Back to KON.org

2014 Award Recipient - Rebecca Walker

Those who seek mentoring, will rule the great expanse under heaven.
Those who boast that they are greater than others, will fall short.
Those who are willing to learn from others, become greater.
Those who are ego-involved, will be humbled and made small.

~Shu Ching (in Huang & Lynch, 1995, p. xi)

Kappa Omicron Nu
Undergraduate Research Award Recipient Abstracts
2014

Nutritional Profiling Systems: Can They Be Implemented in Subsidiary Food Pantries for Reducing Nutrient Deficiencies Among the Elderly?
~Rebecca L. Walker

Learning Outcomes: Identify the nutritional adequacy of food pantry boxes and recognize the potential of nutrition profiling to reduce nutrient deficiencies in the elderly.

Background: The elderly food pantry client (> 60 years old) has increased risk for nutrient-related deficiencies due to a reduced intake of macronutrients, Iron, Calcium, and Vitamins A and C.

Methods: This mixed method design examined the presence of nutritional profiling systems in the United States Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), two regional food banks, and three subsidiary food pantries through six interviews and a 10-question survey with each facility director. The pantries were selected for their designation as a full or partially client-choice food pantry. Additionally, a nutritional analysis of a sample of 10 boxes from each pantry and 1 box from the CSFP (total n=31) was completed using MyPlate Supertracker.

Rebecca Walker
Dr. Catherine Anstrom and Rebecca Walker
~Olivet Nazarene University
Results: Two themes emerged from the data: first, nutritional profiling was not a system in use; and, second, there is a desire to implement a system if the regional food banks create it. The nutritional analysis sample provided an average of 102 percent of carbohydrates, 66 percent of protein, 45 percent of fat, 34 percent of Calcium, 131 percent of Iron, 47 percent of Vitamin A, and 34 percent of Vitamin C of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for an elderly male client.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that nutrition profiling is not currently utilized, but pantries are interested in utilizing a system if provided by food banks. Because this study was exploratory, results cannot be generalized without further research.

Read more: kon.org/urc/v13/walker.html

Information regarding future applications for this award are available at kon.org/urjhs