Promising Approaches To Prevent Latino Childhood ... - Len Saunders

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Research finds promising approaches to prevent Latino childhood obesity

Salud America! shows how communities, schools, families, and policymakers can take steps to prevent and control Latino childhood obesity, American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports

Guided grocery store trips, menu labeling at restaurants, community gardens, and video-game-based exercise programs are among several promising, culturally appropriate ways to prevent obesity among Latino children, according to a new collection of studies from Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children published in a supplement to the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Salud America! is a national network of researchers, advocates, and policymakers established in 2007 that seeks environmental and policy solutions to Latino childhood obesity, an American epidemic.

The supplement focuses on Salud America! achievements over the past five years, including 19 papers of groundbreaking research. It also features three commentaries authored by a range of political and medical leaders?such as San Antonio Mayor Juli?n Castro and Harvey V. Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine.

Each paper considers the context of Latino culture, health conditions, and/or policies in places where Latino children and families live, work, learn, play, and pray.

?This supplement is the culmination of several years of diligence, passion, and hard work in identifying and examining the most promising policy-relevant strategies to reduce and prevent obesity among Latino children,? say supplement editors Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, MPH, director of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Guadalupe X. Ayala, PhD, MPH, of the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences in the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. ?In addition to fueling new research findings, Salud America! helped to increase the skills and experience of researchers working in the field, and further expand the national Salud America! research network. The ranks of those working to reverse the country?s obesity epidemic are getting stronger each day.?

In the United States, Latinos are currently the most populous and fastest-growing ethnic minority. About 44 percent of Latino boys and 38 percent of Latino girls are either overweight or obese, compared with an average rate of 31 percent. Children who are overweight or obese are more likely to remain so later in life, which can put them at greater risk for long-term health conditions, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

The supplement presents Salud America! studies that sought effective approaches for preventing and controlling obesity among Latino children. The studies represent work conducted in eleven states and a variety of participants, research methodologies, and outcomes.

Within the Latino community, studies concluded that:

* Owners of small, independent restaurants can improve access to healthy menu options and continue to publish calorie information on their menus

* Tending community gardens or attending nutrition and cooking workshops improved or maintained children?s body mass indices and increased the presence of fruits and vegetables in the home

* Capitalizing on the interconnectedness of one?s faith and health, religious communities can serve as conduits for obesity prevention programs that offer faith-oriented cooking classes, health education, and physical activity opportunities

* A child?s participation in an afterschool fitness program can increase the likelihood of subsequent fitness over a two-year period

* Barriers related to transportation, language, and school communication can negatively affect families? physical activity

* Policy development and environmental change are possible to stimulate physical activity, based on a study administered within the United States ? Mexico border colonias

To read the full press release?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/promising-approaches-to-prevent-latino-childhood-obesity/

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