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MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

Food Consumption in America

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

The infographic below illustrates the average age, weight, height and diet of the average American. Tipping the scales at 5'9'', 190 lbs (male) and 5'4'', 164 lbs (female), the average American typically eats a diet heavy in dairy, and (surprisingly) veggies; more butter than chicken; and 53 gallons of soda over the course of the year. Bringing the average calorie count to a whopping 2,700 per day.

Do you think this infographic fairly portrays the average American diet? Furthermore, do you see it as a reflection of how our food system operates?

We would love to hear from you in our comment section below.

American Average Food Consumption

Credit: Visual Economics (image linked to original post)

Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition
By MollyHippolitus | No Comments »

 
MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

#DCWEEK The Food Revolution: One Byte at a Time

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Last Friday kicked off Digital Capital Week (DC Week), a ten day festival focused on "technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation's capital." In addition to attending digital events all over the city, Spectrum is gearing up to host a panel discussion entitled The Food Revolution: One Byte at a Time, Thursday 6/17 at 10:00 am at our K Street office. Our panelists will offer perspective, valuable insight and personal anecdotes on how they've used digital and social media platforms to drive the food revolution in this hour-long session.

In anticipation of Thursday's event, we are taking questions for our social media pro-foodie panelists. A brief synopsis of each panelist and  their bios is below-take a look and tweet us (@SpectrumScience) or email your questions, then come to see if we ask yours.  dcweek2

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Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition, New Media, Public Health, Social Media, Tweets
By MollyHippolitus | 2 Comments »

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MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

Using Social Media to Fuel the Food Revolution

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Social media has changed the way we communicate and gives the average consumer a voice and a platform to learn, teach and even incite change. "Food revolutionaries" are using social media to fuel a movement aimed at improving our current food system. These foodies are creating online tools, building grassroots support and elevating the conversation around food and nutrition issues. food-nutrition1
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Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition, Social Media
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MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

Pres. Obama Pledged to End Hunger by 2015… We’ve Got 5 Years

Friday, January 29th, 2010

During campaign season, Obama promised to tackle domestic hunger. He made a pledge to "strengthen and expand nutrition assistance programs and commit to ending childhood hunger by 2015." The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is holding Obama to his word.

Tuesday morning I attended FRAC's Hill briefing on "food hardship" (lacking money to buy enough food) in the U.S. The nonprofit organization works to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to "eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States."

For the first time, data that truly capture the extent of hunger in America, was unveiled. The report revealed nearly one in five American households ran out of money to buy enough food at least once during 2009. FRAC President, Jim Weill, along with Rep. Jim McGovern (MA), presented the data with the hope of igniting fire in the belly of our government, by helping policy leaders understand the "depth and breadth" of hunger in America. (more...)

Posted in Community Involvement, Food Policy and Nutrition, Public Affairs, Research
By MollyHippolitus | 1 Comment »

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MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

The App Lab: Food Safety, There’s an App for That

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

The evolution of food-related iPhone apps has answered every question from "where's my closest Chili's?" to "what strain of E. coli could be in my burger?"

locavore1This past decade the nation has seen its fair share of food safety scares - the most recent food contamination has a Southern California meat-packing firm recalling some 864,000 pounds of ground-beef that might be contaminated with E. coli. Although surveillance of foodborne illness can be complicated - mainly due to underreporting - the CDC estimates that 76 million Americans get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 people die from foodborne illnesses each year.

With staggering statistics like these, it's no surprise that in 2010 we're beginning to realize the high cost of cheap food. As a result, a demand for transparency in our food system is growing.

It's unfortunate that our food system has become so convoluted that we need the help of a cell phone to navigate what food is safe for us to eat, but while we wait for Congress to act on the Food Safety Modernization Act, your iPhone is here to help!
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Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition, New Media, Public Health, Social Media, The App Lab
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MollyHippolitus
Molly
Hippolitus

Weekly Digital News: Sidewiki, Game Changer for Pharma

Friday, November 13th, 2009

To recap, back in September, Google introduced a downloadable sidebar that allows a Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer, user to leave their comments on any Web site - appropriately named "Sidewiki." To add method to its madness, Google's algorithm sorts these comments by relevance, not by date. In a nutshell, the Sidewiki has the potential to transform every Web site into a social media platform. It pairs the voice of the consumer with the voice of the brand, side by side in your browser... and, with an "opt-out" feature not yet available from Google, it is a company's responsibility to determine the best possible way to approach the online "voices" coming from the metaphorical peanut gallery. (more...)

Posted in Crowdsourcing, Health 2.0, Public Health, Social Media
By MollyHippolitus | No Comments »

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