Americans of color are disproportionately affected by many diet-related diseases, signaling that more inclusive nutrition programs are needed to advance health equity. Speak with dietitians in these communities, however, and you’ll find that many innovative culturally relevant programs don’t just exist — they’re flourishing. Rather than reinvent the wheel, health care providers have an opportunity to partner with these community-driven programs, scaling solutions that work and improving quality of care in the process.
Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, co-founder of the digital healthcare app Cultured Health, which connects registered dietitians to potential clients using algo-driven matching based on culture, recognizes the importance of cultural relevance throughout the nutrition care process.
“Many individuals from diverse cultures incorrectly assume that dietitians will automatically tell them to just eat salad,” says Anderson-Haynes. “However, at Cultured Health, we know that that does not need to be the case. In fact, cultural foods and traditions can be embraced while making adjustments and tweaks to meet health and wellness goals.”
[READ: Bringing Cultural Foods to the Family Dinner Table.]
Culturally Appropriate Nutrition
Across the country, dietitians of color have been involved in the creation of a number of programs developed to serve patients across diverse cultures. One such example is the Asian American Diabetes Initiative at Joslin Diabetes Center, which was founded more than two decades ago to help support Asian American patients with research, care and education.
“Our mission is to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for Asian Americans living with diabetes, and its prevention through research, education, outreach and culturally appropriate treatment,” says Ka Hei Karen Lau, a dietitian and diabetes educator at the Asian American Diabetes Initiative of Joslin Diabetes Center, which is located in Boston. “We want to feel proud of our cultural food and give people one more option of healthy eating.”
Culturally tailored nutrition programming is also an opportunity to marry the health benefits of nutrition science with the joy of cooking and sharing meals with loved ones.
[READ: Food Is a Window to Cultural Diversity.]
The Value of Traditional Foods
Years before Juneteenth became a nationally recognized holiday, before chef Toni Tipton-Martin launched the Soul Summit or a Net?ix series explored African heritage cuisine, African Americans began reclaiming their health using the wisdom of their ancestors through a ground-breaking six-week cooking and nutrition program called A Taste of African Heritage.
“The program fortified a sense of pride in participants, pride in knowing that their traditional foods have value, and have sustained their ancestors for generations,” shared Adante Hart, Outreach Dietitian at Oldways and a long-time instructor of A Taste of African Heritage. “It also served to add a cultural context that was missing in discussions around food, nutrition and health. In order to move forward and reclaim your health, you must first look back on the past, on the foods and healthy habits of your shared ancestral heritage. That message strongly resonated with a lot of people.”
[READ: Healthy Eating Patterns Around the World.]
Teaching Children About Cultural Foods
Some nutrition experts, especially those in the eating disorder recovery field, fear that healthy eating programs at schools may do more harm than good in some children by placing overemphasis on nutrition and good vs. bad foods. Focusing instead on culture and connection, such as the approach taken in A Children’s Taste of African Heritage, a cooking curriculum for 8-to-12 year-olds, can be a way to introduce children to healthy foods and foster lifelong healthy habits without stigma or food shaming.
“Educating children about food from a cultural context sparks their curiosity and speaks to their inquisitory nature, granting them the freedom and flexibility to explore different foods,” says Hart. “Those healthier attitudes around food carry on into adulthood and also shape the messages we disseminate about food to the next generation.”
Research also supports the benefits of traditional, plant-centered heritage diets.
“To help people appreciate their cultural food again, we conducted a research study showing that a traditional Asian diet that is rich in vegetable and whole grains help prevent diabetes and maintain a healthy weight,” shares Lau.
Similarly, a study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior demonstrates that graduates of A Taste of African Heritage signi?cantly increased weekly intakes of fruits, vegetables and greens, increased weekly exercise frequency and also had signi?cant improvements in weight, waist circumference and blood pressure. Most importantly, 98% of participants reported that heritage was a motivator for living and eating well.
“I want to empower my patients to be ambassadors of healthy eating to their families — following a plant-forward eating, such as a traditional Asian diet, is not only for managing chronic disease but for anyone who would like to improve their overall health,” says Lau.
Like many dietitians, Lau, Hart and Anderson-Hayes recognize the power that cultural foods have to improve care.
“People ought to know that their cultural foods and heritage are assets, not liabilities to their health. If patients and providers can embrace this message, it would be a key step in attaining a more equitable and ultimately, better quality of care,” says Hart.
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Health Inequity and the Dietitians Making a Difference originally appeared on usnews.com
