History of the Young People’s Healthy Heart Program

Sharon Buhr, MPH, Creator of the Sugar, Salt & Fat Test Tube Visuals

After four years of nutrition mission work in South Africa, Sharon Buhr returned to the United States and completed a second major in nutrition and a Master of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She then created a public health position at the hospital and clinic where she worked.

Sharon saw that heart disease was widespread in America, that nutrition and exercise are key to preventing it, and that healthy eating habits must start in childhood. To give students a visual they would remember, she created the Sugar, Salt & Fat Test Tube Visuals.

With the help of several grants, she first shared the test tube visuals and her Healthy Heart Curriculum, the Young People’s Healthy Heart Program, with North Dakota schools. Her clinic patients often told her that seeing the visuals did more to change what they ate than all of her verbal counseling. That convinced her to offer the test tube visuals and curriculum to educators across the country.

How the Program Began

The Young People’s Healthy Heart Program started in 1982 at Mercy Hospital in Valley City, North Dakota, under the direction of Sharon E. Buhr, MPH, LRD. Grants to promote heart health in elementary students provided the first funding, and lesson plans on heart health and behavior change were developed. The test tube visuals were designed as part of the program and went on to reach educators across the United States and beyond, with sales supporting nutrition and physical activity programs throughout North Dakota.

Carrying the program forward

Food and Health Communications, Inc., owner of the Nutrition Education Store, sold the test tube visuals for years before purchasing the Young People’s Healthy Heart Program business, with the goal of keeping it thriving for generations. Read the story here.