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Source:
Missy Schrader, 785-532-6438, schrader@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Jennifer Newberry, 785-532-6415
Monday,
February 27, 2006
K-STATE
ONE OF MANY SCHOOLS POSTING NUTRITIONAL FOOD VALUES ON WEB SITE
TO AID STUDENTS
MANHATTAN
-- With so many food choices available at college dining halls,
it can be easy for students to get sidetracked and consume more
calories than they realize.
Kansas
State University's housing and dining services is helping K-State
students become more aware of the nutritional facts behind the food
they consume by allowing them to plan their meals online before
heading to chow down.
According
to a K-State dietician, offering nutritional information to students
is a trend that many colleges and universities are now providing.
"With
the self-service option at our dining centers, there's unlimited
amounts of food," said Melissa Schrader, staff assistant and
dietician for K-State's housing and dining services. "Having
nutritional values available means students are less likely to overeat.
Having the values available helps them make smarter food choices."
Many
schools, including Iowa State University and the University of California-Berkeley,
post online nutritional values of food offered. Schools including
Harvard University and the University of Northern Iowa -- in addition
to K-State -- allow students to plan their meals down to each addition
at the salad bar, for example, adding the calories and other nutritional
content for them on the Web.
K-State's
housing and dining services Web site includes individual Web pages
for each of the university's three dining centers. Students can
determine the nutritional value of that day's menu items in three
ways.
The
first way is by clicking on a menu item and getting its nutritional
value. The second way to determine nutritional values is through
"build-your-meal." Students choose from the individual
food items being served for breakfast, lunch and dinner; select
a serving size; then calculate the nutritional value for the entire
meal. The third option is to search the entire database for a particular
food item. To see the system, go to http://housing.k-state.edu/dining/menus.html
"It's
convenient for students, so anything we can do for them, we'll try
to do," Schrader said. "We're here to serve the students.
Students came to us before we had the Web site, asking for help
regarding nutritional values in foods.
"There
is more movement to putting nutritional values on the Web,"
she said. "It's user-friendly to have each day's menu up."
Schrader
said posting the dining center's nutritional values on the Web does
require gathering the information. At K-State, a student works for
five to 10 hours each week entering the menu items and linking it
to a file with the nutritional value.
The
Web site has a feedback option where students are encouraged to
submit suggestions for improvement or things that they like.
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