Latino Childhood Obesity: Seeking Solutions At Home And At School

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, and organizations such as the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership for Healthy Communities and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation are taking a closer look at the challenges Latino children in particular face.

According to the National Council of La Raza, there are more than 16 million Latino children under the age of 18 living in the United States. The number of Latino children has increased by 30 percent since 2000 and doubled since 1990, making them one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. And as of May 2010, 38.2 percent of Hispanic children ages 2 to 19 were overweight or obese, compared with 31.7 percent of all children, according to the Leadership for Healthy Communities.

The National Council of La Raza reports that one out of two Latino children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes. "That is the statistic that should be our wake-up call,” said Jennifer Ng'andu, deputy director of the council's health policy project, where she oversees efforts to improve the health status and outcomes of Latinos through national policy change.

Latinos are especially at risk because their communities often lack access to affordable healthy foods, according to the Leadership for Healthy Communities. Hispanic neighborhoods have one-third as many chain supermarkets as other neighborhoods.

"This is not just a health and exercise issue. This is an academic and social justice issue. This is about making sure people have access to information and resources so that they can make healthy choices," said Ng'andu.

THE HOME IS KEY

Dharma Cortes, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, is one of a number of people investigating the problem of Latino childhood obesity with a grant from Salud America!, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project. Cortes' study seeks a better understanding of how Latino families buy their food in order to develop social marketing messages that can teach people how to make wiser food decisions.

The key to fighting this health crisis is improving Latino families' knowledge about nutrition, she said. The study gives the families money to go grocery shopping and then collects the receipts to do a nutritional analysis. Salud America! calculates the calories and nutritional value per dollar.

In addition, Cortes said, "We give them digital cameras to document their food environment at home, and then we collect the photos from the children and ask them what happened."

Afterward, families are debriefed on what the researchers learned and educated on portion control and balanced diets. "They are always shocked by the lack of nutritional value in their daily diets," said Cortes. But they gain a better understanding of what they are buying and how to make healthy changes.

At the end of the study, the families are given money to go grocery shopping again in order to see if they make different choices. (The project takes into account the families' limited budgets.)

SCHOOL CHOICES

While the home is critical, it is not the only battleground. According to the Leadership for Healthy Communities, Hispanic high school students have more access to fast food at school than other students: "Fast food is at their disposal two days per week versus white students who only have that option once a week."

Educational steps are being taken by the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, which created the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. The alliance's website says it works to "positively affect the places that can make a difference in a child's health: homes, schools, doctor's offices, and communities." With more than $50 million in support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it runs the Healthy Schools Program, which launched in February 2006 and now has partnerships with more than 12,000 schools across the country.

With the help of the Healthy Schools Program, Memorial High School became the "Healthiest School in America." The school is located in West New York, N.J., which has the third highest percentage of Hispanics in the state (78.1 percent) and accounts for 2.5 percent of New Jersey's Hispanic population, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

"We needed to change the culture and the way our kids exercised and ate," said Sal Valenza, the school's food service director, who coined the phrase, "Culture. Not Cookies."

Memorial High School now has made-to-order salad bowls and whole wheat pizza -- and no more french fries. It also increased physical opportunities for staff and students before and after school. The school offers nutrition classes and eliminated candy and soda from all fundraisers.

The school is aiming to give its students the tools to make healthy decisions when they leave school as well. If they bring the message home to their parents, then the parents will make the right decisions, said Valenza.

A statement released by the Healthy Schools Program announcing Memorial High School's achievement quoted John Fraraccio, the school district's supervisor of health and physical education:

"Changing the culture of a school doesn't happen overnight," said John Fraraccio, "If you come in one day and say everything is going to change, it's not going to work. After four years of using the tools and resources provided by the Healthy Schools Program, wellness is now an integral part of not only Memorial's culture, but the culture of the entire district."

Fraraccio also made a personal commitment to a healthier lifestyle, but without completely eliminating the foods that bring his community together.

"I'm not giving up white rice!" he said. "I'm an Italian American, but I'm married to a Cuban-Puerto Rican woman. I love [white rice] and won't eat brown rice. But it's about portion control and making the right decisions."

These healthy lifestyle changes helped Fraraccio to lose 40 pounds and, in turn, served as motivation for one of his students, Max.

"You could just tell that he wanted to be better. He wanted to be different, and he knew he had to make a change in his life," said Fraraccio.

Fraraccio said Max weighed 315 pounds in the eighth grade. When he started high school, he couldn't swim and he finished last in a two-mile run. But he wanted to play sports. With self-motivation and with encouragement from Fraraccio, Max lost over 100 pounds during his four years at Memorial High School. He ended up on the tennis and football teams. He became senior class president and captain of the swim team.

