navidad

Sharkey et al. Nutrition Journal 2011, 10:101
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/101

RESEARCH

Open Access

Nativity is associated with sugar-sweetened
beverage and fast-food meal consumption
among mexican-origin women in Texas border
colonias
Joseph R Sharkey1*, Cassandra M Johnson1,2 and Wesley R Dean1

Abstract
Background: Trends of increasing obesity are especiallypronounced among Mexican-origin women. There is little
understanding of dietary patterns among U.S.- and Mexico-born Mexican-origin individuals residing in newdestination immigrant communities in the United States, especially behaviors related to obesity, such as
consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and fast-food meals (FFM).
Methods: The study used survey data of 599 adult Mexican-originwomen from the 610 women who completed
the 2009 Colonia Household and Community Food Resource Assessment (C-HCFRA), which was completed in
person by trained promotora-researchers in 44 colonias near the Texas border towns of Progreso and La Feria. Data
included demographic characteristics (age, education, nativity or country of birth, household income, household
composition, and employmentstatus), access to transportation, self-reported height and weight, food and nutrition
assistance program participation, and consumption of SSB and FFM. Descriptive statistics were calculated by
nativity (U.S.-born vs. Mexico-born); multivariable linear regression models were estimated for correlates of
consumption of SSB and FFM.
Results: There are three major findings related to nativity. First,U.S.-born women consumed more SSB and FFM
than Mexican-born counterparts in the same areas of colonias. Second, in the combined sample and controlling for
other population characteristics, being born in Mexico was independently associated with FFM (fewer FFM), but
not with SSB. Third, in analyses stratified by nativity, FFM and SSB were associated with each other among both
nativity groups.Among Mexico-born women only, age, presence of a child, or being a lone parent was
significantly associated with SSB; full-time employment, being a lone parent, and SSB consumption were each
independently associated with increased frequency of FFM.
Conclusions: Our analyses revealed differences in prevalence and correlates of SSB and FFM based on country of
birth. Nativity, as a proxy foracculturation, may indicate the extent that immigrants have adopted behaviors from
their new environment. However, nativity could also indicate limited accessibility to resources such as food/
nutrition assistance programs, transportation, and proper documentation. Additionally, future research should focus
on expanding our understanding of the meaning of nativity among individuals who share commoncontextual
factors, but may have different life course experiences and resources needed to transition into a new place.
Additional measures should be considered such as educational and occupational background, migration history,
documentation status, and dietary acculturation, which may better explain heterogeneity within Hispanic
subgroups.

* Correspondence: jrsharkey@srph.tamhsc.edu
1Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, School of Rural
Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, TX (USA
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2011 Sharkey et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sharkey et al. Nutrition Journal 2011, 10:101
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/101

Background
Trends of increasing obesity are especially pronounced
among Mexican-origin adults, who tend to be more
overweight and obese than non-Hispanic...