HUNGRY FOR CHANGE
Lilly Nhan, MPH, RD PhD Student, Department of Community Health Sciences I STARTED MY CAREER as a registered dietitian at a hospital, but became frustrated. Often I was reaching patients too late, long after they had developed chronic diseases. The policies, systems,
Fan Zhao, MS ’20 PhD Candidate, Department of Epidemiology MY INTEREST IN FOOD and nutrition stems from obesity research. Approximately 42% of the U.S. population is obese, and racial and ethnic minorities, including Hispanic and 8
Seven FSPH students recount the events that fueled their passions about food issues and the work they have undertaken as a result.
and environments that shape people’s diets were often overlooked in the clinical setting. Ultimately, I recognized that I needed training in public health to prevent and address poor nutrition on a population-wide scale. In my current research, I study the social determinants of food insecurity at the individual, organizational, and community levels. I am interested in applying my research toward improving the implementation of federal nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disparities in the burden of food insecurity. Working with Dr. May Wang, UCLA Fielding School professor of community health sciences, and colleagues from UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning,
I found that low-income households in the San Francisco Bay Area were more likely to experience food insufficiency during the early months of the pandemic (April-July 2020) than similar households in the Los Angeles and Riverside/ San Bernardino metropolitan areas. At the same time, many counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have the lowest rates of participation in SNAP. This demonstrates the need for federal programs, like SNAP, to increase access and tailor outreach to local communities in order to effectively reduce food insecurity. I hope to continue using my public health training to ensure that everyone has equitable access and the resources needed to achieve a healthy diet.
Black populations, are most vulnerable. Knowing that healthy dietary habits play a role in preventing excess weight gain, I set my sights on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) because they contribute to more than half of added sugar in the American diet. On average, U.S. adults consume about 145 calories from SSBs on any given day — and higher consumption of SSBs disproportionately affects non-Hispanic Black children and adolescents. The soda tax is one policy response aimed at reducing SSB consumption and thereby obesity prevalence, as well as racial/ethnic disparities. Seven U.S. cities have levied a soda tax, but there is a growing debate around such policies, with resistance particularly coming from large beverage companies that have been investing in political lobbying.
My dissertation focuses on the soda tax in four California cities: Berkeley, Albany, Oakland, and San Francisco. I will evaluate the tax’s impact on soda consumption and obesity prevalence. Under the supervision of faculty from the UCLA Fielding School’s epidemiology, community health sciences, and health policy and management departments, I am analyzing data over time in an effort to generate an evidence base for the soda tax. Looking ahead, I plan to apply epidemiological methods to real-life food/ nutrition problems and develop health interventions and policies that will help to build a healthy food/nutrition environment. We already have healthrisk labels on cigarette packages; might similar labels on SSB packages affect people’s decision to buy and drink soda?
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