Nutritional Considerations for Hispanics
Hispanics are the largest and the fastest-growing minority group. Almost half of Hispanics currently residing in the USA are foreign-born and come from different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Hispanics in the USA face such health disparitie
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Nutritional Considerations for Hispanics Diana K. Cuy Castellanos
Key Points • Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority group in the USA. • Health disparities are apparent in this population, such as high rates of obesity and diabetes and low access to healthcare. • Dietary behaviors are different across Hispanic subgroups. • To effectively address Hispanics’ undesirable health behaviors, health practitioners must increase their understanding of the range of values, beliefs, knowledge, preferences, and attitudes of each Hispanic person or subgroup. • The traditional Hispanic diet has often been considered healthier than the Western diet. However, in the midst of the global nutrition transition, many Hispanics have adopted Western dietary habits before migrating to the USA. • A thorough assessment of each person’s or each subgroup’s dietary behaviors and influencing factors is essential in order to provide culturally appropriate nutrition education or therapy. • Several nutrition interventions have been successful in positively influencing Hispanics’ dietary behavior. Keywords Dietary acculturation • Hispanic • Latino • Health Disparities • Dietary intervention
The Hispanic Population in the USA As of 2014, 17.4 % of the US population was Hispanic, and about 40.0 % of all Hispanics residing in the USA were foreign-born [107]. Between 2010 and 2014, the USA experienced a 9 % increase in Hispanics. Further, the Hispanic population accounted for 49 % of the population increase between these 4 years; 26 % of the increase was due to migration, and 74 % was accounted for by birth in the USA [107].
D.K.C. Castellanos Health and Sport Science, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA e-mail: [email protected] J.M. Rippe (ed.), Nutrition in Lifestyle Medicine, Nutrition and Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43027-0_18, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
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As defined by the US Office of Management and Budget [109], Hispanic is “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.” (para. 14). Of the over 55 million Hispanics in the USA, the majority are from Mexico, representing about 64.3 %. Other populations represented in the USA include Puerto Rico (9.3 %), Cuba (3.5 %), Central American (8.1 %), South America (5.9 %), and other (8.9 %). Females represent approximately 50.8 % and males 49.2 % of all Hispanics in the USA [107]. Currently, the majority of Hispanics reside in the Southwestern states. However, all states are experiencing increases in the Hispanic population. For example, New Mexico (47.3 %), California (38.4 %), Texas (38.4 %), Arizona (30.3 %), and Nevada (27.5) represent the top five states with the highest percentages of Hispanic residents [107]. In terms of the largest number of Hispanics, about 14.7 million Hispanics reside in California, and Texas experienced the highest increase in number at 213,000 since 2012 [107]. More state and county Hispanic population information can
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