The Health And Nutritional Status Of Immigrant Hispanic

Running Head: Impact of nutrition on immigration health
Impact of nutrition on immigration health
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Impact of nutrition on immigration health
Canada has been voted by the united nations to be among the best country worldwide where
human beings can migrate to and live. Many reasons are associated with migration to Canada,
including free education and medicals the best policies of immigration. Besides, there are many
opportunities for software engineers due to the well-developed technology. The many advantages
that Canada has as a nation for its immigrants have resulted in the great increase in immigration
rates over the two past decades and the year 2019 had 313580 immigrants. Among the people
that migrate to Canada include the South Asians who are from low incoming countries. Adequate
integration of immigrants is crucial, and therefore the paper will cover a proper understanding of,
the impact that a western diet may have on the Asians’ and other Canadian immigrants such as
the Latin American Newcomers overall health.
A survey done in Canada revealed 56% of Latin American newcomers facing food insecurity
with the recent newcomers reporting a food insecurity prevalence of 84% of the 56%(Vahabi et
al., 2011). The assumption was that those who had stayed in Canada for less than a year were
recent newcomers (Vahabi et al., 2011). Similar study findings were found by Henderson, Epp-
Koop, and Slater 2017 whom their findings outlined that the recent newcomers are at an
increased risk as compared to those who have stayed in Canada for more than five years. Their
results described a 3.2 % prevalence decrease; 15.2% and 12.0% food insecurity prevalence for
both the recent newcomers who have left less than five years in Canada and those who have
lived more than five years in Canada respectively(Lane, Nisbet, & Vatanparast, 2019).
The prevalence of obesity and diseases that are nutrition-related such as cardiovascular diseases
and type 2 diabetes is higher among the increasing immigrants’ population from their low
incoming countries. A critical review on the dietary changes after migration identified a complex
picture of the nutritional changes that depend on a variety of factors including the country of

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Impact of nutrition on immigration health
origin of the immigrants, socio-economic, cultural factors and the situation in the hosting
country’s situation. Sudden increase in uptake of energy and fatty foods, reduced carbohydrate
intake and a switch form whole grain consumption to more refined carbohydrates sources are the
major identified dietary changes to the Asian immigrants (Holmboe-Ottesen & Wandel, 2012).
These dietary changes result in low fibre intake as compared to when they were in their home
country. Besides, surveys as well identified a decreased meat and dairy products intake with
some immigrants also reporting a reduced vegetable intake. This is results in the potential impact
that the western diet may have on the Asian immigrants in Canada; including diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases (Holmboe-Ottesen & Wandel, 2012).
Low-income countries have reported an association between obesity and cardiovascular diseases
with dietary changes(Holmboe-Ottesen & Wandel, 2012). South Asians are more susceptible to
cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The causes for this is associated with lifestyle factors,
genetic environment interactions and epigenetic factors. When the European Asians’ and Indian
Asians’ body mass index is compared, those from the European countries are reported to have
higher BMI as compared to those in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka despite having same genetic
backgrounds. The BMI range is approximately 2.1 to 5.8 (Holmboe-Ottesen & Wandel, 2012).
This clearly shows that the factor associated with the notable difference in BMI for the different
groups is the lifestyle factors. Including nutritional change for Asians who have migrated from
Asia, their Homeland to Canada.
When describing the changes in diet’s impact to the immigrants' health, two driving forces are
taken into consideration. These forces are associated with the lifestyle and healthcare outcome.
One of the forces Is the transition in nutrition that is derived by industrialization and
globalization of the food market. In contrast, the second force is the diet acculturation process