First generation Mexican-American children have healthier eating habits than their third-generation counterparts, who tend to abandon their traditional Latin-American diets in favor of high-fat American cuisine, according to a recent U.S. study.

The study assessed the eating habits of 449 first-generation (born in Latin America) children, 1,568 second-generation (born in the U.S., parents born in Latin America) children, and 1,165 third-generation children (Mexican-American children born in the U.S. whose parents were also born in this country).

Results indicated that the longer a child's family has lived in the U.S., the more likely the child was to eat an unhealthy diet. A traditional Latin American diet includes fruits, beans and vegetables, but the later generation Mexican-American children ate diets with less fruit and more fat.

Researchers found that first-generation children between the ages of 2 and 5 years had the healthiest diets. At the other end of the spectrum were third-generation teenagers, who had the least healthy eating habits.

Researchers suggest encouraging children with Latin American roots to maintain their traditional diet.

85th Annual Meeting of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) in Philadelphia October 28, 2002

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

It has been my consistent clinical observation that most of my patients who are immigrants understand the truth of what a healthy diet is far better than most Americans. Typically their parents raised them with an overall healthy diet that focused more on fresh vegetables and high quality non-processed foods.

So I am not surprised that once immigrant's children are exposed to our American culture their diets rapidly decline. How can children be any more resistant to the highly effective marketing strategies than adult Americans?

The challenge is to recapture the children's attention to their traditional diet and shift American culture's approach to eating; otherwise we are headed for a major catastrophe of degenerative diseases.

The biblical principle "you reap what you sow" is very true, but unfortunately most of us are sowing seeds of disease and not health, so our harvests will not be something to look forward to.

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