Food habits lead to obesity hikes for immigrants

PDF: Report of Migration Policy Institute on children of immigrants and obesity

When Dalton resident Maria Khote lived in Venezuela, if someone wanted to make lemonade, they simply would go to their backyard and get the lemons from their tree.

"I grew up in a house where all the produce we wanted was in our backyard," said the mother of three. "Here, immigrants can't afford to buy (fruits and vegetables) because it's too expensive."

A less healthy diet combined with reduced physical activity seems to have a direct impact on why children of the newest, least acculturated immigrants tend to have higher obesity rates, local and national experts say.

"Everything our culture represents has a drive towards obesity, because we tend to have larger portion sizes ... and more screen time (in front of the TV or computer) for children, which is known to cause an increase in obesity," said Joani Jack, a pediatrician at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital.

The higher obesity rate among children of immigrants is even more pronounced among boys and Hispanics, according to a recent study released by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., that studies immigration issues.

"We speculate that immigrant parents may be more likely to indulge their sons than their daughters and grant sons more freedom to choose what and how much to eat," said Jennifer Van Hook, an associate professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study.

For Sylvia Rangel, migrating from a rural Mexican town to Texas when she was 17 was a shock. Not only did children not play on the streets, but their parents couldn't go to the market every morning to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

"It's a very drastic change, not only in the diet but in the activity we get," said Mrs. Rangel, a Chattanooga resident whose family left Mexico 20 years ago.

American children tend to take part in activities that are organized and have a cost involved, such as youth soccer or football, Dr. Jack said. Immigrant parents sometimes can't afford to participate or do not know how to enroll their children, said Dr. Jack, who co-authored the book "Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World."

Neither the Whitfield County Health Department nor the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department track the obesity rate of children by ethnicity.

About 50 percent of the 1-to-5-year-olds that are served in the Whitfield County Health Department have Hispanic backgrounds, officials said.

"A lot of people who immigrate here are immigrating from more rural areas and, in that respect, they walk to the store, they can walk several miles to school," said Susan Shacklett, nutrition manager at the Whitfield County Health Department. "Their diet does change, because (healthy) food is more accessible (in their native countries)."

When they come to America, "even if the diet didn't change, the activity level changes so dramatically," she said.

According to the Migration Policy Institute study, despite socioeconomic status, the parents' English proficiency and lack of experience in the United States play a role in the high obesity rate.

"I think (the report) is a wake-up call to show that our food system in the United States is not producing healthy children, and sometimes we get evidence of that by looking at what happens to kids when they move into our country," Dr. Van Hook said.

Mrs. Khote said she and her husband, a native of India, eventually learned how to eat healthier in the United States and were able to pay for their children to be in organized sports and other activities.

"After years and years, we started eating much better because we could afford it plus we learned to eat apples, grapes, berries, not so much guava, mangos and other tropical fruit," she said. "At the beginning, parents' priorities are to pay the bills and have a place to live, not so much being healthy."