DATE: 11/7/05                                                  

CONTACT: Katherine Cason, (864) 864-656-0539; kcason@clemson.edu

WRITER: Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741; spalmer@clemson.edu

EFNEP serving South Carolina for 36 years

CLEMSON -- How do I choose and prepare food that is healthy? How can I afford what I need for my family? How can I reduce my family’s health risks? These are questions that are especially challenging for limited resource families.

Clemson’s Extension Service helps answer these questions by working with families through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded EFNEP for 36 years. The program helps children, youth and young families with limited resources to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavior needed to improve their diet.

“Families learn to make informed choices about low-cost, nutritious foods; to better manage family finances; and to become more self-sufficient,” said Katherine Cason, coordinator of EFNEP and professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.

Cason said that EFNEP is shifting its focus to include education about physical activity, since obesity in overweight adults has grown progressively since 1990. More than 60% of the state’s adult population now falls into this category. Childhood obesity show similar increases.

Cason said they are also expanding to work with Hispanic families. She currently has a team of Hispanic research and outreach associates, graduate students and staff who are beginning to work with Hispanic families and youth in the state. She plans to hire three Hispanic lay educators to work with this increasing population. The Hispanic population in S.C. has increased 211%, from 30,500 residents in 1990 to 95,076 residents in 2000, according to Cason. And, overweight and obesity occur at higher rates in Hispanic Americans.

“This reality is extracting a heavy toll of physical, emotional and financial costs for Hispanic families,” said Cason. “It also drains state resources through higher medical expenses and lost productivity. Many of these diseases are preventable through healthy lifestyles that include proper nutrition and physical activity.”

In 2004, 93% of EFNEP participants showed improvement in one or more nutrition practices; 93% showed improvement in one or more food resource management practices; and 75% showed improvement in one or more food safety practices.

EFNEP is currently located in 23 counties in S.C. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.clemson.edu/efnep/ or call Cason at (864) 656-0539.

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