The hope is that Max's success can be repeated many times over.

WATCH:

Comments

[tb philly]

10:52 AM on 09/19/2011

Cut food stamps!

[Post31]

02:47 PM on 09/19/2011

But if u do that then how are white southerners going to feed the baby they had with their cousin. Or blacks the baby they had with that dude that jumped out the picture once he figured out she was pregnant.

[DanSc]

10:47 AM on 09/20/2011

You're making the mistake of assuming White people have some identity of racial unity. They don't.

[theaustralian]

06:38 AM on 10/03/2011

actually alot of white southeners are having mixed race children. More so then any other time in their history.

[sibyl9]

05:24 PM on 09/18/2011

This is a huge problem for many children. Just say no to those Hot Cheetos, kids.

[arliobserver]

10:23 AM on 09/18/2011

I have enjoyed hundreds of meals in Hispanic households. I have adopted a dozen recipes into my own favorites. The food is delightful. BUT THE FACT REMAINS. The 2 and 3 starches and the braised fatty beef is making them fat and dooming the kids. If they were walking everywhere as in the old country there would be few fat people. Just as there are relatively few fat folks in Manhattan
the mixture of walking exercise and educated food choices make a big difference. More Tomato, more Squash, more fruit will help too.

[methnkng]

01:38 PM on 09/17/2011

Government has a big role to play in decreasing childhood obesity.

Schools should not be serving unhealthy food.

When I was in high school, many long years ago, there was no soda or snacks or vending machines. Your choice to drink was juice, white milk or water. There were no french fries, or pizza, or even hamburgers. The meals were cooked on the spot and were healthy.

You would not believe the junk they serve our kids now and because the schools are so underfunded, they all want those Pepsi machines to raise funds for school activities.

We also had PE twice a week all through high school. Now it is only for 2 years.

At home, we were only allowed one soda once a week, on Sunday evening. We rarely ate out.

We need is national education on how to show, prepare good food and eat, with an emphasis on using local produce. There should be a TV show, ( how about a contest) that gets this info out?

But first, school districts just have to change what they are feeding the kids.

[island fever1]

07:20 AM on 09/19/2011

I was a poor, skinny kid. The school didn't feed me. I took my lunch to school. We did not have sodas or desserts at home. There was no candy and I either walked everywhere or took public transportation. I was in the super market last week and a woman there had a cart full of groceries filled with processed food and 60 cans of soda (bought in the multi-packs). There wasn't a fresh vegetable or piece of fruit in her cart.

[methnkng]

01:04 PM on 09/19/2011

Exactly. Food Inc is poisoning our food supply with all this processed stuff. A while back I was in the supermarket and there was a very over weight woman and her overweight child and their basket was piled high with soda, ice cream, and processess junk food. The grandmother was trying to convince her daughter not to buy all this stuff, but was just ignored.

We have all these commercials that make it seem like all this junk is just wonderful food. We really do need to have some TV shows, that show how to feed a family on a limited budget healthy food.

[Gloria Terrazas Pomponi]

10:37 AM on 09/17/2011

The problem comes from the parents. Parents are so overly consumed in their everyday routine and tend to find an easy way out in feeding their families, believe me, it is not EASY to be a parent. I am a mother of 3 but no one ever said that it would be easy!1) We never had snacks in my house growing up, no chips, no store bought cakes or cookies, we had fruit, a lot of fruit and my mother worked 40 hours a week but yet managed to make us from scratch cakes and cookies 2) We never were asked what we wanted to eat...and when we asked what was for dinner?...my mother would respond "Come Callado" or my grandfather would get into letting us know that when he was young " yo podia comer hasta piedras"3) We would do our homework and play outside,when it was cold I remember having to wipe my buggers off my nose with my coat and when it was hot drink alot of WATER,WATER,WATER and I remember as a kid, I NEVER complained, now kids complain about everything I am bored, I am cold, I am hot, I am hungry, I dont like this, I want this, etc. as parents we just need to remember that our kids are the product of how we are as parents.I try my best to make my familia saludable!!!! Suerte and hope this might help a little!!!!

[Puro Purepechas]

07:48 AM on 09/17/2011

Exercise is critical.

[Puro Purepechas]

06:07 AM on 09/17/2011

Parents don't realize how much exercise they don't get in the USA . When I lived in Mexico with a friend, in the mountains it was up and down all day. Everyday included miles of walking, and men that work in the fields work 12 hours a day. I ate mostly tortillas (very fresh) all day to sustain myself. My brother does a lot of exercise and he eats an entire pack of tortillas in one sitting, but he's not in any way overweight. If you want to eat a diet high in carbs and fat it has to be accompanied with a great deal of exercise.

