Getting Latino kids to eat vegetables isn't always an easy job, especially when Latinos are more likely to live in neighborhoods that have little to no access to local grocery stores. However, a recent research study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that Latino kids who consume more vegetables in their diets, are healthier overall, even if they are overweight. The study reveals that kids who are eating vegetables, like spinach, broccoli or carrots, even for just a fraction of their diet, can reduce bad fats in the body. The study focused on a group of overweight Latino children, monitored by a researchers from The Keck School of Medicine, and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). They found that children who consume one or two ...
A farmer's market is a lot of fun—for parents only, usually. Kids often just tag along, glumly, as their parents busily shop for fresh fruits and vegetables. That is, until the Market Sprouts Kids Club. Kaely Summers and other farmer's market managers in Oregon teamed up to create the Market Sprouts Kids Club program to teach Latino kids and other kids who come to the market about farming, fresh produce, and healthy eating. Now kids ages 5-12 who visit local markets, like Summers' Forest Grove Farmer's Market in Forest Grove, Ore., (23.1% Latino), do fun, interactive activities alongside farmers and volunteers who teach about healthier foods and healthier choices!
Farmer's Markets and Children in Oregon
Officials with Adelante Mujeres, a non-profit organization focusing on ...
In 2006, Benton County held a soccer themed health promotion event to engage Latino men in health care and health screenings. Due to language and transportation barriers; documentation and insurance status; complex and confusing documents and processes; and fear of using government services, Latinos, particularly Latino men, typically don't access health care services or participate in health screenings and are burdened by adverse health outcomes. Linn (8.2% Latino) and Benton (7.0%) counties organized the "Campeones de Salud!" (Champions for Health) event to provide Latino men access to diabetes, vision, dental and hearing screenings while allowing them to have fun playing soccer. This annual event has grown from 200 people in 2006 to over 2000 people in 2015 and reaches the ...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of Dexcom G5, a mobile continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM). This new system could be a great relief for the 12.8 percent of Latinos living with diabetes. How will it work? The user will carry a Bluetooth enable device attached to his/her body which will measure the levels of glucose under the skin,it will then send the information to the user's smartphone. According to Dexcom, Inc this is the first system of its kind approved by the FDA to measure glucose levels in the blood in adults and children as young as 2 years old. "Dexcom is rapidly advancing technology for continuous glucose monitoring devices to improve diabetes management. Since January, the company has introduced the G4 PLATINUM CGM ...
Diabetics are more susceptible to oral infections such as gingivitis and periodontitis than those that don’t suffer from diabetes, Univision Salud reports. Lower flow of saliva among diabetics causes burning sensations in the mouth skyrocketing the incidence of cavities and other infections. And those “who don’t control their sugar levels tend to have more oral health problems, particularly dental gum retractions.” Gingivitis and periodontitis are the most common oral health problems among diabetics, but more serious ones such as Thrush (candidiasis) it's also common. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) recommends: Control glucose levels in the blood
Brush your teeth and use dental floss every day
Visit your dentist ...
What so great about beans? Grad student Kelly Atterberry and mentor Carol Miles have the answer in their new bean-based garden and nutrition curriculum for K-12 students in Washington. By encouraging kids to learn to garden and try nutritious pulse crops (beans, lentils, peas, etc.), they hope the curriculum can help combat obesity and diet-related health problems among children.
Why Beans?
Kelly Atterberry originally wanted to go nursing school. Then she learned about agriculture and growing healthy food while working on a farm and again later while working in the Agriculture Research Station at Washington State University (WSU) in Mount Vernon, Wash. (33.7 % Latino). So she switched her career course. As a grad student at WSU, she studied agriculture, which united her ...
Alabama state governor signed the Healthy Food Financing Act on July 1, 2015 to address statewide food deserts. The purpose of this act is to establish a statewide program to provide loans or grants for the construction or expansion of grocery stores to increase access to fresh and nutritious food, including fruits and vegetables, for residents living in undeserved communities. Due to unequal distribution of supermarkets in Alabama, a disproportionate number of low income families are without access to health food. Lack of access to fresh and nutritious food is associated with obesity and other diet related diseases. Alabama has the highest diabetes rates and one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the nation. 36.91% of youth (under age 18) in Alabama are ...
Numerous diseases can be detected early with an eye exam. According to a recent report by CBS News “61 million American adults are at risk for losing their eyesight, but only half visited an eye doctor in the past year.” Latino adults, who many lack the financial resources or insurance to visit an eye doctor regularly- are also at risk. Among the diseases that can be diagnosed early with an eye exam are: diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. "The eye is unique in the body," Dr. Christopher Starr, an ophthalmologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center told CBS News "We can examine blood vessels, we can even examine the brain - the optic nerve is part of the brain - and we can see that in great detail on our eye exams. It's the only place in the body where that's ...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care law requires most insurance plans to offer a range of preventive services: (1) Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling; (2) Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence; (3) Screening for gestational diabetes; (4) DNA testing for high-risk strains of HPV; (5) Counseling regarding sexually transmitted infections, including HIV; (6) Screening for HIV; (7) Contraceptive methods and counseling; and (8) Well woman visits. This toolkit is provides: (1) information on the coverage of breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling; (2) instructions on how to call insurance companies and how to file an appeal if the plan denies coverage; and (3) draft appeal letters tailored to commonly encountered scenarios. Access ...
