Posts tagged Salud America!

Research: Latino Neighborhoods Badly Need Healthier, Affordable Food Options

1
5 days ago
by admin in , ,

Grocery StoreLatino neighborhoods tend to have more fast-food restaurants and snack vendors and fewer supermarkets and farmers’ markets.

This makes it hard for Latino families do not have access to healthy, affordable foods.

However, policies that introduce supermarkets or farmers’ markets in Latino communities, expand healthy offerings in corner stores like bodegas, or reduce costs of healthy foods can improve Latino families’ access to and purchase of healthier foods and set the stage for better diets, according to a new package of research materials from Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children.

The “Better Food in the Neighborhood” package highlights how healthy food financing initiatives—tax credits, zoning incentives, funding, technical assistance, or equipment—can spur supermarkets and farmers’ markets to locate in underserved areas.

In addition, several government financing initiatives encourage bodegas to expand their offerings of healthy affordable foods.

Other financing initiatives include food subsidies to expand demand and purchasing power for healthy foods by low-income consumers.

“As the number of supermarkets in Latino neighborhoods increased—which expands the availability of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat milk, etc.—youths’ body weight outcomes improved,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America!, based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The new research package can be found at www.salud-america.org and includes:

Be sure to check out all six new research material packages to be released over the summer by Salud America! each focused on a specific topic.

“Healthier School Snacks” is already available.

Also coming soon: Active Spaces (June 2013); Active Play (July 2013); Healthier Marketing (June 2013); and Sugary Drinks (August 2013).

Infographic: Better Food in Latino Neighborhoods

0
5 days ago
by admin in ,

Check out this new infographic on how Latino families need healthier food options in their neighborhoods.

The infographic, which is part of a new Salud America! “Better Food in the Neighborhood” package of research, which also contains a research review, issue brief and animated video, can be found here.

better food in the neighborhood

Video: Better Food in Latino Neighborhoods

0
5 days ago
by admin in ,

Check out this cool new animated video on how Latino families need healthier food options in their neighborhoods.

The video, which is part of a new Salud America! “Better Food in the Neighborhood” package of research, which also contains a research review, issue brief and infographic, can be found here.

Report: Becoming an American Can Be Bad for Your Health

0
4 weeks ago
by admin in , ,
From the New York Times

From the New York Times

A growing body of mortality research on immigrants has shown that the longer they live in the United States, the worse their rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, according to a New York Times report.

According to the report:

For Hispanics, now the nation’s largest immigrant group, the foreign-born live about three years longer than their American-born counterparts, several studies have found.

Why does life in the United States — despite its sophisticated health care system and high per capita wages — lead to worse health? New research is showing that the immigrant advantage wears off with the adoption of American behaviors — smoking, drinking, high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles.

Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Salud America! Latino childhood obesity network based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, was quoted in the report about the problem of Hispanics’ high obesity rates:

“We have a time bomb that’s going to go off. Obesity rates are increasing. Diabetes is exploding. The cultural protection Hispanics had is being eroded.”

Research: Latino Kids Have High Exposure to Unhealthy Snacks at School

0
1 month ago
by admin in , , ,

Latina Girl in Snack LineLatino students are widely exposed to high-fat, high-sugar snacks and drinks sold in schools, but implementing stronger nutritional standards can yield healthier school snacks for this growing population at high risk of obesity, according to a new package of research materials released today by Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children.

The new Salud America! “Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids” research materials, which can be found at www.salud-america.org, include:
• A research review with the latest science;
• An issue brief (lay summary of the review);
• An infographic; and
• An animated video

This is the first of six new research material packages to be released over the summer by Salud America!, each of which will focus on a specific topic on Latino childhood obesity and highlight the issue, policy implications and future research areas.

The “Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids” package, released at the Salud America! Summit, highlights the fact that young people consume a high proportion of their daily calories at school.

“Research shows that access to unhealthy snack foods and beverages in schools has a disproportionately negative health influence among Latino students, and schools with a higher proportion of Latino students tend to have weaker policies regarding access to and nutritional values of these items,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America!, a national network of stakeholders seeking environmental and policy solutions to Latino obesity based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

“By 2050, 35 percent of young people in the U.S. will be Latino. Providing healthier school snacks and drinks can help make sure this growing population is healthy,” Ramirez said.

To learn more, visit www.salud-america.org.

Video: Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids

0
1 month ago
by admin in , ,

Check out this new video on how Latino kids need healthier school snacks.

The video, which is part of a new Salud America! “Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids” package of research, can be found at www.salud-america.org.

Infographic: Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids

0
1 month ago
by admin in , ,

Check out this new infographic on how Latino kids need healthier school snacks.

The infographic, which is part of a new Salud America! “Healthier School Snacks & Latino Kids” package of research, can be found at www.salud-america.org.

