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 ...
Colorado moms in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) can text peer counselors any time of day for breastfeeding advice, thanks to a new program being expanded across the state. WIC is a federal program that boosts healthcare and nutrition for vulnerable women and children. Latinos comprise nearly half of the 8.8 million WIC participants. WIC aims to improve breastfeeding rates, curb obesity, and boost early childhood development. Could texting help WIC moms get breastfeeding support they need? “We know breastfeeding is the healthiest way to feed babies, but sometimes new moms need extra support,” Heidi Hoffman, director of WIC in Colorado, said in a news release. “Using technology, we can help more moms in more places for less ...
Jenny Arredondo knows some San Antonio students leave school and don't eat again until they return to school the next day. Many students live in poverty. Some don't know where their next meal is coming from. Arredondo wanted to help. Arredondo, senior executive director of child nutrition at San Antonio ISD, found a solution in Texas State Rep. Diego Bernal's new state law. Schools now can start "school food pantries" to accept and store donated food and surplus food from the cafeteria, and distribute that leftover food to hungry students. How could she start school food pantries at San Antonio ISD?
Food Insecurity at San Antonio ISD
U.S. Latino children and families often struggle with poverty and live in poverty stricken neighborhoods with abundant fast food but little ...
Texas State Rep. Diego Bernal had a simple question for school leaders in San Antonio. What's your biggest concern for students? Wasted food, they told him. In fact, Bernal toured schools in San Antonio (63.2% Latino) and learned leaders were frustrated with how much food is trashed and not given to students who live in poverty and have no food at home. Even in more affluent school districts, students were going hungry while schools threw away, “untouched, unopened, ripe, perfectly edible food,” Bernal told the San Antonio Express-News. Bernal was heartbroken. He wanted to do something. But how could he bring leftover school food to the mouths of hungry students? Children Going Hungry
Bernal saw two types of hungry students in San Antonio. Students who are ...
You wanted healthier guidelines and spoke up to make it happen! To fuel change in Latino and all communities, Salud America! recently asked its national network to take action by submitting comments to the USDA, as it works to develop its 2020-2025 national dietary guidelines. USDA received 5,800 public comments, including 639 from Salud America! members (11% of all comments)!
2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Every 5 years the USDA updates the national dietary guidelines in order to promote healthy living and prevent chronic disease. Regular updates to the guidelines are mandated through the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990, according to regulations.gov. As the next cycle of updates rapidly approaches, many are looking to the USDA in ...
No parent should have to face the sheer agony of losing a baby. But it happened to Servando Salinas and Roxanne Alvarez. The San Antonio parents recently spent time at a relative's house. So Salinas and Alvarez had their eight-month-old daughter, Heaven, sleep in bed with them. When Salinas woke up, he noticed Heaven was not breathing. They called EMS, but the baby was pronounced dead at the scene, according to FOX-29. “I couldn't move. I couldn't stand. I was crying so much,” Salinas told Fox-29. Sadly, in two San Antonio zip codes—mostly Latino 78203 and 78220—Latina mothers have the highest infant death rates in the state, says a UT System study. That's why we are glad to see that San Antonio leaders, health advocates, parents, and groups are stepping up to ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latino Early Childhood Development: A Research Review »
The Importance of Latina Mothers
Although Latino children are generally well adjusted socially and emotionally, several factors may negatively influence their overall health and wellbeing development. These include poverty and/or large households, immigration status, the country of origin, maternal depression,1,146,147 as well as other factors like breastfeeding initiation and duration.148 Read the Salud America! research review about breastfeeding among Latina mothers.148,149 Approaches are emerging on how to address these issues. For example, mental health interventions can be made available to Latina mothers who are displaying negative thought patterns, including anxiety, ...
Kids were fed up with the effect of sugary drinks on people's health in the small mountain town of Lafayette, Colorado (16% Latino). They pushed city leaders for change, and scored a big victory in October 2017 when the Lafayette City Council voted 5-1 for an ordinance to require all local restaurants to offer only milk and water with kids’ meals. This means that kids will no longer see enticing pictures of sodas or juices as an option on kid's menus. The city is the fifth U.S. city, and the first outside of California, with such an ordinance. However, this isn't an outright ban on sugary drinks. Parents can ask for a sugary drink with their child’s meal, and restaurants can meet that request.
Youth Speak Up for Healthier Generations
The ordinance is a huge success ...
Did you know that 40% of Latino children are overweight or obese, compared to 32% of all U.S. children? With the Fall holidays bringing kids out of school and closer to candy and sweets, this is a critical time to make sure they have safe and healthy spaces to play, trick or treat, and achieve a healthy weight! Let’s use #SaludTues on Oct. 31, 2017, to share how what we can do for Latino and all families to improve health and stay safe during the Fall holiday season! WHAT: #SaludTuesTweetchat: Fall into Healthy & Safe Holidays
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: SafeRoutes (@SafeRoutesNow) and others We’ll open the floor to your stories, tips and experiences, as we ...
