Author: Matt White

The presentation by Dr. Ben Chapman covered many interesting topics but was primarily centered on food safety and the spread of Norovirus through unsafe hygiene practices.  Dr. Chapman is an associate professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University.  He specializes in consumer and retail food safety culture, home food preservation, and food safety risk reduction.

Dr. Chapman began by educating the audience on what Norovirus is and going over some facts on the virus and how it’s spread.  Norovirus has been identified by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) as “an agent of viral gastroenteritis” and is widely known for causing outbreaks of illness among large numbers of people.  The CDC estimated that at least 50 percent of food borne outbreaks in the United States were attributed to Norovirus in 2006.  According to ServSafe.com, a food safety website mentioned by Dr. Chapman, Norovirus causes “acute gastroenteritis: nausea, frequent and violent vomiting, and/or diarrhea. Other symptoms include low-grade fevers, chills, headaches, muscle aches and fatigue.  Onset of symptoms usually occurs 24-48 hours after ingestion of the virus and it can be contracted from as little as 10 viral particles.”  Dr. Chapman stated, Norovirus is present in feces and vomit of those infected and is commonly spread by the handling of food without proper hand washing.  He went on to say, Norovirus could be spread in the air around a source by aerosol particles; this fact makes the proper handling and clean up of potential infectious sites critical to preventing transmission.

Dr. Chapman next spoke about food safety procedures and how when followed properly they can prevent the spread of food borne illnesses such as Norovirus.  Dr. Chapman stated, “One of the main ways to control virus outbreaks is by following proper hand washing procedures”.  The CDC lists 6 steps to proper hand washing, “wet your hands with warm water, apply a generous amount of soap, rub hands together for 20 seconds, rinse hands, dry hands with a paper towel, and use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door”.  The other major factor cited by Dr. Chapman in preventing food illnesses was insuring you cook foods to proper temperatures by using a food thermometer.  Servsafe.com states, “cooking food to 158 degrees for five minutes or boiling for one minute has been shown to destroy Norovirus”.  Dr. Chapman mentioned that this is where “the issue” he had with Gwyneth Paltrow stems from.

The last topic Dr. Chapman brought up was changing the behaviors of people when it comes to food safety practices.  He stated, “People use things differently than we expect them to (when it comes to preparing foods)” and “using an integrative behavior model to find out why people do what they do is an important step to fixing problems.”  It is important to know what people value in order to change their behavior.

Overall I thought that Dr. Ben Chapman was a good presenter and I enjoyed his horror stories on food safety issues he had seen over the years.  I thought the presentation was informative and found it interesting that cooking to temperature is such an important aspect of food safety; before this presentation I cooked foods until the juices ran clear, something Dr. Chapman specifically stated was incorrect.  Since listening to this presentation I know I have practiced better food safety techniques in my own kitchen in hopes of avoiding any potential food borne illnesses.

This presentation’s topic was “Sodium Reduction Monitoring and Applied Research”; the presenter Dr. Mary Cogswell covered background information on sodium then discussed sodium reduction and the types and accuracy of sodium intake measurement methods.  Dr. Cogswell is a Senior Scientist with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and also a Registered Nurse.

Dr. Cogswell’s introduction covered the differences between salt versus sodium, how the human body uses, processes and excretes sodium, its adverse affects, as well as additional facts on the topic.  Sodium (Na) is an element found in nature, while table salt (NaCl) is a compound made of forty percent sodium and sixty percent chloride.  Once ingested through the oral cavity and absorbed in the blood, the kidneys are the body’s main form of sodium regulation/filtration; almost 90% of consumed sodium is excreted through urine.  In the body, sodium is essential to many functions, it is used to generate muscular contractions, maintain cell’s ion gradient, and regulate blood pressure.  When your intake of sodium exceeds the body’s requirement, your kidneys can’t keep up and the body retains water to regulate levels; this excess fluid can increase blood pressure over time.  The dietary reference intake (DRI) for sodium is just 2,300mg a day, however the average American’s intake is 3,400mg a day; Dr. Cogswell stated, “about 9/10 Americans exceed the DRI”.  This excess consumption is evidence to the fact that forty-one percent of Cardio-Vascular Disease (CVD), the number one cause of death in the United States, can be attributed to high blood pressure.  Dr. Cogswell explained that she addresses these facts initially because of a lack of public knowledge on sodium in general and the prevalence of problems that occur from its excess consumption.  She went on to say, “current research shows that seventy-one percent of American’s daily sodium consumption comes from prepared or processed foods with restaurant food making up a large portion of this”.  Taking this fact into consideration, sodium reduction seems simple; if Americans prepared more fresh food at home versus fast-food or carry-out we could greatly reduce or even eliminate excess sodium intake and/or high blood pressure.  This is much easier said than done.

Different methods of sodium reduction monitoring was the next topic discussed in the presentation.  Sodium intake can be measured with dietary recalls or biomarkers in the urine.  In a dietary recall you record everything eaten and drank over the past 24-48 hours and add up the sodium content from each item to determine your daily intake.  There are two different urine tests to determine sodium intake, a 24 hour urinary sodium excretion test and a one time (spot) urine assessment.  The 24 hour method is accepted as the most accurate approach, in which an entire day’s worth of urine is collected and analyzed for total sodium content.  In the spot assessment, one urine sample is collected and the volume is then multiplied by sodium content; this method is less accurate because it is a predicted amount and one sample’s sodium content can vary greatly.

One of the most interesting aspects of the presentation to me was the fact that 9/10 Americans are exceeding the DRI for sodium.  I am a very health conscious person and it made me think to myself whether or not I might be over the DRI..  I actually brought up the conversation with my roommate and we discussed the foods we most commonly consume that might be sneaking extra sodium into our diets.  With a quick Internet search we found that meat and dairy both contain a naturally high amount yet they pale in comparison to processed foods.  I challenge those reading to also sit down and determine whether they are consuming over the DRI – your own consumption may surprise you!

As for how these facts are relevant to health intervention implementations, with CVD as the number one cause of death in the United States being attributed to high blood pressure, a condition frequently caused by high sodium intake, it seems that health practitioners could combat CVD by increasing public awareness of american’s high sodium intake.  An intervention spreading tips for reducing sodium consumption in your diet could be implemented in neighborhoods and the effects studied.  Before this presentation I had no idea that high sodium intake was such a prevalent issue; I can only assume that if I am lacking this knowledge so are many other Americans.