As more and more cities are looking towards soda taxes to help reduce chronic health risks associated with sugary drink consumption, Massachusetts hospitals are now in talks with lawmakers about a soda tax to help fund improving children's health in the state. “I think it’s a good idea. If it promotes good health for people, especially young children, then why not? I think a lot of parents will buy sugary drinks because it’s easy and kids ask for it, but there’s other choices,” Lisa Byrne of Belchertown told local news channel, WWLP 22News.
Sugary drinks cause harm to children's health, and taxing drinks has been effective in deterring purchases of sugary drinks in Mexico and now a study even reveals the same to be true in Berkely, California.
About 22% of Latino ...
Overall Latinos are disproportionately affected by poverty, food insecurity, and unemployment compared to their white peers. According to Feeding America, Latinos are also more likely to receive emergency food assistance than their White, non-Hispanic peers and less likely to receive SNAP benefits and are Latinos are more than twice as likely to be food insecure as White, non-Hispanics. Food insecurity can often lead to adverse health outcomes and can cause extreme stress. Both outcomes can negatively impact the long-term health of Latinos. In Texas (38.42% Latino population), members of the legislature have proposed laws with the aim of alleviating some of the problems for food insecure kids in the state. According to The Dallas Morning-News, lawmakers are trying to make it ...
Dr. Nimali Fernando, aka "Doctor Yum" is a board-certified pediatrician practicing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after seeing kids whose body mass index fell into higher percentiles, she realized many families needed nutrition education. Working with many families in her practice she found out kids eating practices within her practice were unhealthy and she began to see another connection between unhealthy diets and other symptoms in her patients. "So many problems like anxiety, constipation, bedwetting, attention issues, and abdominal pain may have direct connections to diet," Dr. Yum explained to Real Food for Kids. Dr. Yum started a parenting website to help parents find healthy recipes and wanted to educate the greater community, creating, The Doctor Yum Project, a nonprofit ...
What you eat can affect your cancer risk. That's important for Latinos, for whom cancer is the No. 1 killer. Cervical, liver, and prostate cancer are some of the most common types that disproportionately affect Latinos. How can food help? Your diet can help combat cancer. This is not a new concept—the team behind SaludToday has even published a cancer-fighting cookbook along these lines. But one hospital is taking the idea to the next level.
Food vs. Cancer
At the Kettering Cancer Center, part of the Kettering Health Network, in Kettering, Ohio (1.9% Latino population), planners have created an on-site healthy food café with a menu full of antioxidant-rich, high-protein foods, food management reports. The menu is ideal for cancer patients. When planning the menu, ...
What is considered a "healthy beverage zone"? A sugary drinks-free zone! The Healthy Beverage Zone (HBZ) is a first of its kind, borough-wide effort to eliminate sugary-sweetened beverages (SSBs) at work sites, health centers, hospitals, houses of worship and schools, affecting all who work, live, and visit the Bronx. The initiative that has already received national attention from the Aetna Foundation is now asking for partners to pledge to be #HealthBeverageZones or "#HBZ's". Just like the Union Community Health Center (UCHC) decided to make its clinics SSB Free Zones in 2016, the initiative is now asking all workplaces to promote healthy beverages and reduce healthcare costs associated with chronic disease linked to consumption of sugary drinks. "One-third of Bronx ...
Are you interested in changing people's health outcomes through programs, policy changes, and infrastructure improvements? Check out the inaugural Active Living Summit hosted by Movement Makers in Richmond, VA, May 17-19, 2017. We will be there to learn and present! Hear stories about policies changed, advocacy wins, innovative school initiatives, and more. Discover how to build play in urban environments on a playability walk. Learn more about setting expectations with the funding community and creating better tools online to support physical activity in your city. Key note speakers include: Gabe Klein, Co-founder of CityFi and former Commissioner of Chicago and Washington D.C. Departments of Transportation.
Dominique Dawes, Olympic Gold Medalist, and former Co-chair ...
Many know Emmitt Smith was as an NFL Hall-of-Famer, but did you know he is also a real estate and construction businessman and community philanthropist? He is now writing on support for Texas to establish a food retail incentive fund that would help businesses expand healthy retail into low-income neighborhoods and booster development. "When I talk about people in low opportunity neighborhoods, I am talking about my parents as we were growing up. My friends and family. My teachers and role models. I am talking about me as a child," he told the Texas Tribune. Emmit wrote a recent column in the Tribune to encourage State Legislature to help families have grocery stores and access to healthy foods. I am a businessman, not a politician. But if running Texas were my business, I ...
Connecticut would be the first State to consider a statewide soda tax if conversations continue. Cities like Berkely and Philadelphia have passed a tax and have already seen progress in terms of reducing soda consumption and improving funding for education and public health initiatives. For Connecticut, the conversation around soda taxes began back in 2014 when a Congressional representative from Connecticut proposed a national soda tax bill in the house of representatives, but the idea has come back up now as the bill was introduced by the state Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and Lawmakers on Tuesday, April 11th at a public hearing. According to local new source Fox 61 the tax would charge consumers of sugary drinks a penny -per ounce and exempt drinks that are ...
Many factors influence early childhood development, school readiness, and health. For example, Latino parents are less likely to engage their children in preliteracy activities or read books to them leading to cognitive and oral communication gaps in Latino children. Culturally relevant parent counseling, education and support can play a huge role in childhood literacy and health, because kids who do better in school become healthier adults. Three groups in Walla Walla, Washington (21.6% Latino) worked together to create a 10-week series of FREE parenting master classes, Abriendo Puertas-Spanish for Opening Doors-that use a Latino cultural perspective and are taught in Spanish. The three groups are, Walla Walla Valley Early Learning Coalition, the Walla Walla Community College ...
