News

Lois Englberger: CINE Collaborator Dies

Friends and collaborators in the CINE Traditional Food Systems and Health network were saddened to learn of the loss to this world of Dr. Lois Englberger.  Lois died on September 29, 2011 from ovarian cancer that was diagnosed in an advanced stage about a year earlier.  We send our condolences to her husband Konrad, daughters Tanja and Katrina, mother Doris, sister Barbara and other family members in Pasco, Washington.

Lois was a key member of the CINE network, and academic leader of the Case Study in Pohnpei, together with community leaders Adelino Lorens, Kiped Albert and Podis Pedrus.  She was also a member of the steering committee of the Task Force on Traditional, Indigenous and Cultural Foods and Nutrition of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.  The Pohnpei case study was successful in documenting an extensive local food system, and using the local foods to improve intake of key nutrients (see publications).

Lois is remembered with fondness by her colleagues at CINE.  In our meetings at Bellagio (Italy), Futululu and Durban (South Africa), Bangkok and Sanepong (Thailand), and Montreal she was always a positive source of information and creative ideas on how to maximize the Pohnpei nutrition education intervention. Lois loved her work and was dedicated and hard-working. In the “Let’s Go Local” movement she was successful in spreading her enthusiasm to Chuuk and other states in the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as to Tonga, Guam, the Solomon Islands and other Pacific nations, where similar programs were mounted to stem the spread of “non-communicable diseases.”  With others, she created songs about the local foods, and especially about the CHEEF benefits (culture, health, environment, economics, food securty)—she would often sing these songs in her “Let’s Go Local” tee-shirt in her presentations at our meetings with a strong voice and happy expression.  

As well as being a kind and gentle human being—a real “people person”-- Lois was a scientist who believed in and worked to document the nutritional composition of the local foods of Pohnpei so that they could be credibly used in nutrition promotion programs in her development activities. Her most famous communications related to the high carotenoid contents of the Karat, a delicous, soft orange-fleshed banana that grows in the Islands.  She went on to strengthen the scientific record of other Island foods (see sample publications noted).  Using this knowledge, Lois was a wizard at working with others in the IFCP from the “grass-roots” with “ground-up” participatory methods.  She has made a huge difference in the nutrition community and will be remembered for her strong spirit, modesty, commitment and enthusiasm.  She will be remembered and will continue to enrich us, and to lead us through her fine example. We hope that the Island Food Community of Pohnpei will contine its excellent work in the “Let’s Go Local” movement.

You can read about the accomplishments of Lois Englberger on other websites: www.wphna.org/members_profiles; http://www.unscn.org/en/publications/scn_news; http://www.promusa.org/tiki-index.php?page=Lois+Englberger; http://www.islandfood.org//.   Donations to the IFCP to continue the work of Lois Englberger can be sent to: www.islandfooddonation.blogspot.com

Harriet Kuhnlein and Bill Erasmus

Nancy Turner, Gail Harrison, Adelino Lorens, Henrietta Ene-Obong, Elizabeth Chinwe Okeke, Lalita Bhattacharje, Salome Yesudas, Hilary Creed Kanashiro, Looee Okalik, Solot Sirisai, Suttilak Smitasiri, and Sinee Chotibooraboon. Thanks also to Ted Greiner and Fabio daSilva Gomes.

Selected recent publications

1. Englberger L, Lorens A, Albert K, Pedrus P, Levundusky A, Hagilmai W, Paul, Y, Moses P, Jim R, Jose S, Nelber D, Santos G, Kaufer L, Larsen K, Petrick M, Kuhnlein HV.  In press, 2011. Let’s Go Local! Pohnpei promotes local food production and nutrition for health.  In: Kuhnlein HV, Spigelski D, Erasmus B, Burlingame B. Indigenous Peoples Food Systems and Wellbeing: Interventions and Policies for Healthy Communities. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
2. Englberger LE, Lorens A, Levundusky A, Pedrus P, Albert K, Terhagilma W, Paul Y, Nelber D, Moses P, Schaeffer S, Gallen M. 2009. Documentation of the Traditional Food System of Pohnpei. In: Kuhnlein HV, Erasmus  B, Spigelski D. Indigenous Peoples Food Systems: the many Dimensions of Culture, Diversity and Environment for Nutrition and Health. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
3. Englberger L, Lorens A, Pretrick M, Raynor B, Currie J, Corsi A, Kaufer L, Spegal R, Kuhnlein HV. 2010. Approaches and lessons learned for promoting dietary improvement in Pohnpei, Micronesia. In: Thompson B, Amoroso L. Food-based Approaches for Combatting Micronutrient Deficiencies. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
4. Englberger L, Lyons G, Foley W, Daniells J, Aalbersberg B, Dolodolotawake U, Watoto C,  Iramu E, Taki B, Wehi F, Warito P, Taylor M. 2009. Carotenoid and vitamin content of Micronesian atoll foods: Pandanus (Pandanus tectorius) and garlic pear (Crataeva speciosa) fruit. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 22: 1-8.
5. Englberger L, Schierle J, Hofmann P, Lorens A, Albert K, Levendusky A,Paul Y, Lickaneth E, Elymore A, Maddison M, deBrum I, Nemra J, Alfred J, Velde NV, Kraemer K. 2008.Carotenoid and mineral content of Micronesian giant swamp taro (Cytosperma) cultivars. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 21: 93-106.
6. Englberger L, Schierle J, Kraemer K, Aalbersberg W, Dolodolotawake U, Humphries J, Graham R, Reid AP, Lorens A, Albert K, Levendusky A, Johnson E, Paul Y, Sengebau F. 2006.Carotenoid content of different edible pandanus fruit cultivars of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 19: 484-494.>/li>
7. Englberger L, Aalbersberg W, Schierle J, Marks GC, Fitzgerald MH, Muller F, Jekkein A, Alfred J, Velde NV. 2003. Further analyses on Micronesian banana, taro, breadfruit and other foods for provitamin A carotenoids and minerals. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 16: 219-236