M6.7 : Obesogens

·       Utilizing the first article, discuss what is locally grown and what is currently in season in your area.

Using the link provided in the first article, I’ve found that there’s about 100 difference types of produce that are available in California in early October. I’ve noticed that the website included produce that are available year round such as green onion, cilantro, and cabbage. The prices for these produce are pretty stable throughout the year for there’s no significant increase or decrease in prices. There are other seasonal produce such as corn, chestnuts, and avocados. The prices for these produce during off season is noticeably higher than when they are in season.

·       Discuss your thoughts on seasonal/local foods and hospital menus. 

I think the ideas of incorporating seasonal or local foods into the hospital menus can bring lots of benefits not only for the physical well-beings but for reasons such as cost-saving, support local community economy, and quality of foods. The pros here are definitely outweigh the cons that it might takes time to implement the new change starting with educating hospital staff and hospital cafeteria staff about the facts and benefits of using local and seasonal foods. But once implemented, I think people will right away see the benefits that it brings. This also is a way to show patients, hospital staff, and visitors that the hospital is making effort in improving the quality of the food that they serve. This will give people a good impression that this is not hospital food. Rather, it’s food that simply being made at a hospital with lots of care and intentions putting into it.

·       Find a Harvest Calendar for your state (or a state you are interested in) utilizing the link in the first article (found underneath the example Harvest Calendar for New York State). 

The harvest calendar for California can be found here.

https://www.pickyourown.org/CAharvestcalendar.htm

·       What are your thoughts on the second article? Have you heard of obesogens before?

The second article takes a different route in addressing risk factors that contributing to the obesity epidemic. It’s a good eye-opening article that give brief introduction about obesogens and different types of potential obesogens that have been studied. I’ve heard of some of these obesogens before but they were defined as obesogens but rather just risk factors of obesity.

·       Pick one of the potential obesogens discussed in the article and using your resources from earlier modules (such as toxnet), do some research on this potential obesogen. Share what you found! 

Multiple studies have shown that there is a positive association between maternal smoking and increased risk of obesity or overweight in their children. This association is also applied for paternal smoking and increased risk of being overweight and obese for their adult daughter. In addition, mother’s smoking cessation during the first trimester can help to mitigate the excess risk but the risk is already there in the first place even before the mother who is a smoker becomes pregnant.