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A new study in the journal Pediatrics found that “household routines” can reduce childhood obesity —
eating regularly with the family at dinnertime, getting enough sleep and limiting TV time — but cultural and other factors are important, too, SaludToday Director Dr. Amelie Ramirez told the Latina Lista blog.
Latino kids are more obese than their white counterparts.
Dr. Ramirez, who also heads the Salud America! research network to prevent obesity among Latino kids at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, told Latina Lista that obesity is a complex issue for Latinos:
Latino children, who have some of the highest rates of obesity, tend to: consume too much total and saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar and sodium; have less access to healthy foods in their neighborhoods; watch more TV a day (3:23 hours a day, compared to 2:45 minutes for non-Hispanic whites); play less in organized sports (1 in 4 Latino children play organized sports, vs. 1 in 2 white children); and have less access to safe neighborhood parks or play areas. Efforts to solve this epidemic must attack the issue on all of these fronts.
Read the rest of the blog post here. Find out about Latina Lista here.
Explore More:
Maternal & Child HealthBy The Numbers
20.7
percent
of Latino kids have obesity (compared to 11.7% of white kids)
