Sugary sweetened beverages, also known as SSB's are well known now for the health risks associated with consuming them daily. Latino kid's are even more at risk for these health risks as they consume on average more soda's and sugary drinks than their white peers. Studies also show, they are also more likely to live in food desserts where junk food and soda ads are targeted directly to them daily. So if ads are directed to parents and kids, what would happen if parents were directed to warning labels? In a recent study, researchers found that parents were less likely to choose soda or juice for their child if those drinks had health warning labels. Only 40% of the parents who saw the warning labels still chose the sugary drink option compared to 53% of parents who saw a ...
Last year, researcher Brian Elbel supported a proposal for healthier kids meals, after finding that 98% of receipts from kids meal purchases did not meet nutritional criteria outlined in legislation. Now, pushing towards legislation that would regulate foods that come in kids meals that offer a toy, health committee officials discussed with legislators for over three hours on how to approach the child hood obesity issue within the city. Ben Kallos supported the "Happy Meal" bill that would require nutritional rules to be set on any kids meals that offer or target children with toys. Referring back to a 2014 study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Kallos supported his belief that the bill would assist the obesity problem, as more than one-in-five New York City ...
Two architecture and urban planning graduate students from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) recognized good fruit from fruit trees were being left to rot in urban areas of San Antonio, Texas, (63.2% Latino), where many Latino families live in need of fresh foods. Working together for a class project, the friends created a blossoming non-profit to make sure families in need can access a variety of fresh fruit.
EMERGENCE
Awareness/Learn: In summer 2013, UTSA grad student Melissa Federspill started a class focused on health planning, called “Health in the Built Environment.” Students in the class were advised to visualize solutions to inner-city health problems. The class analyzed a predominately Latino neighborhood close to campus, the Avenue to Guadalupe neighborhood ...
The Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) has offered a guidebook to help farmers understand and co-manage conservation and food safety efforts. Farmers following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) new rules for produce farms, can click here to see the full guidebook, "Co-managing Farm Stewardship with Food Safety GAPS and Conservation Practices: A Grower's and Conservationist's Handbook. Creating sustainable farming practices can help achieve more access to healthier foods and safer farming practices for ...
A new Direct Farm Ownership Microloan will now be a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Microloan Program, helping speed the way for farmers to process real estate loans and expenses for new farms. Credit for farmers is necessary for new farms, just like starting a new small business, access to funding, capital, and loans is necessary to help the business get off the ground. New loans will be readily available for small operators, as the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) hopes to offer reduced application requirements, a more timely application for processing loans, and added flexibility for youth loan borrowers. The smaller loans of $50,000 can be used to finance purchase of a farm, expand operations, construction for improved structures or farm buildings and ...
A study published by the American Journal of Public Health, showed that children who lived closer to supermarkets, increased fruit and vegetable consumption and reduced their body mass index (BMI). About 500 children, 6 to 12 years old in a obesity trail in Mass. were studies, all having a BMI of or above the 95th percentile. Having close access to fruits and vegetables has also been shown to assist Latino families and help reduce the BMI of Latino kids, studies show. There are other factors still needing further research, explained the researchers of the study, focusing on household income, the drive to lose weight and other factors could determine weight loss or gain as well. To learn more about this study, click ...
Hoping to encourage schools to enjoy healthier local fresh foods, Park City along with concerned school parents are working toward fresh and non-processed meals for the Park City School District. Partners concerned for the school, are hoping for the school board to reconsider unhealthy food that is currently being served to students. Presenters including parents, dietitians and the non-profit EATS, requested changes on Tuesday 19th, 2016, to the school board, to remove anything artificial in school lunches. Although the school has foods that are acceptable under the national nutritional guidelines, they have asked for the schools to remove, artificial colors, preservatives, and sweeteners along with removal of high fructose corn syrup, bleached flour, trans fats and hormones ...
A new study from the JAMA Pediatrics researchers have reported one way kids can loose weight is to have easy access to water and less access to unhealthy sugary beverages. The researchers took water jet machines to schools across 483 New York City schools, finding a slight but significant decrease in the children's body mass index (BMI) measurements along with a decrease in students who were overweight. Researchers found students who used water jets had a .025 reduction of BMI for boys and a .022 standardized reduction for girls. About a four to five pound weight loss for a middle schooler. The study, led by Brian Elbel a professor of Population health and Health policy at New York University School of Medicine, also removed sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages as ...
Funding raised from the city's soda tax are now being allocated throughout different health projects. According to a recent article, funding will be divided into three ways, all in a joint effort to continually focus on health. A grant for $637,500 will be given to the Berkeley Unified School District for cooking, gardening and nutrition programs, $637,500 will be given to community based agencies that have been approved through a competitive proposal process, and $225,00 will be given to the city's Public Health Division to coordinate, evaluate and report on the programs. Possible future funding will be looked at more for helping minority youth who are more at risk for health related diseases associated with sugary beverage consumption, like obesity diabetes and tooth decay. Two ...
