Capri Sun or 100% juice. Milk or flavored milk. The drink you put in your child's lunch can make or break a healthy lunch. In fact, drink choice is linked to the overall dietary quality of the food packed in lunches by parents for their preschoolers (ages 3-5), according to a new study led by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. What does this mean for Latino preschoolers and the health of their lunches?
Latino Kids and Sugary Drinks
Latino infants are twice as likely to be fed sugary drinks than their non-Latino peers. They are also more likely to have had a sugary drink by age 2 (74%) than their white peers (45%), according to a Salud America! research review. Ads that push sugary drinks are a problem. Latino preschoolers saw 23% ...
Latinos are sorely underrepresented in clinical research and the healthcare workforce, said a minority health leader. Dr. Eliseo Perez-Stable, director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, called this issue a "crisis" during the recent National Hispanic Medical Association conference in March 2018, Medpage Today reports. He also covered these issues at UT Health San Antonio's Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos in February 2018.
Latinos & Clinical Research
Latinos face many health disparities in cancer. They tend to have low access to healthy food, physical activity, and social support services, according to Salud America! research. Yet they don't often join clinical trials, Perez-Stable said. "There hasn't been a single [prostate] ...
Child advocates in California (61% Latino) are asking organizations to support the proposed Family Urgent Response System to provide foster youth and their caregivers with immediate help when they need it most. The proposed system would support a new toll-free hotline to give kids in foster care and caregivers immediate help with mental health crises, and require counties to prepare mobile response teams to provide on-site assistance. Your organization can join more than 75 others in signing a letter to support this proposal by April 3, 2018.
Family Urgent Response System In February, 2018, Assembly Member Dr. Joaquin Arambula introduced the Family Urgent Response System bill (AB-2043) to the California Legislature to support foster youth and caregivers. California ...
Did you know that March is Child Life Month? This year Salud America! worked with a group of special co-hosts to highlight the child life profession and child life month during one of our #SaludTues tweetchats. Co-hosts for the chat included The HSC Health Care System (@HSCHealthCare); The Association of Child Life Professionals (@AssocChildLife); and Certified Child Life Specialist, Shani Thornton (@Childlifemommy). During the tweetchat participants discussed the important role that child life specialists play as part of the health care team and ways CCLSs can help improve the quality of care for children from underserved communities.
What is a child life specialist (CCLS)?
Certified child life specialists (CCLSs) work with children to communicate important health care treatment ...
Several recent studies have shown that childhood obesity is on the decline. But are they right? Maybe not. New research indicates obesity rates among 2-5-years-olds have "sharply increased" and are at their highest since 1999, according to an interview by NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro of Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children's Hospital. Garcia-Navarro's interview with Dr. Ludwig explores what science and "short-term studies" got wrong about obesity. "When you look at short-term studies, movement in the result numbers can go up and down without any real meaning. Looking back, public health experts now know that the changes we thought we saw were really just statistical flukes, and that obesity rates among children are the highest ever," according to Dr. Ludwig on NPR.
What Science ...
Sugar isn’t always sweeter. Latinos and many other families live in food environments with an abundance of unhealthy high-sugar food and drink options. They have less access to fresh produce, clean water, and other healthy options. This situation, sadly, sets the stage for obesity, diabetes, and more. Let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, to tweet how to increase the availability of and access to healthy food and water for Latino and all families! WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: How to Improve Access to Healthy Foods/Drinks
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, April 3, 2018
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: Voices for Health Kids (@Voices4HK), Healthy Schools Campaign (@healthyschools), First 5 LA ...
Diabetes continues to be one of the leading causes of death, affecting the lives of Texans and Latinos all across the U.S. Latinos in Texas are nearly 2x as likely to die of diabetes compared to whites, after adjusting for age. In 2017, 12.2% of Latinos in Texas had diabetes vs. 10.2% of non-Latino whites. Of greater concern is the fact that up to 600,000 of Texans do not even know they have the disease.
March 27 is Diabetes Alert Day
On March 27, 2018 several communities, including many health advocates in San Antonio, TX will be working to inform the community about this disease. Diabetes must be taken serious, but we need your help! To take action we invite you to participate in the following activities: Take the diabetes risk test (available in English and ...
Latinos say they face bigger transportation struggles and public health issues than non-Latinos in Atlanta, and they're willing to pay higher taxes to improve public transportation, according to a new survey. The Atlanta Regional Commission's annual survey ask Atlanta residents their views on transportation, education, health, and more. Overall, residents tabbed transportation as their top concern for the fourth straight year. Transportation is a big deal because it affects day-to-day life. It also affects mental and physical health, professional success, and climate change. Yet, transportation looks very different across the country. Cities with poor transportation options are often burdened by health disparities, economic segregation, and poor air quality. For example, many ...
Bonita Springs, Fla. (31% Latino) and Las Cruces, N.M. (60% Latino) were among 12 cities recognized in "The Best Complete Streets Initiatives of 2017" report by the National Complete Streets Coalition of Smart Growth America. Complete Streets policies direct transportation planners and engineers to design streets with all users in mind. That includes people who walk, bike, take public transit, carpool or drive. This, in turn, helps address chronic disease, equitable economic growth, and reduced car dependence. The National Complete Streets Coalition sought exemplary examples of Complete Streets and advocates in 2017. Using their 100-point grading system, they selected the 12 Best Complete Streets initiatives. In many communities, roads and streets are barriers to access ...
