rod Leonard, Community Nutrition Institute FDA Releases Food Safety Blueprint That Uses Founder Set Minnesota and US Food Policies for Tech to Build on FSMA Decades The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) believes Rod Leonard, a key behind-the-scenes player in setting tech-enabled traceability, using smarter tools and approaches state and national food policies over several decades, died for prevention and outbreak response, taking advantage in August. He was 90. Rod, as he was known to one and all,

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Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. was a wonderful communicator who was deeply commit- His academic research and contribution to the science ted to social justice, consumer issues, and, above all, to of human health launched and enhanced careers, touching what later became the USDA's food programs. Leonard many lives, while his professional support empowered sci- was a longtime assistant to the late Orville Freeman when entists across the world. In 1948, he won a place at he was governor of Minnesota and later when Freeman Downing College Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, was US secretary of agriculture under Presidents John F. earning a PhD in 1955. A 37-year career at the university Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. When Freeman was elected followed, during which he first became interested in the governor in 1954, he hired Leonard as his press secretary field of atherosclerosis. He was secretary and organizing and legislative troubleshooter, posts that he held for three committee member for the first International Symposium 2-year terms. When Kennedy was elected president in on Atherosclerosis held in Athens in 1966 and was an edi- 1960, he appointed Freeman as secretary of agriculture, tor of the proceedings. This led to research into obesity. He and Leonard went to Washington with him. Kennedy di- found and edited the International Journal of Obesity and rected Freeman to develop a pilot food assistance program became secretary of the Obesity Association—now known to address hunger and poverty, and Leonard, after or- as the Association for the Study of Obesity. In 1981, at the ganizing the Department of Agriculture's press office, age of 52, his life changed when he launched the Cambridge headed up that effort. There he helped create the Women, Diet, a protein supplement–modified fast-type formula. It Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program. was through this accomplishment that the Howard Foun- HecontinuedtoworkonfoodpolicyunderPresident dation was established a year later, overseeing some of Johnson, helping to develop a “food stamp” program sim- the profits, which were driven into charitable initiatives ilar to today's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and scientific research projects on how diet impacts health. known as SNAP. Howard received an honorary fellowship awarded to him After Johnson left the presidency in 1969, Leonard by Downing College and from WIT. In 2009, he received founded the Community Nutrition Institute in Washington, the Chancellor's 88th Anniversary Medal for outstanding DC, to advise policymakers on federal food assistance philanthropy, which was awarded to him by the Duke of programs and advocate for food safety. He returned to Edinburgh Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace. Dr Howard the White House a few years later to serve in President wished to be remembered as a scientist who found solu- Jimmy Carter's consumer affairs office, where he worked tions to enhancing human health. on food labeling efforts. After Carter's term ended, he went back to Community Nutrition Institute, where he re- CALENDAR sumed conducting research, writing, and advocating on Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Food & Nutrition Virtual food and farm issues. Conference & Expo Leonard also wrote 2 books on Freeman, one on his October 17 to 20, 2020 terms as governor and another on his stint as secretary of http://www.eatright.org agriculture. In his retirement, he joined the board of the In- APHA 2020—Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing stitute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, Violence where he continued to advocate for meat inspection and October 24 to 28, 2020 other food safety measures. Our condolences to his family. https://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual His benign presence in the field of nutrition will be sorely The Obesity Society ObesityWeek® 2020 Interactive missed. November 2 to 6, 2020 Alan Howard, PhD, Cambridge Diet Inventor https://obesityweek.org Alan Norman Howard, PhD, passed away this summer. He School Nutrition Association School Nutrition Industry was a pioneer in the field of nutrition and obesity whose Conference work achieved global commercial success. An entrepre- January 10 to 12, 2021 neur and scientist, Howard invented the Cambridge Diet, Tampa, Florida a very low-calorie diet, which was all the rage in the late http://schoolnutrition.org 1970s and 1980s and which later enabled him to establish American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology Vir- a charitable trust, the Howard Foundation. The man be- tual Annual Meeting hind the weight-loss plan influenced millions of people February 26 to March 1, 2021 with obesity. www.aaaai.org

