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Objectives. To test whether fruit drink countermarketing messages alone or combined with water promotion messages reduce Latinx parents' purchases of fruit drinks for children aged 0 to 5 years. Methods. We performed a 3-arm randomized controlled online trial enrolling 1628 Latinx parents in the United States during October and November 2019. We assessed the effect of culturally tailored fruit drink countermarketing messages (fruit drink‒only group), countermarketing and water promotion messages combined (combination group), or car-seat safety messages (control) delivered via Facebook groups for 6 weeks on parental beverage choices from a simulated online store. Results. The proportion of parents choosing fruit drinks decreased by 13.7 percentage points in the fruit drink‒only group (95% confidence interval [CI] = −20.0, −7.4; P <.001) and by 19.2 percentage points in the combination group (95% CI = −25.0, −13.4; P <.001) relative to control. Water selection increased in both groups. Conclusions. Fruit drink countermarketing messages, alone or combined with water promotion messages, significantly decreased parental selection of fruit drinks and increased water selection for their children. Public Health Implications. Countermarketing social media messages may be an effective and low-cost intervention for reducing parents' fruit drink purchases for their children. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(11):1997–2007. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306488) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined how Hispanic parents' income and education, combined with their nativity status, influenced the body mass index (BMI) of their children, compared with non-Hispanic White children and their parents. Methods. We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to estimate linear growth curve models of children's initial BMI in kindergarten and change in BMI through fifth grade. Socioeconomic status was measured by logged household income and parental educational attainment (less than high school, high school graduate, some college, college graduate or higher). Results. Parental education was negatively associated with children's BMI (baseline and growth) for non-Hispanic White children. Among Hispanic children, the association of parental education with growth in BMI was negative but much weaker. The weak effect of parental education was not explained by the presence of immigrants in the Hispanic population. Income was strongly negatively associated with children's BMI in kindergarten among children of Hispanic and White natives, but positively associated among Hispanic immigrant families. Conclusions. The positive income-BMI association among Hispanic immigrant children might reflect cultural differences that immigrant parents carry with them from their countries of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]