PHRM 48500 Spring 2021 Intercultural and global health issues

Nutrition by Christie Kang: Health literacy has grown a lot compared to the past, but nutrition is one of the overlooked sectors. Nutrition literacy is very important for understanding how foods affect our health and making healthful decisions with the information we process. However, nutrition literacy disparity exists due to accessibility of healthcare by country. Lower class people tend to have a much harder time understanding nutrition and make healthful decisions because they do not have access to health professionals that can help them guide through nutrition.

Compared to Asia, where most countries have universal healthcare, the United States’ obesity rate has increased to 42% in 2020 while Japan and South Korea has only increased to 16% on average. This is most likely due to the disparity in accessibility of healthcare between Asian countries and the United States since people who have health experts to guide them through nutrition are more likely to make better nutritional decisions. Due to the rise in healthcare costs in America, obesity rates are also rising, especially among lower class, because they are less educated on nutrition so therefore they are much more likely to make bad nutritional decisions. As of now, the government has been pushing to promote healthy foods and increase access to healthy foods in communities. Recently, states have passed a program called SNAP-ed which provides people with nutrition education and obesity prevention measures for individuals and families whose income falls below the federal poverty line. After the passage of this program, individuals on average, have increased their fruit consumption by ⅓ cup, vegetable consumption by ¼ cup, and were less likely to reach for drinks with calories and instead opt for water.

Opinion I personally feel that the lack of access to healthcare in lower income class due to high costs of insurance is the reason why they are so behind on health education therefore they are much less likely to make healthy decisions which is the cause for the rise of obesity in that group. ~ C. Kang Sources Bellido MSC. Health Literacy and Implications in Nutrition Care. American Society for Nutrition. https://nutrition.org/health-literacy-implications-nutrition-care/. Published November 20, 2017. Accessed March 29, 2021.

Allen R. Nutrition Literacy in America. Military Families Learning Network. https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org/2020/09/21/nutrition-literacy-in-america/. Published September 30, 2020.

Accessed March 29, 2021.

News, M., 2021. Study shows nutrition education for low-income people in Southeast states resulted in healthier diets and better budgeting. [online] Hoptown Chronicle. Available at: <https://hoptownchronicle.org/studyshows-nutrition-education-for-low-income-people-in- southeast-states-resulted-in-healthier-diets-and-betterbudgeting/> [Accessed 19 April 2021].