April 2008

Introduction

This knowledge path about child and adolescent nutrition has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe public health campaigns and other promotion programs, and report on research aimed at identifying promising strategies for improving nutrition and eating behaviors within families, schools, and communities. A separate section lists nutrition resources for families. The final part of the knowledge path presents resources on specific aspects of child and adolescent nutrition: child care and early childhood education, food safety, food marketing to children, food security and nutrition assistance programs, and school-based nutrition education and food services. This knowledge path will be updated periodically.

Related topics: Please see our knowledge paths about physical activity and children and adolescents and overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.

Resources for Professionals

Overview

See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issue brief, Nutrition and the health of young people, rev. ed. (2007). This brief provides data and facts about nutrition and eating behaviors among children and adolescents and the relationship of these behaviors to disease and academic performance.

Web Sites: A-Z

• Adolescent Nutrition. Contains resources for health professionals, educators, and students about adolescent nutrition and eating disorders. This Web resource is presented by Jane Mitchell Rees, Ph.D., R.D., C.D., at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine with support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Contains program summaries, action plans, and annual reports about its Human Nutrition National Program, of which the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) is a part. ARS is responsible for the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and its online catalog, AGRICOLA.
  
  
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Nutrition. Contains pediatric nutrition resources on topics that include sports nutrition, breastfeeding, starting solid foods, calcium intake, anemia, obesity and overweight, and managing high blood pressure. Resources include growth charts, policy statements, clinical practice guidelines, patient-education materials, and texts.
  
  
• American Heart Association (AHA): Children and Nutrition. Provides program information, encyclopedia entries, and scientific statements related to children and nutrition. Topics include dietary guidelines, cholesterol, fiber, high blood pressure, cardiac disease, weight management, and physical fitness.
  
  
• Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND). Offers news, meeting and professional-development information, and resources about public health nutrition that include

  Blueprint for nutrition and physical activity: Cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle. (2006).

  Moving to the Future: Tools for Planning Nutrition and Physical Activity Programs. Presents resources to develop successful community programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity. Includes instructions for conducting a community assessment, writing objectives, developing a plan, and evaluating programs; forms, surveys, and worksheets that can be adapted to a community program; and discussion forums.

• Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). Contains reports, journal articles, dietary-guidance materials, food plans, Web-based training, and symposium proceedings. Resources and initiatives include

  Dietary guidelines for Americans. Provides background materials and information about how to apply the guidelines, which emphasize healthy eating and physical activity to maintain a healthy weight. Links to the current Dietary guidelines for Americans, 6th ed. (2005) and accompanying material.

  Expenditures on children by families. A series of annual reports that provide estimates on the cost of raising children from birth to age 17.

  Low-cost, moderate-cost, and liberal food plans. (2007).

• Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI): Nutrition Policy. Offers articles, reports, and model legislation about improving child and adolescent nutrition. Initiatives include efforts to decrease the marketing of low-nutrition foods to children, improve school foods, improve food safety, and educate children about healthy foods via its Smart-Mouth.org Web site.
  
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Contains a wealth of nutrition resources and initiatives that include

  CDC's Guide to Community Preventive Services. Contains information about a systematic review of studies to develop recommendations for population-based interventions addressing nutrition.

  CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Provides data about nutrition and diet in the United States, including results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Resources include

  • CDC growth charts: United States (2000). Contains tools and background information for plotting the growth of infants, children, and adolescents through age 20. CDC and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) developed two sets of self-directed, interactive training modules for health professionals using the pediatric growth charts in clinical and public health settings. Topics for one set of modules include background information about the rationale for changes in the revised charts; using and interpreting the body-mass-index-for-age charts; and recommendations to screen, assess, and manage overweight in children and adolescents. Topics for the second set of modules include accurate measuring (equipment and technique) and using the growth charts with various populations, such as adolescents and children with special health care needs.

  CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program: Nutrition Resources for Health Professionals. Contains data and statistics; information about programs and campaigns, including state-based nutrition and physical activity programs; nutrition guidelines; and tools for planning, implementing, and evaluating nutrition-intervention programs. Also presents state legislative information and results from the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PedNSS).

  CDC's Public Health Training Network. Contains distance-learning resources for public health professionals on a variety of topics, including nutrition.

  Also see CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) and Nutrition for Everyone.

• Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC). Contains a wealth of resources about nutrition for pregnant and nursing women and for infants, children, and adolescents. Resources include research and training information, articles, an interactive healthy eating calculator, an electronic newsletter, downloadable healthy eating posters for schools, and links to nutrition-related Web sites and electronic publications. CNRC is a cooperative venture between the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
  
  
• Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC). Provides databases and resource lists with links to reports, policy statements, Web sites, electronic discussion groups, and other information tools on a wide range of food and nutrition topics for health and education professionals. Presents a selection of resources about lifecycle nutrition with sections about child nutrition and health and adolescence. Topic-specific information services include the Healthy Meals Resource System (HSMRS) and WIC Works Resource System. A recent resource list is

  Nutrition, learning and behavior in children: A resource list for professionals. (2007).

• Healthy People 2010. Offers information about this national health-promotion and disease-prevention initiative. It is coordinated by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). Healthy People contains 467 objectives in 28 focus areas. Focus Area 19: Nutrition and Overweight addresses weight status and growth; food and nutrient consumption; iron deficiency and anemia; nutrition education in schools and work sites; nutrition counseling for medical conditions; and food security. Focus Area 10: Food Safety addresses foodborne illnesses. Healthy People provides background information on the initiative; the complete text, Healthy People 2010: Understanding and improving health, 2nd ed. (2000) and Healthy People 2010: Midcourse review (2006); a list of the Healthy People partners and related sites; and other Healthy People publications. Also see Data2010 for data about the Healthy People 2010 nutrition objectives. See too the HP2010 Information Access Project for access to published literature related to the Healthy People 2010 nutrition objectives.
  
  
• Institute of Medicine: Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) Research Synthesis. Presents information about understanding and using the DRIs, a set of values that serve as standards for nutrient intakes for healthy persons in the United States and Canada. The DRIs cover 46 nutrient substances, and the DRI values are developed for different genders and age groups, including infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant and breastfeeding women. Information is presented in tables, reports, and in the eight-volume set. Recent resources include

  Dietary Reference Intakes research synthesis: Workshop summary. (2006).

  Dietary Reference Intakes: The essential guide to nutrient requirements. (2006). This guide summarizes the eight-volume set.

• Leadership, Education and Training (LET) Program in Maternal and Child Nutrition. Contains Web-based curricula and training information about maternal and child health (MCH) nutrition for nutrition professionals and other health professionals who work with women, infants, children, and adolescents. Curricula topics include public health nutrition, childhood obesity, health disparities, and connecting with pregnant adolescents. LET is part of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• Maternal and Child Health Training Program: Nutrition Grantees Collaborative Web Site. Offers information about eight university-based MCH nutrition training programs. Presents information about grantee resources, meetings and conferences, and position announcements. The training program is part of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP): Healthy Eating and Activity Together (HEAT). Presents an evidence-based clinical practice guideline and resource kit for this initiative to improve child health through culturally appropriate and strength-based interventions that build the family's ability to achieve the ideal balance between nutrition and physical activity to support optimal growth and wellness.
  
  
• Public Health Nutrition for the 21st Century. Presents six online modules about pubic health nutrition practice, placing particular emphasis on addressing Healthy People 2010 objectives relevant to MCH and nutrition. The modules address nutrition programs and policies, community assessment, nutrition epidemiology, nutrition in pregnancy, nutrition prevention of chronic disease, and obesity among children and adults. The program is produced by the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.
  
  
• Steps to a HealthierUS Initiative. Contains program, conference, and grant information as well as reports, fact sheets, and data for this national initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to improve the lives of Americans through innovative and effective community-based chronic-disease-prevention and disease-control programs, of which good nutrition is an important component. Resources include Small Step and Smallstep KIDS!
  