[BinghamLofts]

09:04 PM on 09/16/2011

keep eating those taquitos... have a salad or some falafael every now and then...

[CaptMike65]

08:46 PM on 09/16/2011

Its a fad for them to be fat as a hog. They think its cool. Just wait till the heart attacks start kicking in. The parents know better. They like it. Momma is fat so it must be good for the kids.
Bring on the tacos.

[pammiethekid]

08:39 PM on 09/16/2011

when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, a lot of hispanic kids I went to school with were overweight. Girls and boys. I remember the boys growing out of it more easily than the girls, but grow out of it most of them did. I don't know how much of this was genetic, how much cultural, and how much circumstance. I can tell you that the mothers of my Hispanic friends were at least as vigilant as any of the white mothers I knew, including my own. Everyone stores weight differently. But it's a common thing in poorer people and people from third world countries to equate fat with survival. Any Peace Corps volunteer will tell you that.
Having said this, 300 pounds at any age is out-of-line, and every effort made to help children and their families is worthwhile. Just remember that one of the reasons that fat children get fatter is that they despair about their weight before it is even a real issue. Fat phobia and the worship of thin works on little kids in a very unhealthy way, because people who feel bad about themselves,
particularly children, tend to give up on taking care of themselves. It's not that they don't want to live, it's that the shame of already being wrong in the eyes of the world—unattractive in the eyes of the world—is too powerful for them to combat.

[Winter Skye]

06:51 PM on 09/16/2011

Does this supervisor know that white rice is refined and this is probably a big reason for the diabetes issue? I see so many chubby Hispanic kids from very little. I suspect the parents think it's "cute" or even healthy that their child is "well-fed." This is nothing but an ignorant understanding of health from people from third-world countries. It's not limited to Hispanics. Blacks also have huge (pardon the pun) weight problems. And then the bleeding hearts blame food deserts for this! Let me tell you: I live fairly close to the West Side of Chicago and yes, in that area (chiefly Black) there are definitely a lack of produce shops and bigger groceries. But in the Hispanic areas there are usually produce markets. And still they are fat more than Whites. And when both groups moved into the last suburb in which I lived, there were two good produce markets in town and still the vast majority of people were FAT. Where I live now? Upscale and people mostly very thin, exercising almost obsessively, LOL

[Kurfco]

06:03 PM on 09/16/2011

I have read that Latino children have a 50% lifetime chance of becoming diabetic. Goes hand in hand with the obesity. Bodes well for ever getting our healthcare costs under better control, eh?

[red skull]

03:58 PM on 09/16/2011

This isn't a "childhood" crisis, take a look at the parents.

[SuperMex]

01:18 PM on 09/16/2011

Many of these kids' families have been here for generations and in particular Texas. While one might think their diet consist of primarily Mexican food you might be surprised that traditional TexMex food that includes that delicious breakfast that consist of biscuits and gravy along with some spuds.

Yes I've been known to ploy down a couple plates of b & g. Throw in some fried chicken with fries for dinner and for supper some tacos and guacamole. Now you're on your way to hog heaven!

For tomorrow we will enjoy the left overs of all three in one setting. A true American (Anglo, Soul & Mexican) meal!

Americans as a whole are overweight. Let's be honest cultural mores especially diet are hard to break. Honestly I don't want to break them. I was born and raised in Texas and that Mexican, Soul and Anglo combo is hard to beat.

I have been enjoying all these wonderful foods for going on three decades as a vegetarian.

Our kids' need to learn to eat healthy and in moderation.

[shankapotomus]

12:25 PM on 09/16/2011

All they have to do is let food stamps pay for a certain type of food.

[methnkng]

01:47 PM on 09/17/2011

That is an excellent idea. Government should not encourage bad food habits, and that includes all government programs. Schools should not serve junk foods. Food stamps should not be used for alchol so they should not be able to be used for refined or prepared or junk food. Government agencies should require their employees do 15 minutes of stretching a day. I worked for a Toyota company and we did just that - everyone from the boss on down stood by their desks ( or assembly line) and bent and stretched and touched toes. It really helps your physical well being.

[garboop2]

03:30 PM on 09/17/2011

All well and good, but during the Bush administration in TX gym class became an added burden on the purse strings of the tax payer. Students need at least 30 mins of cardio for it to be benificial. Trust me, they aren't stretching for 15 min a day; and all that does is to take away from the class scheduale. Try to get a child's mind back on track once they have been taken away from needed studies. TX can thank Rick Perry for that gem of an idea. Let's save the tax payers money by taking gym class away.