The 94%

On Thursday September 5th the Marywood Community Nutrition class attended the Colleges Building Communities: 25,000 meals, food packing event held at Geisenger’s Commonwealth School of Medicine. During this event, we learned that 94% of students in Scranton school districts are food insecure, qualifying for free or reduced lunch. After we had completed this community activity,…

Gail Cresci: The Gut Microbiome and Health

Dr. Cresci presented “The Gut Microbiome and Health: How Tending to the Health of Your Gut Microbiota Improves Overall Health” at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (Geisinger Commonwealth)  on April 18, 2018. The majority of the focus of the presentation was on the metabolism of dietary fiber to short chain fatty acids(SCFA) such as buteryate…

Religions of the Middle East & Indian Subcontinent

When studying the social and cultural aspects of food, religion is a large determining factor in dietary choices. In addition to participating in a meal centered around foods from the middle east and Indian sub-continent, we presented the differences in the dietary practices between those who follow a Islamic or Hindu faith.

Food Security

Food security is impacted by several factors, both at the individual, and country level. Food security relies on; climate and adequate growing conditions, transportation or distribution networks, High wages or buying power for imported goods, and knowledge of proper intake.  Ghana a country on Africa west coast with high amounts of natural resources. Despite these…

Mineral Content During Coffee Extraction, and Effects on Flavor

Mineral Content During Coffee Extraction, and Effects on Flavor Spencer King Marywood University Chapter I: Introduction Coffee, the most widely consumed beverage in the world, also contains caffeine, the most widely consumed psychoactive chemical in the world according to McGee, H.(2004). Coffee is thought to have originated in eastern Africa, most likely Yemen, and now…

National Nutrition Month: 2019

The start of the month marked the start of National Nutrition Month for 2019. National Nutrition Month(NNM), is a health and social campaign promoted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics(AND) during the entire month of March. The goals of the NNM campaign is to increase awareness of “. . . importance of making informed…

Hereditary Hemochromatosis

Hereditary Hemochromatosis(HH), is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder that places the affected individual at increased risk of iron overload. There are several variations of HH, with classical or type 1 Hereditary Hemochromatosis related to mutations C282Y & H63D on the HFE gene, being the most common(Flemming et.al. 2005). Classical Hereditary Hemochromatosis will be the focus…

McNichol’s Plaza

Through Marywood University’s Nutrition Dept we were given the opportunity to teach a group of ~30 3rd graders at the McNichol’s elementary school in Scranton PA. The instructional experience was part of a semester long class project focused on the interplay of culture, food, religion, ethnicity, racial groups, and how these differences impacts their health,…