Spring 2019: Nutrition and Obesity

HUGHF spent the first half of the spring semester discussing Nutrition and Obesity.
 
1. Max Ho ’21 led a crash course on the subject, where he discussed the role of essential nutrients, the risk factors associated with malnutrition and obesity, and possible policy solutions. Today, 11% of the global burden of disease can be attributed to malnutrition while 1.9 billion people worldwide are either overweight or obese.
 
2. The group further built upon these concepts by discussing the prevalence of food deserts in the United States and the export of unhealthy diets to developing countries. In particular, we discussed a recent study from The University of Texas at San Antonio assessing the link between food-related hardships and obesity and Nestle’s sales practices in Brazil.
 
3. Finally, Sreekar Mantena ’22 and Ben Rhee ’21 led HUGHF’s nutrition-related advocacy efforts. Members wrote to congress about the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2019 after a thorough discussion about the politics of school lunches.