Camino Magico

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[edit] Camino Mágico

Camino Mágico (The Magic Road) is a bilingual supermarket nutrition guide that was created by the Latino Nutrition Coalition. This printed pamphlet details ideas for nutritious foods and healthy shopping choices¹. The guide is distributed in shopping markets, doctor's offices, and community centers and was created with the goal of increasing awareness surrounding food choices and healthy eating habits.

Camino Mágico is targeted towards the Latin American population, which is often referred to as the fastest growing minority population in the United States². Latinos have also been identified as having the fastest growing weight increase of any sub-group in the U.S. and are twice as likely to get diabetes once overweight³.

The pamphlet contains:

Calorie control guide
Information on reading food labels
Visual images of healthy distributions of food groups
Recipes and meal ideas
Supermarket map that shows where various foods are found within the store

The guide was first launched in Houston, Texas in May 2007.

[edit] References

1. As outlined by scientific committee and consensus statement agreed upon at the 2005 Latin American Diet Summit and reference to the USDA
2. The US Census Bureau: "The Hispanic population in the US soared 58% in the 1990s to 35 million. Hispanics now make up more than 12% of the population."
2.1 Center for Disease Control and Prevention: "On average, Hispanic Americans are 1.9 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites of similar age. (National Diabetes Clearinghouse) 10.4% of men and 11.3% of women in the Hispanic population have diagnosed diabetes, compared to 7.2% of men and 6.3% of women in the general population.
3. "The Latin American Diet Pyramid Just Got a Makeover." The Houston Chronicle May 28, 2007. Monica Rhor.

"Making the Rounds to Battle Diabetes." Napa Valley Register May 28, 2007. Carlos Villatoro.