Amiya is a content curator intern at Salud America! She is a sophomore at Trinity University and plans on double majoring in sociology and communication. She hopes to attend graduate school for public health in the future.
In October 2019, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed a new law that requires restaurants to make healthy drinks the default drink in kid's meals, over sugary sodas. Kid's meals now will offer a choice of water, nonfat/low-fat milk, or 100% juice. Sugary drinks are not banned. Instead, customers must specifically request them. “Ensuring that these healthy beverage options are available to families is a step in the right direction toward the health and well-being of our city’s children,” said City Council Member Blondell Reynolds Brown, who introduced the law, in a statement.
Why Does Philadelphia Need Healthier Kid's Meals?
About 66% of American children drink at least one sugary beverage a day. Sugary drink consumption contributes to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular ...
Latino kids have higher childhood obesity rates than their peers at nearly all age groups, according to a new report. For example, the newest data show Latino kids ages 10-17 have higher obesity rates (19%) than their white (11.8%) and Asian (7.3%) peers. They also have higher rates than the nation (15.3%), but lower rates than black kids (22.2%). The new stats are part of a bigger report, the State of Childhood Obesity: Helping All Children Grow up Healthy from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). It highlights big data on childhood obesity, with policies and stories to drive change. “These new data show that this challenge touches the lives of far too many children in this country, and that Black and Hispanic youth are still at greater risk than their White and Asian ...
Rural populations in the United States face unique health disparities because of their distances from health care providers and limited access to resources. There are nearly 3.2 million Latinos that live in rural areas of the country, and for them to receive assistance, programs needed to be implemented to lessen these locational barriers. Lower life expectancies and higher rates of pain and suffering are reported in rural areas by the National Advisory Committee On Rural Health and Human Services. “The Committee is deeply concerned about the gaps between rural and urban life expectancy and mortality that has largely gone unnoticed in the larger discussion about health disparities that tend to focus solely on populations and ignore the geographic aspects of this issue.”
Why ...
The beverages that children drink during early childhood can affect their health in the future. Latino children that have regularly consumed sugary drinks are twice as likely to develop obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in their lifetime, according to a new scientific review from Healthy Eating Research (HER). The review specifically studied the negative impact of sugary drinks on children’s health. “Early childhood is an important time to start shaping nutrition habits and promoting healthy beverage consumption,” said Megan Lott, deputy director of HER. HER also convened a panel of experts that recommended against flavored milks, sugar-sweetened and caffeinated beverages, toddler formulas, and plant-based/non-dairy milks for all children younger than 5. “By providing ...
