Mike Stobbe, AP, July 16, 2009
Nearly 36 percent of black Americans are obese—much more than other major racial or ethnic groups—and that gap exists in most states, a new federal study finds.
About 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites are obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Overall, about 26 percent of U.S. adults are obese.
Racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before, and health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales.
But the new CDC report is the first to look at the gap state-by-state, finding blacks had significantly higher obesity rates in 21 states and somewhat higher rates in many others.
Experts believe there are several reasons for the differences. People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.
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Attitudes about weight also are believed to be a factor, said Dr. Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist. Researchers cited a 2008 study that found black and Hispanic women had significantly lower odds of being dissatisfied with their body size than white women.
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However, it could be that over time as people struggle with poverty and environment “they come to accept the higher weights,” Brownell said.
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The data comes from a national telephone survey of more than 1 million Americans over the years 2006 through 2008.
{snip}
The study also broke down the groups by gender, and found black women were the heaviest, with 39 percent counted as obese. Black men were next, at 32 percent, then Hispanic women, 29 percent, Hispanic men, 28 percent, white men, 25 percent and white women, 22 percent.
The study is being published this week in a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Obesity prevalence by race and region.
Original article
(Posted on July 17, 2009)
Comments
“Hispanic women had significantly lower odds of being dissatisfied with their body size than white women.”
Ooooo. I like this one! We could really bust the MSM over this one. Or, they could just get busted, but by Hispanics and Blacks.
Why?
Read it again. “Significantly lower odds of being DISSATISFIED with their body size.”
In short, they don’t have a conscience about letting themselves go. And one could add, “In EVERY way!”
*If a man does not care what he puts into his body, he’s not going to care about anything.
This is a classic example of “Liberal” nonsense.
An idiot who claims that obesity is a result of poverty has no idea what poverty is. As a matter of fact, “obese” and “poor” are mutually contradictory classifiers: if you are obese then you can afford much more food than you need, so you are not poor.
For those not familiar with poverty, go to any poor country and count how many obese people you will find there.
If poverty were the reason why are they fat? Doesn’t genetics have a lot to do with it? Seems maybe they are getting too much to eat and going to KFC all the time sure doesn’t help. When I was working it was the blacks that went out to lunch everyday coming back with McDonalds, KFC, Burger King bags full of junk. I always took my lunch that I made at home. A lot cheaper and healthier. I always wondered where these people got the money to go out everyday. They made the same wages I did and I sure couldn’t afford it.
What I find interesting is that the idea of obesity has changed over the years. Many years ago, when Jackie Gleason had his show, “The Honeymooners” on TV, many of the jokes were about his being fat and he was at, for his time. But for nowadays, he could only be described as “stout.” He was in no way what could be thought of as obese by today’s standards.
When you go out anywhere today, you see all sorts of people who are absolutely gigantic. We haven’t had a very hot summer, but such people must suffer horribly in the heat. My heart goes out to them.
As far as black people are concerned, it’s just an idea of overindulgence. They have absolutely no control over their passions. That’s one reason they are so gluttonous.
TomIron…
The Government uses junk science to prove or disprove everything else. It might just as well use junk medical surveys to prove poor “Blacks” are the fattest racial group because they are too poor to buy more food, and to interject other reasons that have nothing to do with their being overweight.
Ronald
Now I am really confused. Poor Africans, such as the Somalians, are whip thin, but poor African Americans are obese. The only reason for the difference must be whitey is somehow at fault.
I think obesity among black people should be celebrated, not criticized. It shows they’re eating, at least.
Remember all those horror stories that were launched from the inner city about how black families were one missed meal away from death by starvation? They helped start the disasters known as the “Great Society” and the “War on Poverty” programs courtesy of Lyndon Johnson. That resulted in free school lunch and free food programs which are still ongoing today.
Instead, these researchers are now going around claiming poverty causes obesity? Heck then what did the famines in places like Ethiopia cause, prosperity?
Why are blacks the only race on earth, to whom poverty is ascribed as causing obesity, as well as starvation?
As was already mentioned a really poor person is going to be skinny not fat and it’s not just so-called poor blacks that are obese because it is distributed pretty evenly across all income brackets. If the government is so concerned about it they can reduce the food stamp allowance these people receive and place restrictions on the type of foods that can bought with it.
I don’t think a lot of KFC and 40-ouncers does anyone good.
There are three in our family and we’re on a single income—my husband’s. We don’t have a whole lot of money for a lot of food, yet I can still buy healthier/organic stuff, and I can make it stretch—and my son gets three decent meals a day.
Instead of paying $5 for a meal at McDonald’s, you can buy sprouted grain bread, which costs the same but lasts longer. I even make my own bread! Instead of buying a few cornbread muffins for $2 at the store, I make my own—it’s cheaper in the long run and healthier.
Instead of sitting around watching Maury, maybe they can do something with all that free time and actually cook something!
The connection between poverty and obesity is that ignorance contributes to both.
Others have already commented on it, but I just have to add - it could only be this insane day and age in which we live that one’s morbid corpulence could be blamed on…poverty!?! That the liberal imbeciles who propound this nonsense are apparently utterly unaware of the irony, speaks volumes about their way of thinking!
like everything, bad habits start in the home and neighborhood. go to a black majority high schools.
The muching and wolfing down of chips and candy starts at 7AM and ends at 3PM. All during the day the ‘students’ beg (or demand) money from each other and from teachers to pay for the junk food in machines rented by cowardly principals and school districts.
Then the politicians demand billions for school lunch subsidies. But the blacks don’t eat the food(which is itself not very good or nutritious). Food machines, candy and chips: key to black obesity. where is Rev Al to demand this. He seems to be eating healthier, but he can eat out at nice restaurants with low cal menus.
blacks have a genetic predisposition toward obesity because they evolved in environments where regular famine favored the survival of individuals able to survive on minimal diets.
some Europeans have similar genes.
aside from that, poverty and obesity are indeed linked, because poor people tend to have high-starch, high-sugar, high-fat diets, fried food, etc., tend not to exercise or be health-conscious.
just visit a poor white neighborhood anywhere in North America, and then a rich white neighborhood anywhere in North America:
I find it surprising that anyone would be unaware of the well-known link between poverty and obesity, is common knowledge among dietitians.
elitist:
You just explained how a person can be both overweight and malnutritioned. It’s a matter of diet choices.
This kind of article and the attention surrounding it just further dehumanizes and desensitizes whites. Instead of packing on the pounds, without a care in the world, whites need to watch their weight too. They are plenty obese too, and considering the different physiological make up of the races, whites may actually be more obese than non-whites.
Elitest is right - It is tempting to make fun of MSM for trying to spin this but poverty does actually cause obesity - in developed nations. You can’t compare a 3rd world country where there is a shortage of food to the US. In the US, there is lots of cheap hi fat hi sugar food. Healthy food tends to be more expensive. Now of course personal choice is involved too, like those stories of the blacks going out to KFC every day for lunch, spending more $$ than your homemade healthy lunch - I don’t have a PC explanation for that, other than “It’s their culture”…yada yada
How does poverty make you obese? This makes no sense at all. Logically the reverse should be true. ANY obese people ARE obese because of their DIET, not their income.
This is what the Federal Government (the same gov’t that WILL be in charge of your health) offers students for breakfast—in the free & reduced programs (WE taxpayers are paying…):
I do not want these people in my insurance risk group!
#18—Talk about a sugar overload! No wonder children are bouncing off the walls! They don’t need Ritalin, they need to cut the sugar!
I don’t use a whole lot of sugar when I cook things. A recipe for 2 loaves of bread calls for 2/3 cup of sugar—I use 1/3 cup natural cane sugar. Still comes out fine. The bread you buy in the store, most of the time it has high-fructose corn syrup. I started drinking Pepsi Throwback (sugar instead of HFCS)—still not good for you but not as bad! And I don’t seem to drink as much.
My son also loves scrambled eggs. No sugar, lots of protein, good for him. And he’s not really hyper. He’s a typical little boy if anything.
The cheap stuff at stores tends to be the worst stuff, too. But you can pay a little more and make stuff stretch. It’s a matter of educating yourself. Instead of fast food, add that money to your grocery budget.
Alexandra: My children have only rarely had any soda. Mostly, for a Holiday meal, like Thanksgiving, and it’s normally Ginger Ale.
Since they were young, all of them had only juice to drink. For the most part, it was filtered water, with just a splash of Welches’ Grape Juice, for color and taste. That stretches the amount of juice that they drink, and eases our expense, but also cuts down on any sugar that they would get from it.
I also give them yogurt in milk, to drink. The yogurt has pro-biotics, which is excellent for their immune systems, while the milk, which is all Organic, and Hormone-free, helps build their bones, and provides needed vitamin D.
We also have a juice machine, so that get alot of use, too.
My children always reach for the Organic produce that we have in the house, for a snack. Whether it is an apple, grapes, strawberries, oranges, or figs that we grow in our yard, they eat quite a bit of it.
I am not implying that my kids never had any candy, or ice cream, or a cup cake from the Bakery, but it was always regulated, and done once in awhile, as opposed to every day.
Again, the ice cream was made from all Oragnic milk, cream, and fruit, or we would simply buy all of those items, and make our own ice cream, in our Ice Cream machine, in which the kids got to help make it.
Having our children excerise is key to their staying in shape, regardless of how much they eat, just like it was for us growing up.
With all the running around that we used to do, we rarely saw a kid who was over weight. Now, you rarely see kids who are slim.
Get them away from the T.V., and video games, and into the yard to run around, with the dogs.
“16 — alex208 wrote at 10:34 AM on July 18:
That’s nonsense. A pint of yogurt costs less than a pint of ice cream. Two percent fat milk is less than the equivalent amount of chocolate milk and a box of cereal costs less than a box of donuts. It’s all about personal choices here.
