Comprehensive Study Urges Public Health Approaches and
      Innovations to Address the Nation's Dual Crises of Food
                      Insecurity and Obesity

ADVISORY, July 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --


  WHAT/WHO:      Capitol Hill briefing on findings and recommendations from the most            
                 comprehensive public health study conducted to date on SNAP, the               
                 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp    
                 Program). SNAP serves as a critical safety net for 46.2 million Americans, 50  
                 percent of whom are children under the age of 19.                              
                                                                                                
                 Speakers will include Members of Congress and:                                 
                                                                                                
                 -- Susan Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A.                                              
                 Director, Health and Medicine Program, Center for the Study of the Presidency  
                  and Congress;                                                                 
                 Former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General; Project Director, SNAP to Health        
                  Initiative                                                                    
                                                                                                
                 -- Walter Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H.                                               
                 Chairman and Frederick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition,     
                  Food Studies and                                                              
                 Public Health, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health        
                                                                                                
                 -- Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H.                                                
                 Paulette Goddard Professor and Former Chair, Department of Nutrition, New York 
                  University                                                                    
                                                                                                
                 -- David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D.                                                   
                 Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Nutrition,       
                  Harvard School of Public                                                      
                 Health; Director, New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Children's 
                  Hospital Boston                                                               
                                                                                                
  WHEN:          Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.                               
                                                                                                
  WHERE:         Russell Senate Office Building, Room 385                                       
                 Washington, D.C.                                                               
                                                                                                
  WHY:           Debate in Congress over SNAP (Food Stamps) has included proposals for          
                 dramatic funding cuts to the program, which 1 out of 7 Americans depend on     
                 for food. Protecting current funding levels for SNAP is essential given the    
                 nation's food insecurity crisis. There is also is an urgent need to strengthen 
                 SNAP to more effectively address the nation's obesity epidemic -- and the      
                 alarming rise of obesity-related chronic diseases in children and adults.      
                                                                                                
                 Grounded in scientific evidence, the comprehensive SNAP to Health report       
                 provides a roadmap for policy makers, public health professionals,             
                  researchers,                                                                  
                 educators, advocates and industry to work together to modernize and strengthen 
                 this important program for low-income Americans to help address two of the     
                 nation's most pressing public health challenges -- food insecurity and         
                  obesity.                                                                      
                                                                                                
  CONTACT:       Berry Brady, 703.609.6643, berry@slfstrategies.com                             



The Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress logo is available
at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=13655