Reconsidering acculturation in dietary change research among Latino immigrants: challenging the preconditions of US migration

Abstract

BACKGROUND Dietary changes among Latino immigrants are often attributed to acculturation. Acculturation-diet research typically assumes that migration to the US is necessary for negative dietary changes to occur in Latino immigrants’ diets. OBJECTIVE The goal of this article is to demonstrate that extant acculturation research is not adequate in capturing changes in Latino immigrants’ diets. This is due to the role of globalization and transnational processes in modernizing their diets in Latin America. DESIGN Utilizing an interactionist cultural studies approach, this exploratory situational analysis based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latino immigrants, nutrition reports, and transnational food companies’ websites, examines how Latino immigrants were already engaging in negative dietary practices in their former country. RESULTS Latino immigrants who resided in urban areas in their former countries and migrated to the US on or after 2000 were fully engaged in negative dietary practices prior to migration. Such practices included consuming food outside of the home and integrating processed food into their cooking. Their dietary practices were also informed by nutrition discourses. The modernization of food production and consumption and the transnational transmission of nutrition are transnational processes changing Latino immigrants’ diets prior to migration. CONCLUSION Researchers should approach the study of dietary change among Latino immigrants in the US through a transnational perspective in order to avoid overlooking potential confounders such as current food insecurity, new socioeconomic positions as undocumented, low-income persons, and increased hours worked outside of the home.

Investigating Social Ecological Contributors to Diabetes within Hispanics in an Underserved U.S.-Mexico Border Community

“…Further, the larger study afforded measures of a broad range of factors related to diabetes, and in turn their inclusion and the analytic models construction were guided by social ecological theory. This data also well compliments other efforts to understand Hispanic health such as an intensive ongoing study in four major urban environments [52]. It is important to note that the response rate was outstanding, particularly for a study without monetary incentives.…”

Feel American, Watch American, Eat American? Remote Acculturation, TV, and Nutrition Among Adolescent–Mother Dyads in Jamaica

“…Of particular relevance to the current study, recent qualitative data from Latino immigrants in California (27 in‐depth interviews) demonstrate that globalization‐facilitated negative dietary changes begin in urban Latin America as a precondition to migration (Martínez, ). Based on this finding, Martinez issued a call to examine dietary changes through globalization and transnational lenses rather than through a traditional immigrant acculturation lens.…”

Ethnic enclaves and gestational diabetes among immigrant women in New York City

“…A study in New York City found that Latinas living in neighborhoods with a greater percentage of Spanish-speaking households had higher diet quality (Park et al, 2011). Overall, literature on acculturation and diet in Latinos suggests an association between acculturation to the U.S. diet and poor diet quality, with the caveat that such associations are often cross-sectional in nature and fail to incorporate a transnational perspective (Martínez, 2013;P erez-Escamilla and Putnik, 2007). Because higher BMI and poor diet, two important risk factors for gestational diabetes, are associated with increased time in the U.S., and living outside of a residential ethnic enclave is associated with increased time in the U.S., it is plausible that living in a residential ethnic enclave is associated with a reduced risk of gestational diabetes.…”