Los jóvenes son nuestro futuro

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Los jóvenes son nuestro futuro. Young people are our future. But widespread obesity in our community is robbing them of a healthy, carefree childhood now and of optimal heart health as adults.

Today, 31.4 percent of Hispanic boys and 28.1 percent of Hispanic girls are overweight or obese. Those rates are higher than in the African-American or Caucasian communities. Overall across all communities in the country, about one in three kids is considered overweight.

The consequences are literally heart-breaking:

• Mexican-American adolescents have a greater prevalence of high blood pressure and early risk of high blood pressure than whites.
• Children who develop Type 2 diabetes are typically overweight or obese and have a family history of the disease. Most are Latino, Black, American Indian and Asian.
• Among adolescents 10 to 19 years old diagnosed with diabetes, 46.1 percent of Hispanics had Type 2 compared to 57.8 percent of black adolescents and 14.9 percent of Caucasian adolescents.

As we enter Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September, I am urging families to help push back against these overwhelming statistics. But I also want you to know you are not alone.

The American Heart Association is launching a social media campaign over four weeks to help parents and caregivers with action and ideas for small changes now that can lead to bigger heart-healthy results down the road.

It's called the Life is Why Family Health Challenge. Families can join the AHA's Facebook event page, update each other on their progress while interacting with peers taking the challenge alongside them.

The AHA will host chats, based on the week's topic, that feature national media moderators, celebrity contributors and physician experts. The activities are fun, simple, won't break the bank and can be done as a family.

•Week 1 - My Cart is Why: Increasing your fruit and vegetable consumption
•Week 2 - My Glass is Why: Reducing your sugar-sweetened beverage consumption
•Week 3 - My Taste is Why: Reducing your sodium intake
•Week 4 - My Movement is Why: Increasing your physical activity

Another initiative launched in early August s will help children and their caregivers build healthy habits early on, from birth to age 5.

The AHA and the group it co-founded, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, along with Nemours Children's Health System are joining to provide in-person and online resources to early care and education programs. The effort will support public policy and work on agreements with beverage companies to help the youngest in our communities.

There are simple things all of us, at all ages, can all do to help create a culture of health in our homes. Let's get the whole family moving; limit our screen time; learn about and make a game of reading food labels; make dinnertime a family time.

Parents can also remember and teach children these numbers: 5, 2, 1 and 0. Five is the number of daily fruits and vegetable servings. Two is the maximum number of hours children should spend looking at a screen. One is the hour, at least, of physical activity kids should be getting. Zero is the calories we should be getting when hydrating - water is best.

As parents, we all want the best for our children. We work. We try to set a good example. We search for ways to make our homes places our families can thrive. But we don't have to be in this alone. Join other families this month on a road to better health.

Es por los jovenes. Es para el futuro.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez is chief medical officer for prevention for the American Heart Association

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