Purpose: To characterize plant-based dietary practices and examine their relationship with body mass index (BMI) in Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists (SDA). Design: Cross-sectional analyses of data among Hispanics/Latinos in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2). Setting: The AHS-2 is a cohort of SDA adults (n = 96 592) in North America. Participants: A total of 3475 Hispanics/Latinos who provided demographic, dietary, anthropometric, and lifestyle data at enrollment. Measures: Plant-based dietary practices were determined from food frequency questionnaire; BMI, demographic, and lifestyle data were assessed by questionnaire. Analysis: In linear regression analysis, plant-based diets were modeled as dummy variables with nonvegetarian as the referent group and log(BMI) as the outcome adjusted for age, sex, education, exercise, nativity, alcohol use, smoking, and energy intake. Results: We identified 202 vegans, 664 vegetarians, 409 pesco-vegetarians, 227 semi-vegetarians, and 1973 nonvegetarians. Compared to the nonvegetarian referent (BMI = 27.50), estimated BMI were lower among vegans (23.58, P < .0001), vegetarians (25.24, P < .0001), pesco-vegetarians (26.36, P = .0002), and semi-vegetarians (26.69, P = .130). Other factors associated with lower BMI were being female ( P = .001), nativity (Mexico, P = .002; South America, P < .0001; Caribbean, P = .004), having a college degree or higher ( P = .01), exercise ( P < .0001), and never smoked ( P = .0006). Conclusion: Hispanic/Latino SDAs who consumed plant-based diets had lower BMI than nonvegetarians. The application of a plant-based diet as practiced by the Hispanic/Latino Adventists in this population may have public health impact on US Hispanic/Latinos.
The authors describe a family medicine center before and after a merger between the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the California Hospital Medical Center, and the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center in 2012. The merger provided new opportunities to stabilize the financial base of a clinical practice struggling financially and to enhance the training of residents and other health professionals in primary care, which motivated the partners to consider this new model. After 18 months of negotiations, they were able to convert the family medicine center and residency program into a new federally qualified health center. The benefits to this new model include an increase in both patient volume and the quality of education, supporting residency accreditation; a greater number of residents from U.S. medical schools; enhanced education and preparation of primary care physicians for practice in medically underserved communities; enhanced reimbursements and new opportunities for state, local, and federal grants; and quality improvement and new information technology. The partners overcame academic, administrative, legal, and regulatory obstacles, communication barriers, and differences in culture and expectations to achieve this merger. Keys to their success include the commitment of the leaders at the three institutions to the goals of the merger, a dedicated project manager and consultants, opportunities for new revenue sources and reimbursements, and support from a pioneering charitable foundation. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of using community health centers as the focal point for training primary care clinicians and addressing workforce shortages.
Background: The Hispanic/Latino population in the US is experiencing high rates of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease that may be attributable to a nutrition transition away from traditional diets emphasizing whole plant foods. In the US, plant-based diets have been shown to be effective in preventing and controlling obesity and cardio-metabolic disease in large samples of primarily non-Hispanic subjects. Studying this association in US Hispanic/Latinos could inform culturally tailored interventions. Objective: To examine whether the plant-based diet pattern that is frequently followed by Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with lower levels of adiposity and adiposity-related biomarkers. Methods: The Adventist Multiethnic Nutrition Study (AMEN) enrolled 74 Seventh-day Adventists from five Hispanic/Latino churches within a 20 mile radius of Loma Linda, CA into a cross-sectional study of diet (24 h recalls, surveys) and health (anthropometrics and biomarkers). Results: Vegetarian diet patterns (Vegan, Lacto-ovo vegetarian, Pesco-vegetarian) were associated with significantly lower BMI (24.5 kg/m 2 vs. 27.9 kg/m 2 , p = 0.006), waist circumference (34.8 in vs. 37.5 in, p = 0.01), and fat mass (18.3 kg vs. 23.9 kg, p = 0.007), as compared to non-vegetarians. Adiposity was positively associated with pro-inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-6) in this sample, but adjusting for this effect did not alter the associations with vegetarian diet. Conclusions: Plant-based eating as practiced by US-based Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with BMI in the recommended range. Further work is needed to characterize this type of diet for use in obesity-related interventions among Hispanic/Latinos in the US.
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