Healthier School Snacks - Infographic JPG

Web Forum 4/16/13: Mobilizing Latinos to Address Obesity

0
2 months ago
by admin in ,

Latino kid remote TVLatinos have among the highest rates of obesity in the United States.

A new web forum series, “Why Obesity Is Important to the Latino Community,” is launching at 12:30 p.m. CST Tuesday, April 16, 2013, focusing on the Latino community and obesity and overweight prevention.

The series, organized by the Public Health Institute (PHI) of California, will air on PHI’s Dialogue4Health web platform in both English and Spanish.

Presenters will:

  • Outline the epidemiology of obesity in accessible terms, and the underlying factors contributing to the obesity epidemic;
  • Elaborate upon the link between obesity prevention and other social issues;
  • Discuss the role of community empowerment through leadership and capacity building for policy advocacy and systems change; and
  • Provide examples of how Latino communities are coming together to create healthier built, food, beverage, social and community environments.

“This forum, which is by and for Latinos, aims to encourage communities to mobilize in ways that resonate with their culture, values and the environments they live in that influence the availability of healthy food and physical activity,” said Dr. Carmen R. Nevarez, PHI vice president for external relations, as well as a grantee of Salud America!, a Latino childhood obesity research network led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The first forum will be moderated by Dr. George Flores of The California Endowment.

Speakers include Michael Rodriguez, MD, MPH, a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Family Medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine; Rosa Soto, regional director, California Center for Public Health Advocacy; and Genoveva Islas-Hooker, MPH, regional program director, CCROPP Program.

Register here.

Latino TV Producer/Director Puts Spotlight on Health

0
2 months ago
by admin in , , ,
Rick Carrillo

Rick Carrillo is a native of Weslaco, Texas.

In the movie The Killing Strain, Juan “Rick” Carrillo plays a soldier who escapes a helicopter crash to lead a small group of flu-epidemic survivors to safety.

On screen, he was a tough, nothing-can-stop-him hero.

Off screen, though, Carrillo struggled fighting the elements—mountain cedar had him blowing his nose, taking antihistamines and using his inhaler between takes.

“I wasn’t feeling 100%, but the scenes captured during filming were very effective in telling the story of this gutsy soldier,” Carrillo said. “This always reminds me the great power a camera has on creating a world for audiences to absorb and be part of.”

Today, Carrillo is putting his acting and film-making experience to work as a TV producer/director for the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Carrillo has always loved movies and enjoyed acting (his mom used to say, though, he was better at acting up than acting).

After high school, he tried majoring in theatre.

But he ended up getting a more practical degree instead. Nuclear medicine seems like a 360-degree shift from acting, but having a steady hospital job as a technologist and interventional radiology operations manager allowed him participate in bilingual TV commercials, public service announcements, voiceovers, print ads, etc.

Carrillo eventually ingrained himself in the San Antonio film community and became fascinated with the production process of movie-making.

He started developing narrative films promoting health and wellness as a contractor for the video department at the UT Health Science Center. His videos focused on diabetes education, geriatric fall prevention, sex education and more.

One video used a continuous-shot format to follow a nursing student through a simulation lab. He scripted all the action choreography.

“I was able to incorporate unique learning objectives through different mediums and concepts for different video productions,” Carrillo said.

At the IHPR, he currently produces on-camera and animated videos—scripting, concept design, production and more—for Salud America! (LINK = www.salud-america.org, a national network dedicated to reducing and preventing Latino childhood obesity.

Carrillo said he likes knowing that the materials he helps create can help teach children and families to live healthier.

“I enjoy the opportunity to contribute to a genuine and purposeful cause that impacts so many human beings via a creative environment that allows me to try new methods of media production to disseminate information,” he said.

New Research Discovers Promising Approaches to Prevent Latino Childhood Obesity

0
3 months ago
by admin in , ,

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.

Mother and daughter shopping for produceSalud 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 in the past five years and features 19 papers of groundbreaking research on effective approaches for preventing/controlling Latino childhood obesity. The papers focus heavily on Latino culture, health, and policies in Latino communities across the nation.

Research among Latino communities, schools and families include these findings:

  • Education on nutritious food selection and a guided grocery store trip decreased the total number of calories per dollar spent, challenging the idea that buying healthy foods costs more.
  • Owners of small restaurants can improve access to healthy menu options and continue to publish calorie information on their menus.
  • Tending community gardens or attending nutrition/cooking workshops improved or maintained children’s body mass indices and increased the presence of fruits and vegetables in the home.
  • School educators can use active video games to increase cardiorespiratory endurance and math scores over time among students.

gaodancedanceThe supplement also features commentaries by a range of political and medical leaders—such as San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and Harvey V. Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine.

“This Salud America! 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 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 our national research network.”

View the full supplement here.

The supplement also will be highlighted in a research symposium at the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) annual meeting in Phoenix-Scottsdale, Feb. 20-23, 2013.

Go to Top