The 2023 New Year brings about new resolutions for many hoping to adopt a healthier lifestyle like eating healthier or exercising more. Quitting smoking could help, too. With several health problems stemming from smoking including cancer, heart disease, and respiratory infections, why not quit smoking as a resolution? Let’s dive into the facts and benefits of leaving smoking behind in 2022!
Rates of Latino Smokers
Over 32.4 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, according to the American Cancer Society. The CDC reports that cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. How does this impact Latinos? About 1 in 13 (8%) Latino adults in the U.S. smokes cigarettes, according to the CDC. Cigarette smoking ...
More Americans died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021 than any other year since 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These are violent and tragic deaths. The roughly 2,700,000 injuries from non-fatal crashes are also violent and tragic with individuals often sustaining multiple traumatic injuries, injuries that significantly reduce their quality of life. These violent deaths and injuries are preventable. However, despite past efforts to reduce violent deaths and injuries on American roads, auto-centric guidance and policies and the growing size of automobiles undermine safety efforts today. It’s time to take meaningful action to prevention violent deaths and injuries on our roads. Let’s use #SaludTues on January 10, 2023, ...
Childhood obesity is not only common for U.S. children, it’s a global epidemic. How can communities address this issue? A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Meeting the Moment: Learning From Leaders at the Forefront of Change, asked community leaders and researchers to share their experiences in hopes of better understanding and preventing childhood obesity. “It is you who get out there every day and innovate, renovate, and motivate the field to keep going, keep trying, keep striving,” said Jamie Bussel, senior program officer for the RWJF. Let’s explore four key areas community leaders can eliminate childhood obesity!
1. Improve Health Data
Accurate health data is important. For instance, we know Latino adults have higher obesity rates ...
The U.S. has a violent child death problem. Developing strategies to prevent violent child death from firearms and traffic crashes is a demanding task that requires consideration of numerous upstream, interrelated, and tangential issues. To help safety advocates develop strategies to prevent violent child death, we compiled five frameworks to help: Understand and explain how proposed strategies will prevent violent child death
Layer multiple strategies to cover shortcomings in strategies
Prioritize upstream primary prevention strategies to improve outcomes for entire populations
Consider the level of intrusiveness of strategies
Apply racial equity tools to ensure equitable adoption/implementation of strategies The five frameworks include: Logic Model/Theory ...
Isabella Jimenez is a Latina on a mission for health. At age 12, she had an idea for an app that serves as a digital cookbook where young people can learn to cook easy, healthy recipes and find tips in trivia games. She worked hard preparing recipes, creating and testing an app, and securing funding. At age 16, she launched the My Fun Food app. Now age 18, Isabella is an entrepreneur studying business at UT Austin and taking the My Fun Food app – which has a 5.0 rating in the Apple Store – to new levels. “The main purpose of the app is to provide a resource to the community,” Isabella said. “All the recipes are cost efficient, fast and quick, and easy to make.” Let’s explore what’s new since the last time Salud America! caught up with Isabella!
Isabella: ...
You can comment now on the USDA’s new proposed revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages that aim to improve nutrition and promote and support breastfeeding. Proposed changes, based on scientific recommendations from a 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, include: Enhanced buying power for fruits, vegetables.
Increased foods consumed less in adequacy, amount.
More options for cultural eating patterns.
Ability to get the quantity of formula to support any level of breastfeeding.
Requiring all breakfast cereals to meet the whole grain-rich standards that already apply to school nutrition programs and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. USDA is seeking ...
US food and beverage companies disproportionately target Black and Latino consumers with advertising for high-calorie, low-nutrient products, including candy, sugary drinks, and snacks, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut. This targeted advertising has been a problem for years and is consistent with findings from other studies and reports, including the recent US Access to Nutrition Index 2022. The millions of dollars companies spend on targeted marketing contributes to inequities in diet-related diseases in communities of color, including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. “Companies express how much they respect the culture and concerns of Black and Hispanic communities, but at the same time, they appear ...
You don’t have to stop smoking in one day. Start with Day 1. On Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, you can join thousands of people who will begin their smoke-free journey with the Great American Smokeout. This annual event from the American Cancer Society encourages smokers to make a plan to stop smoking. Need help? Enroll in Quitxt, a free English or Spanish text-message service that turns your phone into a personal “quit smoking” coach from UT Health San Antonio. To join Quitxt, text “iquit” (for English) or “lodejo” (for Spanish) to 844-332-2058. “For the Great American Smokeout, we’re excited to share Quitxt to provide real-time help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, handling stress, and much more, all on your phone,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, ...
Many germs, especially bacteria, normally live and grow on healthy skin and usually do not cause harm. In fact, our skin is a reservoir for germs – a place where germs live and thrive. However, some germs on your skin, such as certain types of Strep and Staph bacteria, can cause bad infections if they enter the body. Because germs are everywhere, it’s important to understand the ways that germs can spread from our skin and cause infections.
Germs Spread Through Touch
Your skin interacts with the environment around you every day, mostly through your hands, because we use them so much. Germs on your skin, especially on your hands, can spread to surfaces and patients through touch. In the same way, you can pick up germs from contaminated surfaces and patients and spread ...
