Profiles of Latino Health: A Closer Look at Child Nutrition Issue No. 7

2015

Profiles of Latino Health A Closer Look at Latino Child Nutrition

ISSUE 7: THE IMPLICATIONS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY FOR LATINO CHILDREN* The prevalence of overweight and obesity among American children has risen dramatically over the past few decades, and these conditions have been shown to have serious physical and mental health consequences. These challenges disproportionately affect the Latino community, as 40% of all Latino children are overweight or obese.† There has been little research specifically on the implications of unhealthy weight on Latino children, but existing research on all children shows that overweight and obesity can negatively affect a child’s health and well-being into adulthood. The rapidly growing population of Hispanic children and persistently higher rates of overweight and obesity underscore the urgency of addressing these conditions to ensure that Latino children achieve and maintain good health.

• In a national study of 10- to 17-year-olds (19% were Latino), overweight/obese children and adolescents were found to be at greater risk for a number of indicators that suggest poorer health status, including use of prescription drugs, emergency room visits, and emotional/behavioral problems (see Figure 1).9

Without proper interventions, overweight or obese Latino children are likely to become obese adults.

• Research shows that overweight children are more than twice as likely as children of normal weight to become overweight adults.1,2 • Hispanic children are most likely among all racial and ethnic groups becoming overweight adults.3 • However, interventions can be highly effective in reducing obesity and improving health outcomes among children and adolescents.4,5

Obese children and adolescents are more likely to experience emotional, social, and academic problems relative to their peers.

• A study of fifth-graders (47% were Latino) in three metropolitan areas found that obese children reported lower scores for emotional well-being, social relations, self-esteem, and body image.10

Overweight and obese children and youth are more likely to develop preventable health conditions.6 • Metabolic syndrome—consisting of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and unhealthy cholesterol levels— is the major medical condition related to childhood obesity.7 This syndrome also increases the threat of coronary artery disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

• A large-scale study (10% were Hispanic) found that obese children are at increased risk for mental health conditions such as depression (41% more likely), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (29% more likely), and “internal behavior problems” where a child is withdrawn or feels worthless, inferior, sad, or depressed (59% more likely), compared to their nonobese peers.11

• Children who are consistently overweight from childhood to adulthood are over five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and nearly three times more likely to develop high blood pressure, compared to normal-weight children.8

• The same study determined that obese children have a greater chance of experiencing problems in school such as repeating a grade (57% more likely), missing three or more school days (39% more likely), or having a learning disability (57% more likely).12

* This profile was authored by Minerva Delgado, Consultant to the Health Policy Project in NCLR’s Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation (ORAL), with substantive input and oversight from Samantha Vargas Poppe, Associate Director, Policy Analysis Center, and Steven Lopez, Manager, Health Policy Project. It is an update of a document originally released in 2010 and authored by Kara D. Ryan. NCLR is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. This brief was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The findings and conclusions presented are those of the author and NCLR alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our funders. Permission to copy, disseminate, or otherwise use information from this paper is granted, provided that appropriate credit is given to NCLR † The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably by the U.S. Census Bureau and throughout this document to refer to persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, Dominican, Spanish, and other Hispanic descent; they may be of any race. Unless otherwise noted, estimates in this document do not include the 3.7 million residents of Puerto Rico. Comparison data for non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks are identified respectively as “Whites” and “Blacks.”

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2015

Profiles of Latino Health A Closer Look at Latino Child Nutrition

ISSUE 7: THE IMPLICATIONS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY FOR LATINO CHILDREN More research is needed to fully understand the effects of overweight and obesity on Latino children.13 Nonetheless, existing research suggests that these children will suffer physical, social, and emotional ailments that affect their longterm development, productivity, and quality of life. Early interventions to prevent and mitigate unhealthy weight have been shown to reduce the incidence of obesity among children, making them critical to the health of Latino children.

Figure 1

Selected Health Indicators for Children Ages 10–17 by Weight Status, 2005–2009 60% 50%

45% 47%

50%

40% 30%

19% 19% 21%

20%

10% 10%

10% 0%

16%

Prescription Medications

Specialist Visit

10% 12%

13%

12 % 4% 6%

Emotional/Behavioral Emergency Room Visit Never Excellent/Very Problems Good Health

Healthy Weight

Overweight

Obese

Source: Christy Boling Turer, Hua Lin, and Glenn Flores, “Health Status, Emotional/Behavioral Problems, Health Care Use, and Expenditures in Overweight/Obese US Children/Adolescents,” Academic Pediatrics 13 (2013): 251–258.

Endnotes 1 A.S. Singh et al., “Tracking of Childhood Overweight into Adulthood: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” Obesity Reviews 9 (2008): 474–488.

7 Elizabeth R. Pulgaron, “Childhood Obesity.” This report also describes other co-morbidities not covered in this profile such as asthma, liver disease, and sleep apnea.

2 Markus Juonala et al., “Childhood Adiposity, Adult Adiposity, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors,” New England Journal of Medicine 265 (2011): 1876–85.

8 Markus Juonala et al., “Childhood Adiposity.”

9 Christy Boling Turer, Hua Lin, and Glenn Flores, “Health Status, Emotional/ Behavioral Problems, Health Care Use, and Expenditures in Overweight/ Obese US Children/Adolescents,” Academic Pediatrics 13 (2013): 251–258.

3 Qing He and Johan Karlberg, “Probability of Adult Overweight and Risk Change during the BMI Rebound Period,” Obesity Research 10 (2002): 135– 140.

4 C.M. Doak et al., “The Prevention of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Review of Interventions and Programmes,” Obesity Reviews 7 (2006): 111–136.

5 E. Brito et al., “Effects of a Diabetes Prevention Programme on WeightSpecific Quality of Life in Latino Youth,” Pediatric Obesity 9, no. 5 (2014): e108–11.

6 For a review of relevant literature, see Meagan Moriarty-Kelsey and Stephen Daniels, “Childhood Obesity Is the Fuel That Fires Adult Metabolic Abnormalities and Cardiovascular Disease,” Childhood Obesity 6, no. 5 (2010); and Elizabeth R. Pulgaron, “Childhood Obesity: A Review of Increased Risk for Physical and Psychological Comorbidities,” Clinical Therapeutics 35 (2013): A18–A32.

10 J.L. Wallander et al., “Is Obesity Associated with Reduced Health-Related Quality of Life in Latino, Black and White Children in the Community?”

International Journal of Obesity 37 (2013): 920–925.

11 Neal Halfon, Kandyce Larson, and Wendy Slusser, “Associations Between Obesity and Comorbid Mental Health, Developmental, and Physical Health Conditions in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Children Aged 10 to 17,” Academic Pediatrics 13 (2013): 6–13.

12 Ibid.

13 Guadalupe X. Ayala et al., “Theoretical Foundations of the Study of Latino (SOL) Youth: Implications for Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk,” Annals of Epidemiology 24 (2014): 36–43. This report discusses potential frameworks for future study.

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