Hispanic Obesity:

An American Crisis
Maria Licari, Hillary Colbry, Mary Skrypiec, &
Megan Lammers

Overview
Introduction
Risk Factors
Socioeconomic Status
Access to Health Care
Culture
Barriers and Challenges
Obesity Cost
State Legislators
Target Ages

Types of Hispanics

Statistics as of 2011

Statistics as of July 2012

The U.S. Census Bureau conducted that
there were 53 million Hispanics living in
America.
This makes a 2.2% population increase
between 2011 and 2012.
If the Hispanic population continues to grow
like this in 2060 there will be 128.8 million
hispanics in the U.S. This will populate 31%
of the nations total population.

Demographics in 2011

Demographics in 2012
Overall there were 8 states with a population of 1 million or more
Hispanic residents in 2012
New Mexico's population had the highest percentage of Hispanics
living there of any state.
Florida had the highest median age, 34, within the Hispanic
population.
Texas had an estimated hispanic population of 10 million.
California had an estimated hispanic population of 14.5 million.

Obesity and Hispanics

In 2011, Hispanic Americans
were 1.2 times as likely to be
obese than Non-Hispanic Whites.
Overweight and obesity affect
more than 3 in 4 Hispanics over
the age of 20.
Among Mexican American
women, 78 percent are
overweight or obese.

Estimated Percentage by Race/Ethnicity*

Overweight or Obesity Obesity Extreme obesity

Risk Factors
SES
Access to health care
Culture

biases

Socioeconomic Status
Money
Place
Time

Access to Health Care

Nearly one in three (30.7%) people uninsured in the
U.S. is Hispanic
Latino children are still more than two times more
likely than White children to be uninsured
Despite high rates of Medicaid/CHIP coverage, Latinos
make up the largest share (39.1%) of children
estimated to be eligible for but unenrolled in these
programs

Culture
Identification of healthy weight
Utilization of health services
Recreational activities

Barriers and Challenges for Hispanics

Community and Environmental Risk Factors
Access to Parks and Green Space
School Nutrition and Physical Education
Workplace productivity

Obesitys cost
Economic Impact of Obesity in the Hispanic Community
Obesity and its health-related conditions
pose a disproportionate economic burden
in health care costs for many states
throughout the country.
Many families struggle to cover their
individual and family health care costs.
Many of these families cant afford health
insurance, making treatment and access
to care unavailable for some of the most
pressing obesity-related chronic diseases
impacting Hispanics.

State spending on obesity-related care for the top ten

Hispanic states

California

$7,675

Texas

$5,340

New York

$6,080

Florida

$3,987

Illinois

$3,439

Arizona

$752

New Jersey

$2,342

New Mexico

$324

Colorado

$874

Washington

$1330

National Hispanic Caucus

of State Legislators

75 legislators addressed the Hispanic obesity crisis at its national summit

on Hispanic obesity. The summit participants were organized into a set of
working groups to identify recommendations on the following topics:

Nutrition and Families

Intervention Strategies
Supporting Active Living
The legislators recommendations provide a framework for implementing
initiatives to reduce obesity rates.

Taco Bell Commercial

http://ispot.tv/a/7bkd

Information Processing Paradigm

Persuasive communication in social marketing
Attention to message
Comprehension of content
Acceptance of content
Need:

Exposure-Attention
Interest-Comprehension-Memory Storage
Decision-Behavior-Reinforcement
Post-behavior consolidation

Target Ages: Starts Young

Hispanic Youth: Preschoolers
-Viewed more fat food ads on Spanish-language TV
than any other Hispanic youth
-Saw 120 more fast food ads/year than Hispanic Teens &
100 more spanish language ads/ year than Hispanic children
- Hispanic youth, over all other youth, is 4.5x more likely to visit fast food
websites

All Ethnicities: Teens

-See 4.8 fast food ads/day
-Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, Dominos, Pizza
Hut, Wendys, & Taco Bell= Top advertisers to teens on TV
-Subway, Starbucks, MeEncanta websites increased teen visitors by 90%
from 2009-2012

Paradigm In Action: Youth

Fast food changes sense Food Act of 2010:
- Some of the changes
2010: Wendys updated the Garden Sensation line and added more salade
options
2012: Burger King introduced healthier options(chicken wrap, smoothies,
caesar salad)

Paradigm in Action with Health People 2020

http://adage.com/article/hispanic-marketing/mcdonald-s-hispanic-spot-highlights-bond-soccer/240130/

Health People 2020: Physical Activity

Policies targeting American youth through

Physical activity in child care settings

Television viewing and computer usage

Recess and physical education i the nations public and private elementary schools

Paradigm In Action: Adults

FDA proposed changes to food labels: Effective May 8, 1994
-Hasnt changed dramatically BUT.Many petitions from citizens are
requesting the proposed changes made by the FDA
Addition of trans fat-Already happened
Prominence of calories
Revision of reference values
Mandatory nutrients/serving sizes

New Serving Size

Revision of reference values

Original

vs.

Prominence of calories
Addition of trans fat

Proposed

Conclusion
It will take a lot more action from many other influential
groups, but with the right changes hispanic obesity
could turn around.
Hispanics can overcome many of the challenges they
face in their communities if the resources are available
to them.

References
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iSpot. (2014). Taco bell fiery doritos locos tacos tv stop, no pica [spanish]. iSpot. Retrieved from
http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7bkd/taco-bell-fiery-doritos-locos-tacos-no-pica-spanish
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10.1177/104920802237532
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