From breastfeeding to solid foods and vegetables, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) address childhood food issues in a new report, Early Childhood Nutrition. The report covers: Breastfeeding
Support for Infant Feeding
First Solid Foods
Healthy Eating
Affordability of Nutritious Foods Let’s dive deeper into the report and how it impacts families with children.
1. Most Infants Don’t Receive Full Health Benefits from Breast Milk
The CDC report found that only 2 in 5 infants born in 2022 were still being breastfed on their first birthday, meaning that most infants do not receive the full health benefits that breast milk can provide. “Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for most infants. It helps protect babies and moms from ...
Commuting is a part of everyday life for many. In fact, almost 140 million people in the United States routinely commuted to work in 2022, according to the United States Census Bureau. Many Latino parents with low incomes who commute to work are commuting a long way, with 1 in 10 traveling 60 minutes or more to work, according to a new report by the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families (NRCHCF). Let’s look deeper into data on commutes and how it impacts families and communities.
Commuting by the Numbers
According to the NRCHCF research, people who commute to work outside of the home take an average of 27.8 minutes to travel to work. For Latino parents with low incomes, the distance increases. “One in 10 (10%) Hispanic parents with low ...
Last year, the US earned a D+ for preterm birth on the March of Dimes Report Card. The March of Dimes Report Card is an annual report that signifies where states and the rest of the country are in terms of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. This year, the US is following up its last poor rating with another D+, making it the fourth consecutive year the country has earned the substandard score. Of the births that occurred in the US in 2024, nearly 380,000 babies were born preterm, accounting for every 1 in 10 births, according to the report. Let’s take a closer look at the March of Dimes Report Card and what it means for infant and maternal health in the US.
Preterm Births in the US
March of Dimes, which pushes for better maternal and infant ...
About three quarters of Latino children received medical care in the past year, according to a new report from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families. However, the remaining 1 of 4 Latino children had not seen a doctor, nurse, or urgent/emergency care personnel in at least one year. Let’s dig deeper into this report and how it impacts families.
What Does the Report Say about Latino Children’s Medical Care?
The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families report found that receipt of medical care in the past year varied by child age. Younger Latino children (birth to age 5) more likely to have received medical care (85%) than older children (ages 6-12, 75%) and teens (ages 13-18, 65%). Children living in families with low incomes were ...
While childhood obesity remains a problem in the US, much progress has been made to address the epidemic over the past 20 years. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recently published its 2025 State of Childhood Obesity Report to reflect on the national movement to address childhood obesity and its many accomplishments and lessons learned over time. “Our work together has always been grounded in a simple belief: that every child should be able to grow up healthy, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money their family has,” said Jamie Bussel, RWJF senior officer. Let’s dive deeper into this report and how it can shape efforts to address childhood obesity.
1. Major Commitments Require Vision, Staying Power
The RWJF report describes the skyrocketing ...
Type 2 diabetes has increased at an alarming rate in children, increasing to between 24% and 45% (compared to 1-2% before the mid-1990s), with the average age of diagnosis being around 13 years old, according to research. This can deeply effect young Latinos, as more than 22% of Latino youth and 28.7% of Latino young adults have prediabetes. Many factors contribute to this rise, including childhood obesity, genetics, and diet. Now, researchers from Florida Atlantic University have found that where a child lives can also factor into their risk for type 2 diabetes. Let’s explore this research and see how it impacts children and their communities.
Behind the Research on Diabetes in Children
Researchers for Florida Atlantic University’s ’s Charles E. Schmidt College of ...
We know smokers have an increased risk of dementia. Now new research suggests that quitting smoking, even after later in life, can slow cognitive decline. Researchers from the University College of London collected data from more than 9,000 participants ages 40 and older across 12 countries. “They matched people who had quit smoking with continuing smokers according to their starting cognitive scores and other characteristics, including sex, age, education level and birth country,” according to NPR. Results showed verbal fluency declined at a rate roughly half for those who quit smoking compared to that of their smoking counterparts. For memory, the decline was reduced by 20%. Let’s dive deeper into this study and what this can mean for those who quit smoking.
Why ...
One quarter (25%) of all Latino children live in doubled-up households, according to new data from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families (NRCHCF). Doubled-up households are “those in which children live in households with their parents(s) and with other adults, who can include other relatives (e.g., a grandparent) and those who are unrelated,” according to NRCHCF. Let’s dig deeper into what this means and how it impacts families. Latino Family Households by the Numbers According to NRCHCF research, doubling up with a grandparent is the most common among such arrangements, with 15% of Hispanic/Latino children live with a parent and a grandparent. Additionally, 7% of Latino children live with a parent and some other extended family member, ...
Since their introduction in the early 1900s, vaccines have helped eradicate diseases. For this reason, vaccines play a pivotal role in public health, especially for children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. However, with the invention of the internet and social media, incorrect information is quickly spread and disseminated, sowing seeds of mistrust in vaccine recommendations. This leads to questions over vaccine research, production, and administration. What's more, the widespread misinformation about vaccines has caused outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases such as measles, making vaccine uncertainty a serious threat to public health. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by KFF in collaboration with the Washington Post, 1 in 6 US parents have ...
