Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2021
Journal / Book Title
Obesity Reviews
Abstract
International migration has economic and health implications. The acculturation process to the host country may be linked to childhood obesity. We use the Community Energy Balance (CEB) framework to analyze the relationship between migration and childhood obesity in Mexican households with international migrants. Using longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), we examine how migrant networks affect childhood obesity in origin communities. We also review binational health programs that could be effective at tackling childhood obesity in migrant households from Mexico. Children embedded in migrant networks are at greater risk of developing overweight or obesity, suggesting a significant relationship between childhood obesity and international migration in Mexican households. Based on our search criteria, our analysis of health outreach programs shows that Ventanillas de Salud (VDS)/Health Windows has great promise to prevent childhood obesity in a culturally sensitive and trustful environment. The CEB framework is useful to understand how migration contributes to the risk of childhood overweight and obesity in migrant households. VDS is a feasible and replicable strategy with great potential to address childhood obesity among migrant families accounting for the dynamic and binational determinants of childhood obesity.
DOI
10.1111/obr.13240
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Vilar-Compte, Mireya; Bustamante, Arturo V.; López-Olmedo, Nancy; Gaitán-Rossi, Pablo; Torres, Jaqueline; Peterson, Karen E.; Teruel, Graciela; and Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael, "Migration as a determinant of childhood obesity in the United States and Latin America" (2021). Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works. 215.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/public-health-facpubs/215
Published Citation
Vilar‐Compte, Mireya, Arturo V. Bustamante, Nancy López‐Olmedo, Pablo Gaitán‐Rossi, Jaqueline Torres, Karen E. Peterson, Graciela Teruel, and Rafael Pérez‐Escamilla. "Migration as a determinant of childhood obesity in the United States and Latin America." Obesity Reviews 22 (2021): e13240.
Included in
Cardiovascular Diseases Commons, Clinical Epidemiology Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Health and Medical Physics Commons, Health Services Administration Commons, Health Services Research Commons, International Public Health Commons, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Patient Safety Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons
Comments
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)