  
• Weight-Control Information Network (WIN). Offers publications and research information about nutrition, physical activity, and overweight and obesity. Publications are available in English and Spanish. WIN is an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
  

  
  

Additional Electronic Publications

• Leadership for Healthy Communities. 2007. Improving access to healthy foods: A guide for policy-makers. Washington, DC: Leadership for Healthy Communities. This report describes how state and local officials can facilitate healthy eating by adopting policies that help communities improve access to affordable, healthy foods for all residents.
  
  
• Mathieson A, Koller T. 2006. Addressing the socioeconomic determinants of healthy eating habits and physical activity levels among adolescents. Copenhagen, Denmark: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. This report highlights case studies and survey data presented at a forum to look at the socioeconomic determinants of healthy eating habits and physical activity levels among adolescents in Europe. The report summarizes the forum's main conclusions on what the issues are and how policymakers can tackle them.
  
  
• McCann B. 2006. Community design for healthy eating: How land use and transportation solutions can help. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This paper explores the ways the built environment affects access to nutritious foods for people living in neighborhoods where most residents have low incomes.
  
  
• Mikkelsen L, Chehimi S. 2007. Links between the neighborhood food environment and childhood nutrition. Oakland, CA: Prevention Institute. This paper identifies key investigations of the neighborhood food environment, examines current efforts to bring about improvements, and discusses new research and policy priorities.
  
  
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). 2006. Building strong bones: Calcium information for health care providers. Rockville, MD: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This document, which is geared toward health professionals who serve children, adolescents, and families, provides information about the amount of calcium required during childhood and adolescence, and how to get it.
  
  
• Story M, Holt K, Sofka D, eds. 2002. Bright Futures in practice: Nutrition, 2nd ed. Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH). This book presents nutrition guidelines and tools emphasizing health promotion, disease prevention, and early recognition of nutrition issues and concerns related to infants, children, and adolescents. Bright Futures in practice: Nutrition pocket guide (2002) is a quick reference tool for the comprehensive nutrition practice guide. The pocket guide highlights key aspects of each developmental period and includes tools such as indicators of nutrition risk and tips for promoting food safety. Also see Bright Futures nutrition: Family fact sheets (2002).
  

  
  

Databases

The databases listed below are excellent tools for identifying data, additional literature and research, and programs about child and adolescent nutrition. Many of the entries below contain tips on how to use the databases efficiently. Please note that databases vary in how terms should be entered; for example, some require quotation marks and others don't. Enter search phrases as shown in bold below.

Data

• Child Trends DataBank. Reports on national trends and research on over 80 key indicators of child and adolescent well-being, and offers information about the types of programs and interventions that may influence particular outcomes. Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization providing research and data to inform decision-making that affects children and adolescents. Recent analyses about child and adolescent nutrition include

  Assessing the diet, exercise, body image, and weight of adolescents: A guide for out-of-school time program practitioners. (2007).

  Food insecurity and overweight among infants and toddlers: New insights into a troubling linkage. (2007).

• Data2010: The Healthy People 2010 Database. Contains the most recent monitoring data for tracking Healthy People 2010. To obtain data on the topic, click on the field, Data by Focus Area. Under the field, Select a Focus Area, choose 19 -- Nutrition and Overweight from the pop-up menu. Next, click on the button for Include Related Objectives From Other Focus Areas in the Table. Click on the Submit button. For foodborne-illness data, click on the field, Data by Focus Area. Under the field, Select a Focus Area, choose 10 -- Food Safety from the pop-up menu. Next, click on the button for Include Related Objectives From Other Focus Areas in the Table. Click on the Submit button. This data set is provided by the National Center for Health Statistics via CDC Wonder.
  
