NIH Radio
Milk Matters Online Lesson Resources Available for Teachers
Brief Description:
New Online resources stressing the importance of calcium for bone health are now available for middle school teachers through the Milk Matters calcium education campaign sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Transcript:
Akinso: New Online resources stressing the importance of calcium for bone health are now available for middle school teachers through the Milk Matters calcium education campaign sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The campaign encourages 11-15 year olds in particular to consume sufficient calcium because these are the years of rapid bone growth, according to Dr. Karen Winer from the NICHD's Endocrinology, Nutrition, and Growth Branch.
Winer: The Milk Matters online lesson is really support to teachers. This can provide evidence base messages about the importance of calcium for bone health in adolescence and it just provides a lot of different ideas for teachers to incorporate in their lessons.
Akinso: Milk Matters' online lesson resources are designed to help students understand the importance of making smart food choices. Dr. Winer talks about some of the many features that the site has to offer.
Winer: They have take-home assignments. There's a cookbook which I thought was interesting. They teach concepts how to ready nutrition fact labels. You know, if they go to the supermarket they'll understand how to choose foods that are high in calcium. And then just to understand which foods are high in calcium and what is need for this age group which is approximately 1300 milligrams a day. So those are the basic resources that are provided there.
Akinso: In addition to teacher materials, the Milk Matters web site offers a variety of free materials for parents and health care providers that emphasize the importance of calcium in the diets of children and teens, including a booklet, poster, fact sheets, a coloring book, and sticker. So teachers and parents, if you would like to check out the website visit www.nichd.nih.gov/milk. This is Wally Akinso at the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland.
About This Audio Report
Date: 10/05/2007
Reporter: Wally Akinso
Sound Bite: Dr. Karen Winer
Topic: Health Education
Institute(s): NICHD
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