New study aims to prove diets of Asian Americans not as healthy as believed

A new research will aim at Asian Americans to reduce myth of Asian diet and reduce high risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and stroke, as they maybe under a misconception that their diet is healthy and not a risk factor for these chronic diseases.

Researchers from Temple University's Center for Asian Health (CAH) will carry out a new study with 1.4 million dollars Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant to create awareness, provide education, and increase access to healthy food and beverage options in Philadelphia's low-income Asian-American community.

Temple's College of Health Professions and Social Work Grace Ma and CAH have previously partnered with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to focus on reducing sodium levels in takeout food from Chinese restaurants.

The goal of the project, called Improving Diets With an Ecological Approach for Lifestyle (IDEAL) in Asian American Communities is aimed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of these chronic diseases among Asian Americans, who are 60 percent more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites and for whom heart disease is the second-leading cause of death.

The researchers will focus work with Asian community food markets, community organizations, churches, senior centers, individual families and Philadelphia's Department of Public Health as part of their community-based outreach campaign and interventions.