(P20-066-24) Adapting The Dietary Guidelines for Americans for Rural Latinos

Objectives: Rural Latino populations in the United States are burdened by nutrition related chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and MyPlate provide evidence-based healthy eating advice to prevent chronic diseases, but there is limited evidence of their relevance for rural Latino individuals. The objective of this study was to translate these guidelines and, in partnership with Latino participants from rural Indiana, co-design “Comida Saludable” an educational intervention based on the 2020- 2025 DGA.

Methods: We worked with the Director of Community Outreach Southwest Dubois County School Corporation (RS) to recruit a cohort of 14 participants that identified as Latino, were at least 18 years, considered themselves at risk for chronic disease, and were interested in participating. We conducted two participatory design workshops in Spanish with topics covering food groups and healthy dietary patterns based on DGA and MyPlate. Workshops consisted of a short presentation in Spanish with minimal adaptation of the guidelines followed by a participatory adaptation session. Participants rated the intervention overall, acceptability, clarity, and relevance using a stop light system (green –no change, yellow- some change, red – needs to be changed completely) followed by a discussion on how to implement these changes.

Results: Participants were majority female (64%), first generation immigrants and only 33% had college education. Overall, 67% responded that the intervention needed to be changed (completely or partially). Comments included: a. MyPlate is not helpful visually and it excludes the concept of mixed dishes, which means most Latino dishes are hard to place; b. MyPlate lacks further explanation on how to accurately measure serving sizes; c. More examples of food items used by Latinos (e.g., corn masa) are needed to make MyPlate relevant.

Conclusions: The DGA and MyPlate require extensive adaptations to gain relevance for a group of Latino participants from rural Indiana. The intervention that is being designed with the collaboration from rural Latino individuals can potentially help address some of those challenges and contribute to improve healthy eating habits in rural Latino populations in the US.

Funding Sources: Indiana University School of Public Health