Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Background: Residents of underserved communities, especially Blacks and Latinos, are disproportionately targeted by big soda companies. Youth participation in placed-based initiatives at worksites could prove useful in countering such marketing. Methods: In 2015, 33 youth were participated a six-week summer employment program at an urban federally qualified health center (FQHC) assisted in the launch of the “Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Free Zone” at the FQHC. Through a train-the-trainer approach, youth received a formal education on SSBs; the youth created and implemented activities to educate and encourage staff along with patients to drink water and reduce their consumption of SSBs; in addition, the youth modeled positive SSB behavior throughout the health center. Results: The youth were 16.5+/-2.0 years, 80.7% were female, 51.5% were Black, and 61.3% were Latino (n=31) showed that a greater proportion of youth correctly identified the sugar content of soda (57.6% to 87.1%; p-value=0.0087) and that SSBs were related to liver disease (57.6% to 90.3%; p-value 0.0030). The frequency of drinking Iced-T (54.5% to 29.0%; p-value=0.0389) decreased significantly. The proportion of youth motivated to consume water several times per day nearly tripled from 12.1% to 35.5% (p-value=0.0275) and nearly all youth considered drinking less SSBs next year (66.7% vs. 96.7%; p-value=0.0025). Conclusion: Involvement in a healthy beverage worksite environment may improve youth knowledge of SSBs, decrease consumption of some SSBs, and increase consumption of water. A relatively short worksite placed-based initiative may result in favorable healthy behavioral changes and intentions among youth.

Biography

Vanessa Salcedo completed her Medical Degree and Master’s Degree in Public Health at George Washington University. After medical school, she became a Fulbright Scholar where she conducted research on the growing prevalence of childhood obesity in Spain. Subsequently, she completed her Residency in Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center. During Residency, she was selected as a New Century Scholar from the Academic Pediatric Association while also serving as Chair of the Council of Residents and Board Member of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA). She is a community-academic Pediatrician at Union Community Health Center, a Federally Health Qualified Center in Bronx. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine. Her research interest includes “Leading the development and implementation of childhood obesity prevention strategies specifically through healthy beverage initiatives”.

Email: vsalcedo@uchcbronx.org