Good oral health is essential for kids and their overall health. For Latino kids though, it’s not always so simple. Most kids have their first dental visit by age 7. For Latinos, their first visit is closer to age 16! While lack of dental insurance is most often the reason for such a late start, there is another culprit. Sugar. The average child in the United States now consumes over half of her body weight in sugar every year. Much of this sugar comes from sugary drinks. Too Much Sugar is Bad! Too much sugar can lead to serious health issues, like obesity, diabetes, and poor oral health. Some populations, such as Latinos experience much higher oral disease rates than the general population. About half of all U.S. Latino children have experienced cavities and, in ...
May 17th this year (2017) is the when Seattle will propose an ordinance to tax sugary drinks like soda, energy drinks, juice, and sweetened teas at two cents per ounce for distributors. Like many of the cities working to decrease health risks associated with consumption of sugary drinks, Seattle hopes to deter sugary drink consumption, increase health and fund educational disparities. Berkeley, in California, has successfully decreased the consumption of sugary drinks by 20 percent. Also, Mexico is continuing to see a decrease in consumption of sugary drinks in the country with the added sugary beverage tax. The tax in Seattle is being proposed by Mayor Ed Murray who is expecting to raise over 15 million dollars to help fund educational programs that would be recommended by the ...
Congrats to San Francisco's new ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors ensuring all kids menus will not longer include sugar-sweetened beverages. This is a win for Latino kids, why?
Regular consumers of sugary beverages have a 26 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and research shows that about 74% of Latino kids have had a sugary drink by age 2.
Parents are still allowed to purchase a sugary beverage with their child's meal in this new policy change, Supervisor Ken Yeager explained to Bay City News Service. However, Yeager went on to ask, "Why in the world you put something that is so poisonous on their plate?"
In fact, studies say that 71% percent of California’s children will experience tooth decay by third grade, resulting in 900,000 missed school days per ...
As more and more cities are looking towards soda taxes to help reduce chronic health risks associated with sugary drink consumption, Massachusetts hospitals are now in talks with lawmakers about a soda tax to help fund improving children's health in the state. “I think it’s a good idea. If it promotes good health for people, especially young children, then why not? I think a lot of parents will buy sugary drinks because it’s easy and kids ask for it, but there’s other choices,” Lisa Byrne of Belchertown told local news channel, WWLP 22News.
Sugary drinks cause harm to children's health, and taxing drinks has been effective in deterring purchases of sugary drinks in Mexico and now a study even reveals the same to be true in Berkely, California.
About 22% of Latino ...
Congrats to the newly released study of the Berkeley soda tax, a joint effort of the Public Health Institute and the University of North Carolina covering over 15 million supermarket transactions which show that the Berkeley soda tax is working! Soda sales have been down by 10%, and water and milk sales have gone up! Residents are buying fewer sugary-sweetened beverages water sales are up 16%, plus, according to the study, and not true as suggested by the American Beverage Association, grocery bills have not gone up. Not only has all this helped deter consumption of unhealthy beverages for health but also $1.5 million has been raised for nutrition & health programs! Nancy Brown, CEO, from the American Heart Association, told PLOS Medicine, “This study adds to the ...
What is considered a "healthy beverage zone"? A sugary drinks-free zone! The Healthy Beverage Zone (HBZ) is a first of its kind, borough-wide effort to eliminate sugary-sweetened beverages (SSBs) at work sites, health centers, hospitals, houses of worship and schools, affecting all who work, live, and visit the Bronx. The initiative that has already received national attention from the Aetna Foundation is now asking for partners to pledge to be #HealthBeverageZones or "#HBZ's". Just like the Union Community Health Center (UCHC) decided to make its clinics SSB Free Zones in 2016, the initiative is now asking all workplaces to promote healthy beverages and reduce healthcare costs associated with chronic disease linked to consumption of sugary drinks. "One-third of Bronx ...
Water Wellness Alert!!! Did you know that between 50-75% of your body is made of water? Drinking enough water to keep your body hydrated is an important part of staying healthy for kids and adults. One of the simplest ways that we can make sure that kids are drinking adequate water (and skipping the sugar-sweetened beverages!) is to include access to drinking water in school wellness policies. Including water in your policy helps to keep it top of mind for school staff and ensures that water won’t become less of a priority if the administration changes. Now is a great time for schools to update their wellness policies. All schools participating in federal nutrition programs must update their policies to comply with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s final rule by June 30, ...
Connecticut would be the first State to consider a statewide soda tax if conversations continue. Cities like Berkely and Philadelphia have passed a tax and have already seen progress in terms of reducing soda consumption and improving funding for education and public health initiatives. For Connecticut, the conversation around soda taxes began back in 2014 when a Congressional representative from Connecticut proposed a national soda tax bill in the house of representatives, but the idea has come back up now as the bill was introduced by the state Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and Lawmakers on Tuesday, April 11th at a public hearing. According to local new source Fox 61 the tax would charge consumers of sugary drinks a penny -per ounce and exempt drinks that are ...
The newly released UConn Rudd Center Parents’ Attitudes Towards Food Marketing Report highlights parents’ views about food marketing to children and food self-industry regulation, and their support for policies to help encourage healthy eating for their children. The Rudd Center surveyed over 3,500 parents with children ages 2 to 17. Researchers used a cross-sectional sample of parents, including black, Hispanic, and low-income parents, and assessed changes from 2012 to 2015. Because we don't live in a bubble, building a culture of health requires a look at food companies' marketing practices. For example, baby food marketing to Latino parents does not align with expert opinion, and 90% of snack food ads push unhealthy options to Latino kids. according to two other reports by ...
