Hispanics and Latinos, Diet of Health Article

Acculturation and the Hispanic Diet

Just as Hispanics have altered American cuisine, American culture has also altered the diet of Hispanic Americans. As with many other immigrant groups in the United States, the lifestyle of Hispanic Americans is undergoing a transition away from one based on the traditional values and customs of their ancestry, as they begin to adopt the values and behaviors of their adopted country. With regard to health behaviors, this process of acculturation is typically characterized by a more sedentary lifestyle and a change in dietary patterns. The effects of acculturation on the Hispanic diet are illustrated in national dietary survey data that show that Hispanic Americans who continue to use Spanish as a primary language eat somewhat more healthful diets than those who use English as a primary language. These healthier eating behaviors include lower consumption of fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Additional analysis of these survey data reveals that these dietary differences do not appear to be the result of greater nutritional knowledge or greater awareness of food-disease relationships.

The degradation of diet quality that occurs as Hispanic Americans become acculturated into the mainstream U.S. population occurs in the context of improvements in, rather than degradation of, economic status. For example, first-generation Mexican-American women, despite being of lower socioeconomic status than second-generation Mexican American or non-Hispanic white women, tend to have higher intakes of protein, vitamins A and C, folic acid, and calcium than these other groups. The diets of second-generation Mexican American women more closely resemble those of non-Hispanic white women of similar socioeconomic status.

The process of acculturation and the changing nature of the Hispanic diet has serious implications for the state of Hispanic health. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is two to three times higher in Hispanic Americans than in non-Hispanic whites, with an estimated 10 percent of adults over the age of twenty and 25 to 30 percent of those over the age of fifty affected. The prevalence of the disease is especially high among Mexican Americans. Diabetes, a disease characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood, is a major cause of death and disability in the United States. Compared to nondiabetic individuals, those with the disease are also at two to four times higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the country. Accompanying this increased risk of diabetes among Hispanics is a marked increase in the risk of obesity.

Much of the increased risk of diabetes experienced by Hispanic Americans is believed to be attributable to the changing lifestyle that accompanies the acculturation process, including the changing quality of the Hispanic diet and the adoption of a more sedentary lifestyle. These trends are occurring across all segments of the Hispanic population, although the extent of the changes are more pronounced in some subgroups (e.g., Mexican Americans in large urban areas) than in others. Although Hispanic Americans generally smoke less than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, the direction of Hispanic health is also threatened by an increasing frequency of cigarette smoking, particularly among younger segments of the population.

Approaches for improving the health of Hispanics need to be broad-based and to consider the complexities of a variety of lifestyle factors. Nutrition education programs aimed at improving the quality of the Hispanic diet are currently based on a combination of preserving some elements of the traditional Hispanic diet—including a reliance on beans, rice, and tortillas—and a change in others—such as reduced consumption of high-fat dairy products and less use of fat in cooking.

SEE ALSO CENTRAL AMERICANS AND MEXICANS, DIETS OF; SOUTH AMERICANS, DIET OF.

Braxton D. Mitchell