Obesity In Hispanic Culture

Various regions of the world have different responses to the issue of obesity. Some cultures view obesity as necessary and attractive while others are taking drastic measures in an attempt to promote a healthy lifestyle. Although some of these drastic changes seem a bit invasive and controversial, policy makers are debating whether it is effective and even whether or not such a policy should be adopted in the United States. According to the article written by Gallagher, a culture sensitive approach should be implemented in order to tackle the issue of global obesity. A study of children of Mexican descent showed that about 32.6% of Mexican children occupying the U.S. are overweight and about 19.2% are obese (Gallagher 2010). The parents observed in this study were serving their children unhealthy foods, such as those from cans and fast food restaurants, due to price and convenience (Gallagher 2010).

Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest

outcome of obesity in this community, there needs to be a sufficient understand of Hispanic

Currently, the definition of obesity, determined by the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale, considers a child over the 95th percentile to be obese. Childhood obesity affects 17% of the children in the United States, and according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, 12.7 million American children will have the prevalence of obesity. Roberto Ferdman argues in his article in The Washington Post that “American kids are still far more likely to be overweight than kids in most other countries.” Some children are more likely to become obese based on their race or gender. “The prevalence of obesity among non-Hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) was lower than among non-Hispanic white (14.7%), non-Hispanic black (19.5%), and Hispanic

There are various pressing factors that contribute to overweight Latino children. Latino adolescents find few options for physical activity out of class. Some areas have limited access to parks, playgrounds, and other recreational areas, making it difficult for them to be active and maintain a healthy weight. Schools are also contributing to the issue. A majority of today’s Schools sell high-fat, high-sugar snack foods and beverages in vending machines and school stores. These malicious foods are easier to come by and cheaper, appealing more to the developing minds of students. Schools have been known to lack access of healthy foods, such as fresh produce, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products (Latino Childhood Obesity). Marketers are also a huge contribution to the rise in obesity among the Latino youth. About 74 percent of kid-targeted food and drinks ads on television promote foods in the lowest nutritional category (Ramirez). Young children are affected more by food advertisements, especially fast foods. Fast food commercials advertise toys with the purchase of a kid’s meal that appeals to young kids. Also, restaurants use cartoon advertisement, like Ronald McDonald, to encourage children to want to go there, increasing their intake of high calorie and Tran’s fat food. Giant playgrounds, along with the cartoons and toys, grasp the attention of

In the past several decades and according to the State of Obesity “38.9 % of children ages 2-19 are obese in the Latino culture.” The rates of severe obesity are higher amongst these children compared to the White American children.

Mexican Americans make up a big portion of America. According to 2014 population estimates, the Hispanic population is 55.4 million. Of these 55.4 million people Mexican Americans make up 63.9%. Like every other ethnicity we have covered the Mexican American population faces a number of health issues, and obesity is one of those issues.

The focus group for the session long project is Hispanics, and how their culture plays a role in obesity. The article highlighted the relationship between length of residence and weight gain for this culture that leads to obesity (Lindberg, Stevens, & Halperin, 2013, p. 1). This paper will look at the PEN-3 model of Cultural Empowerment to help further understand the health crisis that Hispanics are currently in. The model of Cultural Empowerment includes Positive, Existential and Negative empowerment and how these three factors play a role in the Hispanic culture and their struggle with obesity. Positive empowerment is the first factor within the PEN-3 Cultural Empowerment.

According to the interview CBS news reporter had with Dr. Abelardo Avila, Mexico National Nutrition Institute, “the same individuals who are malnourished are the ones getting to be large. In the poor classes there are large folks and malnourished children. The most noticeably bad thing is the kids are becoming satisfied with obesity. It is an intense epidemic” (CBS news, July 2013). Barry Popkin, an obesity expert at the University of North Carolina, presented a great part of the hype in Mexico’s obesity to expanded utilization of cheap sugary beverages

Thirdly, the self-knowledge to prevent obesity is another issue. For the children, their parents’ knowledge of appropriate food will directly affect them, since their schools mainly focus on the academics of the children, and rarely on dietary education. If the parents gain knowledge to pick up healthy food for their children, their children will eat healthier and vice versa. As Cluss et al. (2013) stressed, the parents with low social economic status revealed a lack of knowledge regarding the nutrition values in common food. They just provide their children with any food that is accessible and cheap. Consequently, the children who live in low-income families represented a large portion of childhood obesity. Especially in New York City, the prevalence of childhood obesity is high in Hispanic and Black boys which may be associated with higher amount of children live in lower socioeconomic status and lack of knowledge to prevent obesity. (Thorpe et al., 20014).

Questionnaires can be very useful tools for gathering information from study participants. They can provide a relatively easy way to collect large amounts of information from a large number of participants. Thus it would be advantageous to develop a questionnaire when conducting research on the prevalence of obesity among Hispanic Americans. This paper will identify the process, in which, I would use when developing a questionnaire for my research.

Chile should implement a few policies in schools to help eliminate child obesity. Banning or raising the prices of drinks and foods that contains high levels of added sugars from being provided at schools. The availability and cheapness of soda and processed foods is something we discussed in class as being a main cause of obesity and lack of proper nutrition. If schools let children only drink water then their caloric intake would decrease and so would their sugar intake. If the schools have lunch programs they should raise the price of sugary drinks and high-fat foods while decrease the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables. If healthier foods were as cheap or cheaper than processed food then students might be able to afford to eat healthy.

8.9% of the participants were planning to become pregnant. Most of the participants planning on becoming pregnant were non-Hispanic black compared to non-Hispanic white or Hispanic and less likely to be pregnant before. Between the two groups, there was no difference in their BMI, yet a great number of the women were overweight or obese. For both groups, the average score of the Obesity Risk Knowledge scale was 5.4. The date of weight misperception and ORK scale did not differ that much between the two groups. However, the weight misperception based on BMI class among women intending to become pregnant was different. About less than 70% of overweight women were unaware that they were heavier than 30% of underweight and normal weight women as well as 10% obese women. Among the women wanting to be pregnant, 43% believe that some women are born to fat or skinny; 46% believe that their diet is healthy; therefore they do not need to change their diet. The study results support the authors’ hypothesis because the hypothesis and the study results are very similar.

Mexico is currently going through a nutrition transition. Mexicans are moving away from a traditional diet toward a highly processed diet making them particularly vulnerable to chronic disease. Trade liberalization plays a huge role in this regard. After NAFTA had been implemented in 1994, the number of unhealthy food products from the United States to Mexico increased substantially. According to FAO and the OECD, Mexico has one of the highest obesity rates in the world. According to national nutrition survey, Mexico is leading the world in childhood obesity with 30% under 15 years, 40.8% are overweight over 15+, and 32.2% are obese, placing the country second in the world. The indigenous population suffers from a higher nutritional risk and

Women between the ages of 16 to 40 were invited reproductive clinics from southeast Texas took cross-sectional surveys of health behaviors. The participants’ ethnicities were non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic. Berenson surveyed the participants on their knowledge of obesity, diet and health related attitudes, and self-perception of their weight. In addition, they answered questions about sociodemographic