
ARS Coordinating Nutrition Survey in Delta
RegionBy Tara
Weaver-Missick January 28, 2000LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 28,
2000The Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) is coordinating a major telephone survey to determine the
nutrition and health needs of Mississippi Delta residents in Arkansas,
Louisiana and Mississippi. ARS is the U.S.
Department of Agricultures primary research agency. The three-month telephone survey began this month. Residents in 36 counties
in the three states will be randomly selected to participate in this important
endeavor. This survey, the first of several, is phase one of the Foods Of
Our Delta Study 2000" or FOODS 2000" to help improve the
nutritional status of Delta residents. ARS is partnering with Alcorn State
University, Arkansas Childrens
Hospital Research Institute, Pennington
Biomedical Research Center, Southern
University and A&M College, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and the
University of Southern Mississippi as part of
the Lower
Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI). Poverty, infant mortality, diabetes and cancer are higher in the Delta
than anywhere else in the nation, ARS Administrator Floyd P. Horn said.
The information gathered from this survey will help determine what Delta
residents are eating and how we can use that information to help improve the
health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities in that
region. The telephone surveys will be conducted by Westat, Inc., in
Rockville, Md. Respondents may be asked questions like What did you eat
for breakfast, lunch and dinner? We urge everyone who is called upon to participate. This survey is so
important. Responses are a critical part of the entire initiative, says
Margaret L. Bogle, Executive Director of the Delta NIRI. We plan to take
this information and develop intervention programs, like feeding programs and
nutrition classes, to help improve the nutrition and health of men, women and
children in the Delta. The second phase of the initiative will be to
monitor changes in the nutrition and health of selected residents in the Delta
region. Scientific contact: Margaret L. Bogle, ARS, Delta Nutrition
Intervention Research Initiative, Little Rock, Ark.; phone (888) 955-8890. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |