Disparities in Hispanic Caribbean Nutrition and Chronic Disease

Yumlish: Diabetes and Multicultural Nutrition

In this episode, Dr. Melissa Fuster talks about the influence of cultural and structural factors on nutritional practices through the lens of Hispanic Caribbean communities. Dr. Fuster further talks about ethnic restaurants' nutrition environments and ties with healthy eating practices for chronic disease prevention and management.

Dr. Melissa Fuster is Associate Professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her research examines the contextual factors influencing food practices and the policies and interventions implemented to improve them, as featured in her new book, Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City, with University of North Carolina Press, and current research with the Latin American Restaurants in Action (LARiA) Project, engaging Latin restaurants in designing and implementing innovations to facilitate healthier eating. She completed her Ph.D. in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and a postdoctoral fellowship in food studies at New York University. Before joining the faculty at Tulane, she was an Assistant Professor at the City University of New York Brooklyn College.

“I also became very aware that we, as a profession, meaning public health nutrition, tend to overemphasize culture at the expense of structural factors.”- Dr. Melissa Fuster.

Question of the Day: What is your favorite Hispanic or Caribbean food?

On this Episode you will Learn:

Influence of Migration and Food Insecurity on Nutritional Practices

Chronic Disease Prevention and Management

Disparities in Hispanic Caribbean Nutrition and Diet- Related Diseases

Obesity and Chronic Disease Community Programs

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Key Points:

0:00 - Intro with Shireen!

2:23 - Why did you decide to pursue a career in food policy and nutrition with a particular attention on minority and immigrant Hispanic Caribbean populations?

5:01 - How do cultural and structural factors such as migration and food insecurity influence nutritional practices?

6:55 - How do these factors impact Hispanic Caribbean communities?

10:30 - Your recent book, Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City, discusses how Hispanic Caribbean individuals and healthcare players like dieticians conceptualize “traditional diet” and high rates of diet-related diseases. Can you provide an example of how medicine racializes or pathologizes a Hispanic/Caribbean cuisine’s healthfulness or unhealthfulness?

13:40 - Why are ethnic restaurants' nutrition environments and healthy eating practices so important for chronic disease prevention and management? What disparities exist for Latin Caribbean restaurants?

19:02 - What can restaurants do to address disparities in Hispanic Caribbean nutrition and diet-related disease?

22: 40 - How can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work?

24: 08 - Outro with Shireen!

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