Northeast Texas has an astoundingly high mortality rate as people are dying at far greater rates than the rest of Texas and even the rest of the country, Texas Monthly reports. State health data was used by the University of Texas Health System and showed alarming results. The mortality rate in the area has a 33% higher death rate from heart disease, a 35% higher death rate from lung cancer, and a 40% higher rate of suicide than the rest of the state. Texas (38.16 Latino population) is currently struggling with a well-documented problems of infant mortality; however, the problem is even direr in Northeast Texas where 6.3 babies die every 1,000 births, compared to 5.8 across the Lone Star State. “Northeast Texas also is comparably poorer and less educated than Texas as a whole, ...
Research has long shown that U.S. Latinos face higher rates of diabetes and obesity. But are there differences among Mexicans? Cubans? Puerto Ricans? The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), the first long-term study to look exclusively at the health of Latinos, is studying heart disease, obesity, and diabetes among a cohort of more than 16,000 U.S. Latino adults of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, South American and Central American heritage in the Bronx, Chicago, San Diego and Miami areas, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports. For diabetes, a study of this cohort found that adults of South American heritage have the lowest rate of diabetes. Only about 10 percent of them have diabetes compared with about 18 percent of persons of ...
For the first time, a new study shows that standing desks in classrooms can slow the increase of a key obesity indicator by an average of 5 percentage points. The study, led by the Texas A&M School of Public Health, followed 193 third- and fourth graders in 24 elementary school classrooms, half with standing-oriented desks and half without, for two years in College Station, Texas, the Vital Record reports. Students who had standing-oriented desks for both years averaged a 3% drop in body mass index (BMI)—a key indicator of obesity. Those in traditional desks showed the 2% increase typically associated with getting older. Even more impressive, students who spent only one of two years with standing-oriented desks also had lower mean BMIs than traditionally seated ...
Researchers from the U.K. have found a correlation between being overweight or obese (a condition that affects close to 80% of Latino adults) to the loss of white matter in the brain, BBC News reports. According to researchers the reduction of white matter in the brain “represents around a decade of brain aging.” For the study, investigators looked at data from 473 adults ages 20-87 and found that obesity had the most impact on the brains of middle-aged adults. “Middle-aged adults who were overweight or obese had a white matter volume that was comparable to those of lean adults who were 10 years older; for example, the white matter volume of a 50-year-old overweight adult was on par with that of a 60-year-old lean adult,” researchers ...
New research, reported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has determined that access to safe neighborhood spaces for physical activity can help families and kids maintain a healthy weight, but it is not often enough. According to a recent estimate, nearly 40% of U.S. Latino youths ages 2-19 are overweight or obese, compared with only 28.5% of non-Latino white youths. Also, the percentage of those who are overweight or obese between ages 2-5 is nearly 30% for Latino children compared with only 21% of non-Latino white children. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana healthcare economist Mike Bertaut, healthcare providers—and health insurers—play a critical role for families and children at high risk for obesity and/or obesity-related disease. “Obesity is the ...
A new report from the Heartland Regional Health Equity Council addressed the disparities in heart disease in four Midwest states: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The Heart Disease Disparities Report provides an overview of the demographics and heart disease disparities in these states. Chronic conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes are among the most frequent and costly health conditions in the United States. Latinos are disproportionately burdened by many of these chronic illnesses. The data in the report covers the time period from 2000 to 2010. The data was collected from numerous sources, including online tools, state health department offices, and surveys. Some of the findings from the report include dramatic Latino population increases in the four ...
A study performed by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute determined the least healthy counties in Texas. The study took into account numerous data sources regarding the health factors of populations, the ratio of dental and mental health care providers to people in the counties, socio-economic data, and unemployment data. Also taken into consideration were the typical length of life and quality of life. Based on the information, Brooks County (91% Latino population), located in the Rio Grande Valley, was deemed the least healthy county in the state. The report determined that 40% of all adults in Brooks County were of “poor health” and the obesity rate among adults was nearly 30%. The county also has an uninsured rate of 25% and 46% of the children in the ...
Data from a new study suggests that 1 in 5 people (18% of men and 21% of women) will be obese by the year 2025, CNN reports. The study, published in the Lancet, compared body mass index trends from over 200 countries between 1975 and 2015, and concluded that “[in] four decades, global obesity has more than tripled among men and doubled among women.” Other key findings of the study were: More men were obese than underweight in 136 countries and more women were obese than underweight in 165 of them.
In 1975, 2.6% of the world's population was obese; in 2014, that number jumped to 8.9%.
By 2025, the study estimates that 43% of women and 45% of men in the U.S. will be obese. “We have transitioned from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of ...
A recent report from the Food and Nutrition Services found that obesity rates among children on WIC have continued to decline. The number of one-year-olds in WIC who are at or above the 97th percentile for weight compared to length decreased from 12% in 2010 to 10.2% in 2014. In addition, the report states that the proportion of children ages 2-4 who were considered obese decreased from 14.6% to 13.7%. Childhood obesity is a serious problem among the Latino community. One in four U.S. kids are already overweight or obese by age 2-5, with a higher rate among Latino kids (30%) than white kids (21%). Latinos comprise 32% of all WIC users and nearly 50% of all Latino children in the United States are served by WIC. Making the positive connection between nutrition and health, the ...
