ABSTRACT
The study of what and how we eat is important, given the link between diet and the prevention and control of obesity and other chronic diseases (Block et al., 1992; Boeing et al., 2012; Gotay, 2005; Key et al., 2004). Research on Mexican immigrant/Mexican American families is particularly worthwhile given the growth of this population in the US (US Census Bureau, 2010). Most nutrition research involving Mexican immigrant/Mexican American families, including our own, has focused on dietary behavioral risk factors and how these are related to greater risk for health problems than in the general population. For example, research indicates that US Hispanics 1 are more likely to drink a sugary beverage at least once a day compared with non-Hispanic Whites (Han and Powell, 2013). Similar findings have been observed for fast food consumption (Sorkin and Billimek, 2012). These two behaviors, in turn, are associated with risk for obesity, including in a Mexican-origin sample (Ayala et al., 2008b).