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158 000 women and close to 36 500 men who were free NEWSBREAKS INCLUDE: from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer and participating in 2 large observational studies; the Nurses' Health Study, ▪ Virtues of Fruits, Veggies, and Nurses' Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-up Grains Study. After adjusting for lifestyle and dietary risk factors for diabetes, participants in the highest category for total ▪ New Birth to 24 months Feeding whole-grain consumption had a 29% lower rate of T2DM Recommendations Whole Grains compared with those in the lowest category. For individual Confusion whole-grain foods, the researchers found that consuming 1 or more servings a day of whole-grain cold breakfast cereal or dark bread was associated with a lower risk of T2DM (19% and 21%, respectively) compared with consuming MODEST INCREASE OF FRUIT, less than 1 serving a month. For other individual whole-grain VEGETABLES, AND WHOLE GRAINS products with lower average intake levels, consumption LINKED TO LOWER RISK OF TYPE 2 of 2 or more servings a week compared with less than 1 DIABETES serving a month was associated with a 21% lower risk for oatmeal, a 15% lower risk for added bran, and a 12% lower Two new studies explore the impact of higher consump- risk for brown rice and wheat germ. These reductions in tion of fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain foods on lower- risk seemed to plateau at approximately 2 servings a day ing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus for total whole-grain intake and at approximately half a (T2DM). The findings suggest that even a modest increase serving a day for whole-grain cold breakfast cereal and in consumption of these foods as part of a healthy diet dark bread. Of course, those who were in these groups could decrease risk of T2DM. In the first study, a team of probably varied in other ways as well and because both European researchers examined the association between studies are observational cause and effect cannot be estab- blood levels of vitamin C and carotenoids with risk of de- lished, and there is a possibility that some of the results veloping T2DM. Vitamin C and carotenoid levels are more may be due to unmeasured (confounding) factors. Never- reliable indicators of fruit and vegetable intake than using theless, these are useful clues to pursue in studying what dietary questionnaires. Their findings are based on almost the mechanisms for such effects might be. Also, other re- 10 000 adults who developed new-onset T2DM and a com- search links a healthy diet with better health, and the find- parison group of 13 600 adults who remained free of diabe- ings provide further support for current recommendations tes during follow-up from among a little over 340 000 to increase fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain consumption participants who were taking part in the European Pro- as part of a healthy diet to prevent T2DM. spective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–InterAct Sources: Zheng J, et al Association of plasma biomarkers study in 8 European countries. They adjusted for lifestyle, of fruit and vegetable intake with incident type 2 diabetes: social, and dietary risk factors for diabetes. They found that EPIC-InterAct case-cohort study in eight European coun- higher blood levels of each of vitamin C and carotenoids tries. BMJ 2020; m2194, doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2194. and their sum, which was combined into the “composite Hu, Y. et al. Intake of whole-grain foods and risk of type biomarker score,” were associated with a lower risk of de- 2 diabetes: results from three prospective cohort studies. veloping T2DM. Compared with people who had the low- BMJ 2020; m2206 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m2206. est composite biomarker score, the risk in people whose biomarker score was in the top 20% of the population NEED TO FURTHER HARMONIZE was 50% lower. The risk in those with biomarker scores be- FEEDING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR tween these 2 extremes was intermediate. The researchers BIRTH TO 24 MONTHS calculate that every increase of 66 g per day in total fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 25% lower risk Guidelines about feeding children younger than 2 are gen- of developing T2DM. What needs more exploration is erally consistent, but there are some inconsistencies. One is whether differences in weight status or other factors ac- the minimum recommended age to which breastfeeding counted for some of those differences as well. In the second should be continued, says a new report from the National study, researchers in the United States examined associa- Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. There tions between total and individual whole-grain food intake is substantial opportunity to harmonize the development and T2DM. Their findings were based on a little over of future feeding guidelines across government agencies,

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Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. professional societies, and nonprofit organizations—in or- Of the 43 guideline documents reviewed, most were der to establish more consistent guidance, avoid duplicate targeted to healthcare providers (particularly physicians, efforts, and ensure effective communication and dissemi- nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists, and registered dietitian nation, says Feeding Infants and Children From Birth to nutritionists), who are typically expected to provide the infor- 24 Months: Summarizing Existing Guidance. mation to parents and guardians. Other important audiences The report—which reviews 43 guideline documents include early care and education providers, policymakers, from authoritative groups—compares recommendations and administrators of programs such as the Child and Adult across these groups, evaluates their breadth and consis- Care Food Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition tency, and assesses the type of evidence underpinning Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The report calls each recommendation. Recommendations are grouped for guideline developers to identify effective ways to com- into 26 topics covering “what to feed” and “how to feed.” municate with all stakeholders. Among the “what to feed” topics in the report, the The committee also identified several evidence gaps related committee reviewed recommendations on breastfeeding; to the communication and dissemination of feeding guidelines, formula-feeding; the suitability of cow's milk; substances including the use of telehealth; the impact of social media to avoid or limit; vegetarian and vegan diets; introduction dissemination; and the role of community health workers of foods associated with allergies, including peanuts; and and peer counselors in sharing information with socioeconom- the use of nutrient supplements. The “how to feed” topics ically vulnerable, rural, and other hard-to-reach populations. include the safety of certain foods and feeding practices, The report offers insights to help align and improve fu- bottle use and propping, hunger and satiety cues, the intro- ture guidelines, including collaboration between organiza- duction of complementary foods (foods other than breast tions during the guideline planning and development milk or infant formula), and food consistency and texture. process; the use of best practices for guideline development; For many of the topics, the recommendations from the and timely and effective dissemination of evidence-based various sources were consistent or had only slight nuances recommendations, based on the principles of dissemination in wording. However, there was some inconsistency in the and implementation science. The Dietary Guidelines Advi- specific ages or age ranges stated in some of the recom- sory Committee 2020-2025 reports provides additional in- mendations, and other recommendations varied in their formation that may be useful. specificity. For example, some organizations made recom- For more information, go to https://www.nap.edu/catalog/ mendations about the timing of introduction of peanuts 25747/feeding-infants-and-children-from-birth-to-24-months- based on the infant's risk of peanut allergy, whereas others summarizing. A free copy of the report is available at the website, did not differentiate on that basis. long with many other interesting reports on related topics.

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