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Americans’ self-reported health status hits a record low
2026 research from the International Food Information Council, Washington, D.C., reveals that more Americans are following diets than ever, yet fewer feel healthy. Among the findings:
- 64% followed a specific eating pattern or diet in the past year, with healthy aging being reported as the top benefit Americans want from their food.
- Just 40% described their health as excellent or very good – the lowest share since the trend began in 2012, and an eight-point drop from last year alone.
- For the first time in the 21-year survey history, convenience (61%) overtook healthfulness (56%) as a purchase driver, trailing only taste (88%) and price (78%).
You can read “Trying harder, yet feeling worse?” by open access.
Role of pediatricians in preventive nutrition for adolescents
A new opinion piece in Frontiers in Pediatrics highlights a gap in providing food label literacy education for adolescents:
- Most available research and interventions are limited to adolescents with chronic conditions such as type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, or severe allergies.
- However, the broader adolescent populations remain “largely overlooked in both research and clinical education.”
Researcher Firuza Damirkhanti of Ankara Medipol University, Ankara, Turkiye, suggested: “Pediatricians play a central role in shaping long-term health behaviors. Integrating food label literacy into routine pediatric outpatient care represents a feasible, low-cost, and scalable preventive strategy.”
You can read “Developing food label literacy among adolescents” by open access.
“How credibility shapes sustainable food choice online”
A 2026 article in the Foods journal carries that title. It explores the impact of eco-labels in providing cues to help consumers evaluate the environmental attributes of food products online. Survey data were collected from 496 consumers of Hema Fresh, a major Chinese online grocery retail platform. Findings “reveal how credible eco-label information is translated into sustainable food choice through complementary information-diagnostic and value-evaluation processes, while identifying traceability and price sensitivity as distinct boundary conditions in online grocery retail.”
You can read “Beyond the eco-label: How credibility shapes sustainable food choice online” by open access.
Public health issues facing livestock farmers in Bangladesh
We are adding to the ACDC collection a research article published earlier this year in Veterinary Medicine International. It addressed a serious public health issue, particularly in developing countries “where zoonotic food-borne pathogens cause substantial illnesses, death, and economic losses.”
Among the findings of a cross-sectional survey of farmers from eight divisions of Bangladesh:
- Only 8.8% demonstrated good knowledge, defined as adequate understanding of food-borne diseases, including their transmission, symptoms, and prevention.
- 38.2% exhibited good management practices.
- Need for enhancing training, community awareness, and integrated One Health collaboration.
You can read “Food-borne diseases in Bangladesh: First assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of farmers” by open access.
Welcome to a new ACDC associate
We are delighted to welcome Hanzhang (Wendy) Ma, a new Graduate Hourly, to the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC) with Funk ACES Library. She joined the Center at the beginning of fall semester. Wendy is a first-year student in the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) Program of the School of Information Sciences here at the University of Illinois. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in crop sciences with a minor in statistics.
As a proud recipient of the undergraduate Distinguished Researcher Award and current president of the Chinese Engineering Student Association (CESA), she thrives on wearing multiple hats and channels her high energy into diverse academic and leadership pursuits. She looks forward to supporting initiatives of the Center this year.
Communicator events approaching
Here are upcoming events you may find helpful, including contact information you can use for details. We welcome suggestions or revisions for this calendar.
November 18-19, 2026
Fall Virtual Conference of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE).
Information: https://aceweb.org/Fall-Virtual-Conference/
November 18-20, 2026
Annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: https://nafb.com/events/nafb-convention/
April 27-29, 2027
Annual meeting of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Nebraska City, Nebraska.
Information: https://toca.org/toca-annual-meeting/
May 20-22, 2027
Equine Media Conference of American Horse Publications (AHP) in Bend, Oregon.
Information: https://americanhorsepubs.org/ahp-annual-meeting/
“Shall we argue?”
We close this issue of ACDC News with a Dutch proverb about communicating and thinking:
When two quarrel, both are wrong.
ACDC is a deep and open resource for you, so please feel free to invite our help as you search for information, local to global. You are welcomed to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique and valued international collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, 510 ACES Library, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801) – or in electronic format sent to acdc@library.illinois.edu.