Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

This year‘s meeting focused on the termination of W-191 and the implementation of the new project W-1003. The discussion of W-191 centered on the summary and analysis of data and publications to report results of the project. Part of the meeting was devoted to the implementation of W-1003. During this part of the meeting, policies and rules to be followed during the project were reviewed and established, a Recruitment document was drafted for the project, an Interview document was drafted, and a group worked on calcium supplement and fortified foods. To complete the various tasks associated with this research project, a projected time line was established for the coming year and interview assignments were established for each of the participating states. The next meeting of W-1003 will be October 1-4,2002 at Colorado State University.

Multi-million dollar grant: The multi-state relationships established through W-191 and the new knowledge generated by the project formed the basis of a $3.75 million grant awarded through USDA‘s IFAFS (Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems) for a four-year project entitled "Improving Bone Health in Adolescence Through Targeted Behavioral Intervention."

New research tools:

In developing and validating a calcium-specific food frequency questionnaire for Asian-, Caucasian-, and Hispanic-American adolescents, the W-191 research team has made available a unique tool for their use as well as by other researchers and practitioners interested in assessing calcium intake among youth.

Based on the project‘s focus group research, the team has also developed and tested the reliability of a motivator/barrier questionnaire to assess factors that serve to encourage or discourage intake of calcium-rich foods by Asian-, Caucasian-, and Hispanic-American youth. This one-of-a-kind tool will also be useful to other researchers and practitioners.

A deeper understanding of and appreciation for diversity: Most studies on calcium intake of adolescents have failed to address ethnic differences. This likely has led to under reporting of calcium intake among minority youth. In contrast, W-191 seeks to accurately assess calcium intake by Asian-, Caucasian-, and Hispanic-American adolescents, being cognizant of and sensitive to similarities and differences among these three ethnic/racial groups. (The project focuses on these three groups because they face a higher risk of developing osteoporosis.)

Auld, G., Bock, M.A., Boushey, C., Bruhn, C., Gabel, K., Gustafson, D., Holmes, B., Misner, S., Novotny, R., Peck, L., Pelican, S., Pond-Smith, D. Read, M. 2002. Perspectives on intake of calcium rich foods among Asian, Hispanic and white preadolescent and adolescent females. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 34:242-251.

Gabel, K., Auld, G., Bock, M.A., Boushey, C., Bruhn, C., Gustafson, D., Holmes, B., Misner, S., Novotny, R., Peck, L., Pelican, S., Pond-Smith, D., Read, M., Wolfe, F. 2002. Relationship of gender to motivators and barriers of drinking milk by adolescents - results from focus groups. Journal of Adolescent Health.

Read, M., Novotny, R., Auld, G., Bock, M.A., Bruhn, C., Gabel, K., Gustafson, D., Holmes, B., Peck, L., Pelican, S., Pond-Smith, D., Wolfe, F.H. 2002. Age differences in milk consumption as a snack and by eating location. Topics in Clinical Nutrition, 17(4):55-62.

Novotny, R. Boushey, C., Bock, M.A., Peck, L., Auld, G., Bruhn, C., Gustafson, D., Gabel, K., Jensen, J.K., Misner, S., Read, M. 2002. Calcium Intake of Asian, Hispanic and white youth. Journal of the American College of Nutrition.