  
• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Provides data sets, survey results, and other documentation about the health and nutrition of the U.S. population. NHANES is a product of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
  
  
• National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. Lists nutrients for more than 7,500 food items. Includes a portion-modifier option. The database is a service of the Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). NDL also offers reports about single nutrients and the nutritive value of foods; measurement-conversion tables; food-composition publications; and journal articles.
  
  
• Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PedNSS). Monitors the nutritional status of children from birth to age 5 who are enrolled in federally funded MCH programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program, the Title V Maternal and Child Health Program, and Head Start. Data on birthweight, short stature, underweight, overweight, anemia, and breastfeeding are collected for children who visit public health clinics for routine care, nutrition education, and supplemental foods. PedNSS is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  
  
• Title V Information System (Title V IS). Contains data from annual Title V Block Grant applications and reports submitted by all 59 U.S. states and jurisdictions. To learn about states' efforts to address child and adolescent nutrition, conduct two searches. Select Measurement and Indicator Data and go to the State Data section. First, select State Priority Needs Keyword Search and choose Keyword: Nutrition/Physical Activity and Population: Children (1 through 21). Click on Start Search to get your results. Next, go to Measurement and Indicator Data and select State Performance Measures. Click on Search by Keyword/Population. Select Keyword: Nutrition/Physical Activity and Population: Children (1 through 21). Click on Start Search to get your results. Title V IS is a service of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS): Youth Online. Provides comprehensive results from the YRBSS that can be viewed by location (United States, state/territory, or local) and health topic, including dietary behaviors. Categories can be compared online. Youth Online is a service of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH).
  
  
• Also see the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP): Data Tools, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS).
  

Literature and Research Databases

• AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access). Contains bibliographic information for agricultural literature including many child and adolescent nutrition publications from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service; state child nutrition agencies; Nutrition Education and Training Program products; Team Nutrition grantees; cooperative extension program materials; and materials from associations, universities, and the private sector. AGRICOLA is organized into two data sets (books and journal articles). To identify books and articles on the topic, click on Keyword Search. Enter the terms, children adolescents and select "any of these" and "Subject" in the two fields to the right. Click "And". In the next row, enter nutrition. Click on "Set Limits" to narrow your search (e.g., add a publication date limit). Use the thesaurus to identify additional search terms for this search or related searches. AGRICOLA is a service of the National Agricultural Library (NAL).
  
  
• Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP). Contains information about federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions. Search CRISP to identify scientific concepts, emerging trends and techniques, or specific projects and investigators. Type nutrition children in the search term box of the Query Form and click on And. Click on Submit Query to get your results. Narrow your search by selecting a grant activity, fiscal year, or state, or use the CRISP Thesaurus to identify additional search terms. The database is maintained by the Office of Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  
  
• Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). Contains summaries of systematic reviews that have met strict quality criteria. Included reviews must be about the effects of interventions. Each summary also provides a critical commentary on the quality of the review. The database covers a broad range of health topics, including nutrition. To identify summaries on the topic, type nutrition AND (child or adolescent) in the search box. Click on Search to get your results. DARE is produced and maintained by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York.
  
  
• Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) Databases. Presents a collection of databases about evaluated food and nutrition education and training materials and research. The databases are

  Food Safety Research Information Office Research Projects Database

  Food Stamp Nutrition Connection Resource Finder Database

  Healthy Meals Resource System Education and Training Materials Database

  International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database

  Native American Nutrition Education Database

  WIC Works Education and Training Materials Database

• HP2010 Information Access Project (HP2010 IAC). Provides an automatic search mechanism for published literature indexed in PubMed related to the Healthy People 2010 objectives about nutrition and overweight and food safety. Also links to a narrative for each objective and the complete chapters about nutrition and overweight and food safety in the text, Healthy People 2010: Understanding and improving health, 2nd ed. (2000). This service is provided by the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, a collaboration of federal agencies, public health organizations, and health sciences libraries.
  
