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News
Statewide effort to put more whole grains on shelves and plates gets $19 million boost
October 29, 2025 | UW News
New statewide initiative to put more healthy, climate-friendly grains on people’s plates will include faculty from the Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health program as the project’s implementation science team including Jennifer Otten, Sarah Collier, and Marie Spiker. The FSNH team will examine how innovations in grain breeding and food product development can be successfully adopted in school settings, and will study what policy, budgetary, and social factors help ensure that new whole grain and legume varieties are embraced across the supply chain and, ultimately, by school-aged children who rely on them for the nutrition they need to grow and thrive.
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Wait, Are Carbs Actually Awesome?
October 9, 2025 | Men's Health
UW faculty member Adam Drewnowski is quoted in this article discussing perceptions about carbohydrate consumption, and helps clarify how to choose nutritionally optimal carbohydrates which can be beneficial to your diet and long term health.
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Seattle to launch first connected network of community food micro-pantries
September 22, 2025 | UW Freight Lab
FSNH faculty member Marie Spiker is involved in this pilot research project that will retrofit existing micro-pantries in Seattle with sensors to create a “cyber-physical” network. The system will anonymously track pantry use, donation patterns, and food safety, giving communities real-time data to improve food distribution and reduce waste. The project also aims to strengthen safe, reliable food supply chains and foster collaboration between donors, volunteers, and recipients.
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Some refined grains are surprisingly nutritious
September 5, 2025 | earth.com
Adam Drewnowski’s work in a recent study published in Nutrients that combined diet records with health markers such as weight, waist size, insulin levels, and food costs to identify foods which not only improved health, but were affordable. Drewnowski said, “Our evaluation took whole grain content into account, along with fiber, vitamins and minerals. By delivering key nutrients such as fiber, iron, B vitamins and folate, grain foods can make a meaningful contribution to healthier eating patterns among all population groups.”
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UW faculty member contributes to American Heart Association advisory on ultraprocessed foods
August 25, 2025
The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a new science advisory examining what is currently known about the growing impact of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) on nutrition and public health. Published August 8, 2025, in Circulation, the advisory highlights the evidence linking excessive consumption of UPFs with adverse health outcomes, offering a comprehensive review of the...
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USDA freezes UW project that turns Washington shellfish farmers’ seaweed problem into soil solution for land farmers
August 4, 2025 | UW News
The Blue Carbon, Green Fields project was a multi-year collaboration between the UW, Baywater Shellfish, Puget Sound Restoration Fund, Washington Sea Grant, Washington State University, and farm business incubator Viva Farms, focused on removing more than 17,000 pounds of seaweed from shellfish beds and applying it to crops on four local farms. The U.S. Department of Agriculture funded the project in 2023, but then abruptly pulled the plug in April 2025. Food Systems core faculty Sarah Collier is the project lead and is featured in this video and story talking about how the project hopes to continue with alternate funding.
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Grocery prices are a top financial worry, WA residents say
February 19, 2025 | The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times looks at the growing high cost of food for Washington households, citing a state-wide survey conducted by UW Food Systems researchers called WAFOOD. FSNH faculty member Marie Spiker is quoted, “Of all the indicators that we have of how are households doing financially, food insecurity is a really important one, because it has these close ties to human health.”
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UW, WSU study shows WA residents struggling to pay for one particular monthly expense
February 17, 2025 | The Bellingham Herald
This article by the Bellingham Herald highlights findings from the fifth edition of the Washington State Food Security Survey released on Feb. 13, revealing a potential rise in food insecurity in Washington.
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Gobsmacked by groceries, Inflation inching higher for Washington consumers weary at the market
February 16, 2025 | The Spokesman Review
The Spokesman Review highlights both the national trends of food costs, as well as Washington state trends, pointing to a report released in February from the Washington State Food Security Surveys, showing that state residents continue to worry about food prices.
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The growing struggle to afford groceries in Washington State
February 13, 2025
Groceries were the most common expense reported as hard to afford in the past month, followed by housing, according to the latest WAFOOD survey. Rising food prices and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance programs have intensified economic pressures on households statewide.
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