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Households using more of the most popular WIC food benefits stay in the program longer, UW study finds
December 15, 2025 | UW News
New research has found that households who redeem more of their benefits in the most popular food categories are more likely to remain in the program long-term. Assistant Professor Pia Chaparro is first author on the study published in JAMA Network Open. “Finding ways to identify kids and families that are at risk of dropping out of the program is of high importance,” said Chaparro. “That’s basically what we’ve identified — a way to flag families who may be at risk of dropping off.”
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With community fridges, neighbors feed each other
December 5, 2025 | UW Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
FSNH faculty Marie Spiker will collaborate with UW Urban Freight Lab to improve safety and efficiency of hyperlocal food sharing via community fridges that are accessible 24 hours a day for the public to take and leave food. “Because they’re decentralized, it’s hard to know whether a micropantry is full or empty, or whether a community fridge is at a safe temperature,” Spiker said. “The sensors and information dashboards this team is developing will go a long ways towards helping us understand the potential of micropantries to reduce waste and distribute food safely at a community level.”
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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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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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UW project took nuisance seaweed from shellfish farm to help growers. The USDA cut its funding
May 14, 2025 | KUOW
Seaweed is a problem for shellfish growers. One UW project hopes to turn the nuisance seaweed, like this one at Baywater Shellfish in Hood Canal, into nutrients for farm soil. In its first year, the team harvested nearly 17,000 pounds of wet seaweed. Project Director Sarah Collier says there was so much interest that they were ready to include more farms in the pilot when she learned the grant was cancelled.
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Understanding your food’s expiration dates and preventing waste
May 12, 2025 | KIRO 7 News
Anne Lund, registered dietitian and director of the Graduate Coordinated Program in Dietetics at UW, speaks with KIRO TV about food expiration dates. Lund advises that the expiration date is only part of the puzzle and some foods may expire before or after the date because it comes down to how the food was handled.
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Navigating unhealthy food culture on college campuses
April 27, 2025 | The Seattle Times
Michelle Averill is interviewed by a first year UW student and offers advice for healthy eating choices as a busy college student. She offers advice to think ahead and identify which food feel the most nourishing to you. This article appears in a series contribution by Washington youth through The Seattle Times Student Voices project.
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