Nutritious food is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle for children. However, a February 2023 CDC report shows that many children ages 1-5 are not eating fruits and vegetables daily and are regularly drinking sugary beverages. “In 20 states, more than one half of children did not eat a vegetable daily during the preceding week. In 40 states and the District of Columbia, more than one half of children drank a sugar-sweetened beverage at least once during the preceding week,” according to the CDC. Let’s dive deeper and find out the state of diets among Latinos and all children, the role of healthy food access, and how we can create healthier food environments for children.
The State of Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
The new CDC report paints a grim ...
A nutritious diet is essential for good health. But many overlooked populations, such as Latinos, struggle to access and afford healthy food. To help, we need to know where to start. Fortunately, a new tool, the Food [Fairness] Opportunity Map, highlights healthy food access issues across the country to show where improving access would make the greatest impact. “Together, we can build community health through improving food [fairness], but only if we first understand where that work is most needed. That’s why we launched the Food [Fairness] Opportunity Map,” according to the creators of the map, Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), a national nonprofit organization focused on health fairness, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Mapping Food Fairness and ...
The USDA is proposing to make online food shopping an option for families in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Up to now, WIC participants had to use vouchers or electronic benefits cards (EBT) at the store. With the proposed changes, participants could shop online for groceries – a move that aims to improve the WIC shopping experience while increasing access to nutritious foods for WIC participants, thus positively impacting nutrition security. May 2023 Update: 329 Salud America! members submitted a model comment and were among over 1,600 people overall to USDA’s proposed changes to enable WIC participants to shop online for food. The model comment was created by Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio in partnership with ...
Obesity Care Week 2023 (#OCW2023) is here! From Feb. 27 to March 3, 2023, Obesity Care Week is an annual public awareness effort to end weight intolerance, as well as raise awareness, educate and speak up for a better world for people living with obesity. Also, World Obesity Day is March 4, 2023. Our Salud America! Latino health improvement team at UT Health San Antonio is happy to serve as an OCW2023 Champion to support this awareness week. "Unlike most other diseases, obesity is one that continues to be stigmatized and those impacted struggle to receive any care in many cases, let alone adequate care," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. "OCW2023 aims to raise awareness, educate, and [speak up] for people living with obesity and ...
In November 2022, the USDA proposed science-backed changes to improve nutrition and promote and support breastfeeding in the food packages of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). USDA sought comments on its proposal through Feb. 21, 2023. As of today, 15,238 people submitted comments on the proposed WIC food package update, including over 135 comments in English and Spanish from a comment campaign by Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio in partnership with UnidosUs! See all comments here.
Why are the Proposed WIC Changes Needed for Latinos?
Many Latinos face both food and nutrition insecurity. Of Latino low-income households, 69.4% were food secure, 18.8% were food insecure, and 11.8% were very low food security, according to ...
While many US restaurants removed sugary drink options from kid’s menus in recent years, 44% of the top 200 chains still offered soda or other sugary drinks, according to a recent study from the Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Sugary drinks contribute added sugars in a child’s diet, which can then contribute to obesity. Yet sugary drinks were the most common children’s beverages offered at the top 200 restaurant chains in 2019 and 2021, the report found. “It’s time for all restaurants to drop children’s sugary drinks. To complement industry efforts, states and localities should pass legislation that requires restaurants to make healthier beverages the default kids’ drink offering,” according to CSPI. “Healthier children’s meals, served with ...
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps one in eight Americans put food on the table. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, millions of Americans lost their jobs and experienced reduced incomes – causing Congress to make temporary emergency changes to SNAP. As a result, SNAP recipients experienced a boost in benefits, either receiving an additional $95 in benefits or an additional benefit valued up to the maximum benefit for their household size, whichever value was greater, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. While these emergency allotments have ended in many states, the Lone Star State has continued providing eligible households with an increased food budget. However, Texans may feel the pinch in the next few weeks, as Congress ...
The CDC recently revised Body Mass Index (BMI) charts for children to help healthcare providers better track growth in children and identify “severe obesity.” Before the update, BMI charts for children did not go above 37. The revised charts extend to a BMI of 60 to account for the rise of severe obesity in children ages 2-20, according to the CDC. Now clinicians can more easily see whether a child’s BMI falls within the range of underweight, ideal weight, overweight, obese, or severely obese, based on a percentile measured against other children of the same age and gender, according to CNBC and healthline.com. A BMI higher than 95% of kids of the same age and other factors is defined as obese. Severe obesity is a BMI 120% higher than the 95th ...
Usted puede comentar ahora sobre las nuevas revisiones del paquete de alimentos del Programa Especial de Nutrición Complementaria para Mujeres, Bebés y Niños (WIC por sus siglas en inglés), propuestas por el Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés) que tienen como objetivo mejorar la nutrición y promover y apoyar la lactancia materna. Los cambios propuestos, basados en las recomendaciones científicas de un informe de 2017 de las Academias Nacionales de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Medicina (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine), incluyen: Mejorar el poder de compra de frutas y verduras.
Aumentar la cantidad de los alimentos menos consumidos.
Más opciones para los patrones alimenticios culturales.
Capacidad ...
