By Amanda Merck, Salud America! Many studies show that breastfeeding can positively impact a child’s physical and mental development and even reduce the risk of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, many Latina mothers barriers in access to breastfeeding support: participation in federal food assistance programs that offer free infant formula, pain/discomfort, embarrassment, employment, inconvenience, lack of maternal access to breastfeeding information, not being properly instructed on how to breastfeed by hospital staff, and other cultural, social, economic, political, and psychosocial factors. Breastfeeding mothers need to feel safe, supported and welcome to nurse or pump in all public spaces in order to meet their own personal breastfeeding goals. Let’s use #SaludTues on ...
One hour of physical activity per day could offset the risk of sitting for 8 hours per day. However, regardless of physical activity, watching TV for three hours or more per day was associated with increased risk of death, except in the most active quartile (ie, about 60-75 minutes per day), where risk of death was significantly increased only in people who watched TV for 5 or more hours per day. In 2012, in The Lancet's first Series on physical activity, physical inactivity was identified as important a modifiable risk factor for chronic diseases as obesity and tobacco. Modifiable risk factor is something that a person can modify now to improve their health, such as quitting smoking, reducing body fat percent, or walking more. In July 2016, The Lancet published its second ...
By Dr. Patricia Braun, MD, MPH, FAAP Campaign For Dental Health SaludToday Guest Blogger We often hear about different ways to eat. More protein, less protein, more fat, less fat. It can be confusing. One thing isn’t confusing: we need to reduce the amount of sugar we eat and drink. Added sugars are playing a bigger and bigger role in making our nation unhealthy. Consuming added sugar causes cavities, weight gain and obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Tooth decay is the most common chronic condition in childhood and leads to pain, tooth loss, a lower quality of life, and is expensive to treat. And obesity, in our nation’s children has become an enormous health problem, especially for Latino ...
Research has proven numerous times that breastfeeding reduces obesity, helps babies fight infections, and lowers the risk of asthma. According to new research, children that were breastfed also behave better in school, Time Live reports. Researchers from Glasgow University conducted the study among 1,500 children from South Africa between the ages of 7 and 11 and concluded that those who drank breast milk for six months or more had an easier time behaving in school than those who were breastfed for less than a month. “The duration of exclusive breastfeeding of an infant has greater importance than previously realized in several areas of development," Tamsen Rochat of the Human Science Research Council in Durban told Time Live. Learn more about breastfeeding and Latinos ...
The City Council of Stockton, California (32.5% Latino) has unanimously passed a new ordinance to reduce sugary beverage consumption among kids. The ordinance will require all restaurants in the city that offer kids meals to offer water and low-fat milk as the only default beverages. Cities across the country, in Davis, Calif, Philly, Illi., Denver, Colo., Virginia and more, are working on reducing sugary beverage consumption among kids and teens, as soda's and energy drinks with high sugar content have been shown to be the products that contribute most to added sugars in a child's daily diet. Research shows that about 74% of Latinos have had a sugary drink by age two. Having measures that reduce sugar consumptions at early ages of childhood, may help the healthy choice become ...
Update!: Major Victory for Philadelphia, 1st Major US City to Approve Sugary Drink Tax!! (June 16, 2016) Leaders in Philadelphia (13.6% Latino) have just scored a big win for Pre-K and public health with a newly enacted sugary drink tax! This week city officials voted to pass a 1.5-cent per ounce sugary drink tax in efforts to curb obesity and as a way to generate revenue for Pre-K, libraries, and parks and recreation programs. Fewer sugary drinks (i.e. sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, and fruit-flavored drinks), means improved rates of heart disease, diabetes, and childhood obesity. According to the American Heart Association, most added sugars consumed by children come from sugary drinks. Many kids consume their own age in a number of drinks per week! For instance, the ...
Westwood Unidos and Re:Vision, two local organizations in the Westwood neighborhood of Denver, Colo. (31.2% Latino population) were already working to make the area a healthier place for families. Westwood Unidos organized local community members, like Fany Mendez, to teach fitness classes in their spare time wherever they could, such as schools, churches, and even bars. When Westwood Unidos learned about a small building that was going to be torn down on a piece of land recently purchased by Re:Vision, Westwood Unidos raised the money to transform the building into a community center named La Casita, with educational and physical activity classes taught by Mendez and local community members.
Westwood Families Not Active Enough
Fany Mendez, before she became the Coordinator of La ...
The Urban Institute's mission is to open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions through economic and social policy research. Health is high on the list, not only because of the ever-increasing healthcare costs and societal costs related to American's poor health-obesity, heart disease, diabetes-but health is influenced by numerous aspects of our lives, not just what happens in the doctors office. In the Urban Institute paints the picture of health in America in their The Picture of Health: At Home, at Work, at Every Age, in Every Community series, which was funded with support from the Lawrence & Rebecca Stern Family foundation, Inc. The Picture of Health project weaves research into storytelling, looking at numerous aspects of our lives that influence health. The ...
Nation Park Trust (NPT)-a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and protection of our nation's critical parks and public lands and the engagement of our youth, especially those who are under-served with nature-is hosting their 6th annual 'Kids to Parks Day' on Saturday, May 21, 2016. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution in support of Kids to Parks Day introduced by Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii. NPT is working with numerous cities and towns included those affiliated with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Cities and Towns program, which is designed to encourage mayors and elected officials to adopt policies and ...