  
• Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH), Georgetown University. Maintains several databases to collect, manage, and disseminate knowledge about MCH, with special emphasis on knowledge gained from initiatives and programs supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The library's bibliographic database is

  MCHLine®. Comprises an online catalog of materials in the Maternal and Child Health Library. See the bibliography, Childhood nutrition, for a selection of library materials on the topic. To identify nutrition materials about adolescents, type "adolescent nutrition" in the keyword field of the database search form. Enter a publication date or date range to narrow your search.

  The Maternal and Child Health Library also offers organizations and programs databases.

• National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC). Contains evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related materials for health professionals. Identify guidelines by selecting Detailed Search in the Search box. Enter nutrition in the Keyword field. Scroll down on the search form to select Age of Target Population (e.g., Adolescent, Child, Infant). Hold down the control key (ctrl) or Apple command key and click your mouse to make multiple selections. The database is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
  
  
• PubMed. Contains over 17 million citations for biomedical articles that date back to the 1950s. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full-text articles and other related resources. To identify articles on the topic, enter the term nutrition in PubMed. Then, click on Limits and make the following selections on the page: select a date (e.g. Published in the last 2 years); click on Humans; click on Languages: English; click on Ages: All Child; and select Tag Terms: MeSH Major Topic. Selecting Type of Article further limits the search. Use MeSH to identify additional search terms (e.g., food preferences, health education, nutrition policy) for this search or related searches. PubMed is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
  
  
• Also see Action for Healthy Kids, the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH), the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Database, the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS), the School Health Resource Database, and the School Nutrition Association Recipe Database.
  

Programs Databases

• Health Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj). Provides information about ongoing health services research and public health projects. To identify projects on the topic, enter the search phrase nutrition AND (child OR adolescent). Click on Search to get your results. HSRProj is funded by the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
  
  
• Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH), Georgetown University. Maintains two databases to identify nutrition-related organizations and programs:

  MCH Organizations Database. Lists over 2,000 government, professional, and voluntary organizations involved in MCH activities, primarily at a national level. Nutrition-related organizations appear in a list produced from the database.

  MCH Projects Database. Comprises an online catalog of projects funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) through October 1, 2002. MCHB funds several projects about child and adolescent nutrition. To identify them, go to the database search form. Type nutrition in the Abstract field. Final reports are available from several of these projects.

• Shaping America's Youth (SAY) Program Registry. Includes information on intervention programs throughout the United States that are working to improve nutrition and physical activity in children and adolescents. Search by program name, keyword, organization, state, and category (e.g., programs addressing child nutrition). SAY is a national joint public- and private-sector initiative to identify and centralize efforts currently under way across the United States to reverse the rapidly increasing prevalence of overweight and inactivity among children and adolescents.
  
  
• State Legislative Information. Contains summaries of state legislative bills related to nutrition and physical activity from 2001 to the present. Links are provided to each state legislature site where the full-text version of the bill is available. This database is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  
  
• Also see Action for Healthy Kids and Making It Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories.
  

  
  

Electronic Newsletters and Online Discussion Groups

• Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC): Nutrition and Your Child. This quarterly electronic newsletter offers research-based information to those interested in the nutritional care and feeding of infants, children, and adolescents.
  
  
• Food and Nutrition Information Center: Electronic Discussion Groups on Food and Nutrition Issues. This annotated list links to electronic discussion groups about child care and school food service; food stamps; general food and nutrition topics; and health and physical activity.
  
  
• Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) News Digest. This weekly electronic newsletter highlights news about hunger, nutrition, and poverty.
  
  

  
  

Resources for Families

Find Nutrition Care

• Find a Nutrition Professional. Offers contact information for registered dietitians and registered dietetic technicians who are members of the American Dietetic Association. The directory is searchable by city, state, zip code, type of service, and area of expertise.
  
  
• Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC): Find a Health Center. Offers contact information for community health centers that provide free or low-cost care to underserved populations. Search by state.
  
  
• Also see the Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families.
  

  

Web Sites for Families

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Nutrition. Presents information for families on topics that include breastfeeding, starting solid foods, calcium intake, anemia, obesity and overweight, managing high blood pressure, the importance of breakfast, and understanding food labels.
  
