Cindy Leung, ScD, MPH, nutritional epidemiologist whose research focuses on diet and health disparities in vulnerable populations.

Did you know that the stress and trauma from food insecurity puts children’s mental and physical health at risk?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Cindy Leung, ScD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of  Michigan School of Public Health.  Leung  is a nutritional epidemiologist whose research focuses on diet and health disparities in vulnerable populations. She discusses the psychological distress associated with childhood food insecurity, which has risen exponentially due to COVID-19. (See: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/05/06/the-covid-19-crisis-has-already-left-too-many-children-hungry-in-america/ ).  She is the lead author of a paper in the March 2020 issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, titled: “Understanding the Psychological Distress of Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Study of Children’s Experiences and Related Coping Strategies.” Related website:  https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(19)31547-3/pdf