Stacy Cantu completed both her BS & MPH at Texas A&M University (gig ‘em!), and is passionate about all things public health. She curates content on Healthy Food and Healthy Minds.
Air pollution is the world’s greatest environmental health threat. Sadly, Latinos and other minorities breathe 38% more polluted air than whites. It’s even worse in California, where the Latino (39.1%) and Black (6.5%) populations live in regions with the dirtiest air in the state, according to a new environmental report from California Environmental Protection Agency. "These folks primarily live in low-income, disadvantaged communities often found near ports, warehouses, rail yards, and factories that foul the air, pollute the water and rain toxins down on playgrounds, parks and backyards," writes Rocky Rushing of the San Francisco Chronicle about the new report.
California Air Quality
In California, 44% of Latinos live in communities with poor air quality, compared to ...
Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to create a good life. Sadly, Latinos and other minorities face an "opportunity gap." They lack of access to support for economic and education success, according to a Salud America! Research Review. This gap creates health inequities. The new Health Opportunity and Equity (HOPE) initiative is starting a new conversation about the opportunity gap and developing metrics to chart progress toward health equity. "Measuring the opportunity gap is imperative for the nation—to chart progress in how we are performing on opportunity just as we track the Consumer Price Index or other indicators we value—but also for states and communities," according to the HOPE website.
HOPE & Health Equity
The HOPE initiative is funded by the Robert ...
We know that children of migrant workers, who are predominantly Latino, grow up exposed to a high level of trauma, such as neglect, abuse, poverty, and low access to healthy food and safe places to play. Separation between parents and children also is "incredibly harmful," according to a report. Zoe E. Taylor, a researcher at Purdue University who is studying mental health and resiliency in the children of Latino migrant farmworkers, says parent attachment is critical to childhood well-being. "In these populations, teens are used to contributing to the family and the value of family has tremendous cultural significance," Taylor said, in a press release. "These teens may have additional burdens, making this an even more stressful situation. And at the same time, they are often a ...
Not sure if a snack food for your school or afterscool program meets federal nutrition guidelines? Check out the new Healthier Generation Store with Amazon Business, a first-of-its-kind online marketplace committed to selling products that align with the USDA Smart Snack in School Standards. The store was created by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. "The Healthier Generation Store was created to provide schools and sites with an option that may help them more easily access products that meet nutritional guidelines," according to the Alliance website. "[Store] products were determined to meet nutrition standards by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation based upon products’ ingredient statement and Nutrition Facts panel." The store aims to support schools and groups ...
Health problems plague the half-million people living in colonias in South Texas, U.S. News reports. Colonias are predominantly Latino, unincorporated, and impoverished areas along the Texas-Mexico border. People live in makeshift shacks or trailers. They lack streets and basic public services, such as running water. Texas has about 2,300 colonias. 900 are in the Rio Grande Valley, including Hidalgo County. The county is one of the fastest growing counties in Texas, home to the bigger cities of McAllen & Edinburg. "Ramshackle living conditions [in colonias] have led to a plethora of health concerns," according to the news report. "About 38,000 colonia residents lacked access to clean drinking water."
Colonia Health Concerns
Many Latino families lack of support for economic ...
July is Minority Mental Health Month. Why is it important to acknowledge Minority Mental Health Month? First and foremost, mental illness does not discriminate. However, Latinos are far more likely than their peers to have mental health issues, according to a Salud America! Research Review. Furthermore, these issues often go unaddressed and untreated.
Let's use #SaludTues on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 to tweet about promoting healthier minds in communities of color in honor of Minority Mental Health Month. What: #SaludTues Tweetchat – Minority Mental Health: Curing Stigma & Creating Healthier Minds
Time/Date: 1-2 P.M. ET (Noon-1 P.M. CT), Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Where: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Mental Health America ...
Evelyn Brito went to buy some vegetables for her 2-year-old daughter, but was stunned to find no fresh produce in her local bodega, a small grocery store in her Spanish-speaking neighborhood in Lynn, Mass. (38% Latino). Instead, unhealthy chips, cookies, and processed foods lined the bodega shelves. Brito wanted to change all that. Brito, an independent filmmaker and marketer, turned the cameras on the local food environment and engaged bodegas in finding a solution. That led to “Bodega Makeover,” a unique docu-reality web series.
The Junk Food Problem in Lynn
Brito grew up around bodegas in Boston. Her father worked in one when she was a child. “I would go to a bodega to get freshly peeled oranges for less than a dollar and the owner would ask me how my ...
Latinos comprise almost half of all youth in Austin, Texas. These kids are more likely than their peers to deal with mental health issues, from fear of being deported to bullying to financial stress, according to a Salud America! Research Review. And, sadly, these issues go largely untreated. One group—The Austin Child Guidance Center—took notice and is trying to make a positive change. “We’ve just been seeing a lot more fear and a general sense of unpredictability, which raises everybody’s anxiety level,” Julia Hoke, director of psychological services for the Austin Child Guidance Center, told the Austin American Statesman. “We want to be a counterpoint to that.”
The Austin Child Guidance Center
The center started a task force to meet the needs of their ...
Women who eat a lot of fast food may take longer to become pregnant and be more likely to experience infertility than those who rarely eat fast food, Reuters reports. Women who ate fast food at least four times a week had a 16% risk of infertility and failed to conceive after 12 months of trying, according to a study by the Robinson Research Institute and the University of Adelaide in Australia of 5,598 first-time mothers in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The risk was only 8% in women who rarely or never ate fast food. This has big implications for Latinas' fertility and the food environment.
Latinas and Fertility
"In families of color, there’s an assumption that when you want to get pregnant, you get pregnant," one woman told the New York Times a few years ago. But ...