  
• CDC's Nutrition for Everyone. Presents quick tips and articles for families about improving nutrition. CDC also offers several Web sites for families about specific aspects of nutrition:

  BAM! Body and Mind: Food and Nutrition. Gives food facts, recipes, and healthy eating advice to children and adolescents.

  FruitsandVeggiesMatter.gov. Offers tips, recipes, and facts to encourage families to eat more fruits and vegetables every day.

  Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls. Offers parents information about helping their daughters make healthy choices that build and maintain strong bones. Includes a companion Web site for girls.

• Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC). Presents an index to articles on nutrition topics and an electronic newsletter. CNRC's Healthy Eating Calculator gives customized information about what and how much to feed a child by entering the child's gender, age, weight, height, and physical activity level. The calculator suggests amounts of the basic food groups, including fruits, vegetables, grains, milk products, lean meats and beans, and oils to be consumed each day, and guidelines for eating discretionary calories.
  
  
• Eat Smart. Play Hard. Presents menu-planning tips, recipes, and other tools to help families eat better and be more physically active. Includes a Web site for kids.
  
  
• girlshealth.gov: Nutrition -- Healthy Eating. Gives nutrition information for girls (ages 10 through 16) on serving sizes, vitamins and nutrients, reading food labels, bone health, maintaining a healthy weight, vegetarianism, and special issues such as nutrition and sports.
  
  
• MedlinePlus: Child Nutrition. Gives links to information in English and Spanish about healthy eating.
  
  
• Milk Matters Calcium Education Campaign. Gives information about the importance of getting enough calcium during childhood and adolescence. Includes a series of educational games for children and adolescents and resources in Spanish.
  
  
• MyPyramid Food Guidance System. Presents a nutrition-education tool in English and Spanish that translates nutritional recommendations into the kinds and amounts of food to eat each day based on a person's age, gender, and activity level. MyPyramid Tracker offers a more detailed and personalized dietary and physical activity assessment along with related nutrition messages and links to nutrient and physical activity information. MyPyramid for Kids features posters, tips for parents, classroom materials, and an interactive computer game where kids can reach Planet Power by fueling their rocket with food and physical activity.
  
  
• Nutrition.gov. Links to food and nutrition information from federal agencies. Topics include food nutrients and calories, dietary guidelines, meal planning, food safety, vegetarian nutrition, and federal nutrition-assistance programs.
  
  
• Small Step. Gives information in English and Spanish about nutrition and physical activity to help adults and teens make health improvements through incremental change in various habits. Includes an interactive tool about portion sizes and the publication, Help your child grow up healthy and strong (2006). Smallstep KIDS! presents games and activities to help kids make wise food choices and increase physical activity.
  
  
• Smart-Mouth.org. Presents healthy eating facts, articles, recipes, videoclips, and games for children.
  
  
• We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition). Gives tips, activity ideas, and other information to assist parents and caregivers in helping the children and adolescents (ages 8-13) they care for achieve and maintain a healthy weight by focusing on improved food choices, increased physical activity, and reduced screen time.
  
  
• Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness Initiative. 2005. Healthy women build healthy communities toolkit: For physical activity and healthy eating. Rockville, MD: Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness Initiative. This kit is for women who want to improve the health of their communities by helping people become more physically active and eat healthier foods. Materials include checklists, sample letters, timelines, fliers, posters, news releases, and public-service announcements, as well as many tips and suggestions for planning a successful program.
  
  
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). 2004. My bright future: Physical activity and healthy eating for young women. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This booklet and wallet card present information about nutrition and physical activity for young women ages 11-20. The materials encourage young women to talk to health professionals to assess current nutrition and activity levels and make improvements.
  
  
• Story M, Holt K, Sofka D, eds. 2002. Bright Futures nutrition: Family fact sheets. Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health. These fact sheets give nutrition information in English and Spanish by developmental periods (birth through 5 months, 6 through 11 months, 1 through 2 years, 3 throug