Wei Perng, MPH, PhD

During a recent trip to Mexico City, I had the pleasure of sampling several traditional Mexican dishes: crickets on guacamole, pickled nopal on salad, and beef tacos de lengua (cow tongue tacos)! Yum, I’ll try anything at least twice. My Mexican colleagues laughed at my enthusiasm and asked, “What are some traditional American dishes?” Images of French fries (wait – those are from Belgium), hot dogs (hmm, sausages in bread are from Germany), and pizza (er, nope… Italy) flashed through my mind. Embarrassed, I said that I was not entirely sure, that I would find out, and pivoted to prattling on about traditional Taiwanese foods. For the remainder of my trip, I was plagued by a nagging question: I was born and raised in the U.S. – why can’t I think of any traditional American dishes? 

​Adverse health outcomes related to excessive sugar consumption have been established and seem ever-growing. From diabetes to obesity, tooth decay, and even adverse impacts on childhood cognition, overindulgence of refined sugars has been associated with chronic health issues common in the US. Sugar is omnipresent in the modern world and unrealistic to avoid completely, unless you are prepared to scrutinize ingredient lists for every item you choose to consume. For people looking to reduce sugar intake for health reasons, this may be burdensome and frustrating. Sugar substitutes offer a sweet promise: deliver a sweet taste without sugar or calories. Although they may seem like the solution, the reality is bittersweet.

​As a child of the 90s, I grew up in the heyday of the Got Milk? campaign. Posters of celebrities with the signature milk moustaches adorned my school cafeteria walls and my mom wouldn’t let me leave the house until I’d finished a tall glass of milk each morning. However, as an adult when I moved out on my own, cow’s milk stopped being a staple in my refrigerator and the general social trend seemed to be rejecting cow’s milk in favor of lower fat, typically lower calorie and vegan options like almond, soy, oat, and coconut milk. 

​As adults, we can all look back on the physical, emotional, and social changes during puberty that can be a roller coaster for children to navigate. Puberty is a key stage during child development; it’s the period when male and female children become sexually mature and typically occurs between ages 10-14 for girls and ages 12-16 for boys. However, previous research has indicated that children in the United States are entering puberty at younger ages and that these children may be at higher risk of developing certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, later in life. A better understanding of how early life factors affect puberty development is important for combating earlier puberty onset.

In a time where 57.4% in the workforce are women  and nearly 36% of physicians are women, now is the time to change the healthcare workplace culture surrounding breastfeeding and new mothers. The WHO, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding until children are 6 months of age. Breastfeeding provides health benefits to the mother, with decreased risks of high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, breast and ovarian cancer, as well as for  the child, with reduced risks of obesity, asthma, Type 1 diabetes, ear infections and more. Breastfeeding is also an investment in their mental health, saves families money and impacts the country’s economy –  $3 billion a year to medicals costs in the US are linked with low rates of breastfeeding. Some studies estimate that increasing breastfeeding levels to near universal levels could prevent up to hundreds of thousands of annual deaths worldwide in children 5 and under and prevent thousands of breast cancer deaths of women worldwide.