The Mushroom Council Joins Inaugural PHA Summit as Key Sponsor

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Nov 17, 2011, 03:23 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) today announced that the Mushroom Council has joined PHA's inaugural Building a Healthier Future Summit as a key sponsor. PHA works with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. The Summit will bring together philanthropic, government and private sector leaders to focus on where each can work together, ultimately leading to a coordinated national agenda focused on ending childhood obesity.

"We are proud to partner with PHA to help identify new solutions to the obesity epidemic affecting so many American children," said Bart Minor, president of the Mushroom Council. "Mushrooms can help in a unique way because they are compatible with meats in texture and flavor and therefore more seamlessly reduce calories and add a vegetable serving in kid favorites like spaghetti, tacos, and sloppy Joes. Replacing some of the higher-calorie items in a recipe with finely diced mushrooms cuts calories but also keeps kids, and moms, happy. A simple swap can make a difference."

Mushrooms can help Americans meet the recommendations for increased fruit and vegetable consumption set forth in USDA's 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium, yet provide a meaty, satisfying texture. They're the only source of vitamin D in the produce aisle, and offer additional key nutrients including selenium, potassium, and riboflavin.

"We're delighted the Mushroom Council is supporting the Building a Healthier Future Summit," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "Fresh fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy diet, which is why it is so important to have organizations like the Mushroom Council at the table when we talk about how to help our kids live healthier lives. We're pleased they are on board."

The Building a Healthier Future summit, which takes place November 29 to 30 at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C., brings leaders together to find new opportunities and new solutions to make the healthy choice the easy choice. The full agenda and registration information are available at www.ahealthieramerica.org/summit.

Members of the media who are interested in attending the summit should contact [email protected].

The Mushroom Council is composed of fresh market producers or importers who average more than 500,000 pounds of mushrooms produced or imported annually. The mushroom program is authorized by the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act of 1990 and is administered by the Mushroom Council under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service. Research and promotion programs help to expand, maintain and develop markets for individual agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad. These industry self-help programs are requested and funded by the industry groups that they serve. For more information on the Mushroom Council, visit mushroomcouncil.org.

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

CONTACT
Elly Spinweber, PHA
202.842.9001
[email protected]

SOURCE Partnership for a Healthier America