Since 2000, UK's SBRP's Community Outreach Core has provided support and guidance through criticalinformation on nutrition and health-related issues to meet the needs of individuals and communities affectedby environmental contaminants. This purpose is underscored through its title, Superfund Community Actionthrough Nutrition (SCAN). During previous funding, SCAN established a close collaboration with communitygroups in eastern and western Kentucky, and SCAN programs, endorsed by these two communities,provided a new service resource for nutrition and scientific information.
The aim of SCAN is to empoweraffected individuals and communities to take proactive steps toward their own health by drawing on thestrength of the nutrition-related research from UK's SBRP.
The specific aims of SCAN include: 1) furtherdevelop and present SCAN nutrition and environmental health education programs for a new third site incentral Kentucky and the previously established community constituents; 2) further define SCAN's nutritioneducation message and enhanced recommendations that diets low in fat and high in phytonutrients mayreduce the toxicity of RGB's and related compounds as reported by UK SBRP's biomedical researchers; 3)develop new, tangible qualitative outcome measures of SCAN programs as to improved knowledge andattitudes of health risks associated with exposure to environmental contaminants and the influence ofnutrition on these risks with consideration of sensitive issues, such as community characteristics andpending litigation that may impede quantitative measures; 4) further establish trust with identified communityconstituents in order to provide advanced SCAN programs, which show changes in nutrition and healthrelatedbehaviors. Results of SCAN programs will be used to assess the differences that diet and geo-socialcharacteristics play on nutrition and health issues and to design new diet strategies for individuals, families,and communities to enable them to optimize their health in the face of exposure to Superfund contaminants.Exposure to Superfund chemicals has been shown to affect public health by contributing to an increasedrisk for chronic diseases especially in combination with poor diet. UK's nutrition education programs,designed with input from participants, empower affected individuals to make more informed decisions abouttheir diet and health and are an important community service for Kentuckians in proximity to Superfund sites.
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