Food For Thought
Growing up in the South with a love for food isn’t necessarily uncommon, but for most people it doesn’t usually lead to a career in nutrition and an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America”. For 2003 and 2004 University of Central Arkansas graduate Alisha Farris, however, that’s exactly how it happened. “It sparked in me at a very young age, mostly because I really liked food: eating it and cooking it!” Farris said. “When I was at UCA, that led me to pursue a nutrition degree, and in my very first nutrition class, I learned how important nutrition is for the body and how it can affect every part your health. I was really fascinated by all of that.”
Farris’ interest led her to conduct the first study of its kind in which she compared the nutritional value of school lunches and packed lunches. “We observed more than 1,300 lunches of pre-K and kindergarten students who attended three schools for five consecutive school days, and then we analyzed the contents of those lunches for nutrients, macro- and micronutrients and also by food groups,” Farris said. Overall, the findings showed that packed lunches were of less nutritional quality than school lunches, following the implementation of new national nutrition standards in 2013.
The study was so successful that Farris and her research team were featured on “Good Morning America” as a morning news highlight on November 10, 2014. “If students brought a packed lunch, there were significantly more solid fats and added sugars in the forms of dessert items, sugar-sweetened beverages and chips,” Farris said. “Students were offered fewer fruits, vegetables and calcium in the form of milk, cheese and yogurt.”
Farris credits a lot of her success to the time she spent at UCA. “My time at UCA was super valuable,” Farris said. “It allowed me to do a master’s degree in a dietetic internship, which is required to be a registered dietician and is not offered everywhere. Additionally, I can remember when I was taking my classes as an undergrad being taught by some really great professors and thinking, ‘This is really neat!’ and that this was something I would like to do for the rest of my life.”