A recent study took a closer look at the health of first and second generation immigrant families who come to the United States and leave their traditional diets behind and adapt to the American lifestyle and diet.

SaludToday blog, highlighted Orange County, Calif., where the "Latino health paradox" is evident.

While there are often economic disadvantages and struggles that arise for immigrants who come to the United States, such as "fewer resources and less access to regular medical care than wealthier white residents, low-income Latino immigrants have a longer average life expectancy and are more likely to have healthy birth outcomes," the Voice of OC reports.

"The theory is that even though better health is usually linked to wealth and education, low-income Mexican immigrants with little formal schooling - ninth grade on average - are healthier than the overall U.S. population, according to a number of measures, including certain cancers, heart disease and mental health. In addition, immigrant Latinos have lower rates of smoking, drug use and sexually transmitted diseases," according to experts.

However, once in the Unites States, there is a steady decline in those health advantages given the food that gets incorporated into their diets.

"Their health goes south very quickly," said Professor David Hayes-Bautista of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he directs the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture.

"Research confirms that the second generation winds up in poorer health than the immigrant generation in a number of key areas: type 2 diabetes, cancer, birth outcomes and heart disease. While a number of factors contribute to this downward slide, the modern, U.S.-influenced diet is a key culprit.

The American diet is so bad that some of our foods are banned in other countries.

Dr. Jayson Calton and certified nutritionist Mira Calton's book, "Rich Food, Poor Food," featured some of the top offenders, as reported by BuzzFeed.

What U.S. foods are banned abroad?

Artificial food dye: Makes your food pretty and can inhibit nerve-cell development.
Olestra (or Olean): Lowers calorie counts while causing vitamin depletion and anal leakage.
Brominated vegetable oil: Makes food dye stick to liquid, but also may cause birth defects and major organ damage.
Potassium bromate (or bromated flour): Great for impatient bakers, bad for your kidneys and nervous system.
Azodicarbonamide: Bleaches flour, plastic, and induces asthma as an added bonus.
BHA & BHT: Waxy preservatives linked to cancer and tumors.
Synthetic growth hormones rBGH and rBST: Harmful to cows and linked to increasing tumor development in humans.
Arsenic: Basically this will slowly kill you.

What approach should immigrants living in the U.S. and facing this obstacle do?

"I tell parents, 'Eat like where you came from.' The more families keep to their culture, the healthier they are," Dr. Patricia Riba, who specializes in treating overweight and obese children in Orange County, told the Voice of OC. "My patients' families came here for a better life - my Vietnamese and Mexican families - but it's not always available to them. When they come to America, they pick up on our bad habits."