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Bike Alliance of Minnesota Teaches Kids Walking and Biking Safety



The Bike Club at Brooklyn Center Secondary in Minneapolis, Minnesota (10.5% Latino) started in the Summer of 2014 during LEAP Program and transitioned into a two day a week program during the following school year to fix brakes, replace rusty chains, and align frames, with funding from a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant and Hennepin County Statewide Health Improvement Program. Brooklyn Center Secondary also began providing Bike Alliance of Minnesota Walk! Bike! Fun! curriculum, which is free for educators and schools to download and use. Walk! Bike! Fun! is a comprehensive curriculum developed by the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota through a federal Safe Routes to School grant provided by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and in collaboration with the Center ...

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Study: Severe Obesity Among Minority Children is on the Rise



Latino and Black children have the highest prevalence of severe obesity according to a recent study, Univision Salud reports. Researchers analyzed data from 1999 through 2014 and concluded that one-third of U.S. children are overweight, 25% are obese and more than two percent are severely obese. "Despite other recent reports, all categories of obesity have increased from 1999 to 2014, and there is no evidence of a decline in the last few years." lead researcher Asheley Skinner said. According to Skinner, there are 4.5 million children who are severely obese in need of immediate treatment. "Unless we make big changes on a national level, we're not going to see huge changes in obesity," Skinner said. "We have created a culture where kids aren't very active and one where it's ...

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School gardens planted for healthier diets



Westford Elementary school is working with Fresh Start Food Gardens and Circle Health to bring fresh fruits and vegetables into the diets of their students, promoting healthy eating with a "seed to stomach" process. The partnership has helped bring in two raised beds for school gardens that have let students plant seeds and harvest their own plants, learning how to care for the produce they will consume in the coming months. The students at Crisafulli Elementary School will also get to enjoy new garden beds for planting as well. Christine Berthold, one of the creators of Fresh Start Food Gardens explained in the local news article that kids who grow their own vegetables are more apt to eat them and she thinks that it will be great for the kids to be a part of the entire growing ...

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Latino Males Lag Behind in College Enrollment



According to a new report, while college enrollment numbers for Latino males continues to rise, they still lag behind female Latinos in terms of college enrollment. This disparity increases as the level of higher education increases. The report, from Excelencia in Education, found that Latino males represent half of the traditional college-aged Americans in total. Other findings from the report were that Latino male high school dropout rates have decreased significantly. In 2014, the high school dropout rate for Latino males was 12% down considerably from 26% in 2005. The graduation rates for Latino males and females have proven to be similar, with Latino males at 49% and females at 51%. Latinos are also the second largest group of college-age males overall. In 2014, Latinos ...

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Salud America! Wins International Marketing and Communications Award


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Spreading the word about how to improve health for all people, including Latinos, is a dire need. That’s why Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, leader of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, created Salud America!, formerly called the SaludToday blog and social media campaign. Salud America! was recognized with four Communicator Awards. We won “silver” in the content and marketing category and “silver” in the community action, writing, and website categories Please help us continue to raise awareness of health issues and solutions by following us @SaludAmerica on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and ...

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Toronto works on banning unhealthy food advertising for kids



Marketing to kids has been a long debated topic as cartoon characters,  TV shows and smartphone game apps have been shown to influence kid's food choices. Quebec has had restrictions on child-targeted food ads since 1980's according to a recent news article and now Toronto wants to follow suit as well to help decrease risks of childhood obesity and diabetes. The board of health voted on Monday, April 25, 2016, to ban commercial ads to children under 16 years of age. The city's Medical Officer of Health reported in the same news article that 29 percent of kids in grades 7-12 were overweight or obese, and one in five students eat sugar or salty snacks more than three times a day. Latino kids are often more likely to see unhealthy ads for unhealthy foods and sugary ...

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Trading sugary drinks for water across the city



Tennessee Clean Water Network is working to "Bring Tap Back". The nonprofit organization promotes clean water and healthy communities and has been a part of local visits to schools to encourage to use free water bottles to drink water and educate kids about the importance of consuming fewer sodas and sugary beverages. The "Bring Tap Back" initiative was funded by a three-year Project Diabetes grant from the Tenn. Dept. of Health. that has helped provide water bottle refill stations across the state. In Knoxville, Tenn. 80 water bottle refill stations have helped people trade sugary drinks for water to reduce risks of obesity and diabetes. Sodas, sports drinks, unnaturally sweetened juices and other sugary beverages are known to increase risks of diabetes and obesity in Latino ...

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Hearing Impairment Linked to Diabetes



New research suggests type 2 diabetes—a condition that severely affects Latinos in the U.S.—may cause hearing impairment, according to researchers at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, HealthAim reports. According to the researchers, there’s “compelling evidence” that suggests diabetes damages the auditory system and clinicians should include a hearing test in managing type 2 diabetes. “An association between diabetes and hearing impairment in human subjects has been shown in many, but not all, studies,” said Dr. Elizabeth Helzner, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. According to the American Diabetes Association, 16.9% of Latinos have ...

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U.S. Childhood Obesity Rates Still Rising



According to a recent study led by Duke Clinical Research Institute childhood obesity in the United States has not declined and severe obesity remains high. Dr. Sarah Armstrong pediatrician and director of the Duke Healthy Lifestyles Program said in a recent video in regards to the childhood obesity epidemic that, "Not seeing changes in the actual numbers, as this study points out, certainly is problematic, because there have been all the efforts aimed towards it." Researchers found that 33.4 percent of children between the ages of 2 through 19 were overweight and among those 17.4 percent had obesity. The results showed the continued increase of obesity among children from 1999 through 2014. Also according to the recent article 4.5 million children and adolescents had severe ...

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