This kind of article and the attention surrounding it just further dehumanizes and desensitizes whites. Instead of packing on the pounds, without a care in the world, whites need to watch their weight too. They are plenty obese too, and considering the different physiological make up of the races, whites may actually be more obese than non-whites.
http://badgas.co.uk/moments/moment_070.jpg
#20—I hear ya there. My child gets juice, no sugar added, diluted with filtered water. He seldom if ever drinks pop. I also give him almond milk, as it’s better than the “regular” milk.
When I take him to school I see plenty of overweight kids. My little guy is about average weight and height for his age.
People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.
News flash folks: they’re called salads, fruits, and jogging (full disclosure: not my favorite thing either), and they ain’t expensive.
Seriously though, when the biggest health problem among a country’s so-called poor is obesity, I find it hard to fathom all the noise made about how badly said country supposedly threats them.
One reason black women feel less pressure to be thin is that many black men prefer plus sized women. Maybe because their mothers were big?
I have a black friend who is only attracted to fat women. He dates morbidly obese white women. He even attends BBW (big beautiful women) conventions.
Doesn’t genetics have a lot to do with it?
This site had an interesting article recently on a genetic basis for a predisposition to preferring the sweet taste of sugar. If that is the case, and I am inclined to believe it is, I could easily conceive of a genetic predisposition to preferring fried food, particularly of the pheasant variety.
It actually cost much less to eat right.
The price of vegetables is very low.
The cost of twinkies, ice cream, and soda is relatively high.
But of course this is lost on liberals. They know a good story and they wont let facts get in the way.
elitest: Yes, cheap, calorie-packed food is more fattening than expensive, nutrient-dense food. But something everyone seems to miss is that INTELLIGENCE IS SLIMMING. And one part of the wonderful culture we had built for ourselves was the whole body of knowledge regarding diet. Those wealthy communities you described are full of unusually intelligent white people who have expended sustained effort, most since puberty, to be physically fit and eat properly.
Back when my relatives relied upon black servants to cook for them, they were obese by their thirties. They were malnourished because blacks chose the ingredients and the cooking methods. Today, we servantless generations are all acceptably thin. When we’re together, we talk about our diets and our personal trainers.
I work in an elite profession, and the women I work with are all rail thin. They are thin because they work at it. And when I pass the aerobic rooms at the gym, and see spaces filled with essentially perfect female forms, I see effort and sacrifice. These women have far busier lives than obese welfare sows, but still push themselves to get to the gym regularly. The gym is not the whole story behind those perfect bodies. I’m surrounded by women who do not touch bread, do not touch sweets, do not touch Alcohol; and who could each quote the Glycemic Load Ratings of several dozen foods….. Effort, sacrifice, and applied intelligence…..those are the things keeping ‘rich’ whites thin.
I thought I had finished with the previous paragraph. But I must also mention FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES. We who diet and exercise are intelligent enough to fear the consequences of sloth and obesity. We don’t want Cancer, or Osteoporosis, or Diabetes. And we are terrified of being unwanted as spouses, and doubly terrified of becoming has-beens in our careers. We know that excess weight increases the likelihood of all the fates we fear. I’ve run across too many people who live from day to day, with little regard for the future. Those people tend to be low-IQ and relatively poor. The life of a stupid person is like a snowball, rolling along, gaining size from an aggregation of uninformed decisions. The lives of the intelligent are snowballs, too. But the snowballs of the meritocracy are aggregates of a different nature: triumphs, frustrations, terrors, plans,privileges and toils. I doubt we’re a bit happier than the poor and black. But at least we’re thinner.
Anonymous wrote at 10:21 AM on July 18:
This kind of article and the attention surrounding it just further dehumanizes and desensitizes whites. Instead of packing on the pounds, without a care in the world, whites need to watch their weight too. They are plenty obese too, and considering the different physiological make up of the races, whites may actually be more obese than non-whites.
While you are directing your comments at Whites, I do hope you noticed that Blacks and Hispanics do have an even greater tendency towards being obese? And yes, there are too many overweight white people as well, but did you not read the part where they said Black and Hispanic women, have a lower tendency of being dissatisfied with their weight? So why is it you claim it is white people who are packing on the pounds without a care in the world? Now, even though Black and Hispanic women might be less dissatisfied with how they look with that added weight on their frames, that doesn’t make it any healthier, or attractive.
“Experts believe there are several reasons for the differences. People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.”
Exercise facilities?
“more expensive, healthier food.”
As a requirement for a graduate seminar, I was once forced to teach a lesson at a local elementary school for a fifth grade class. This was a “disadvantaged” school, and I was told that it would be “helpful” (not “required”) for me to bring along pencils, paper, and similar “necessities” to hand out to the students, as they were too poor to afford them, and would be quite grateful to receive them. When I passed out these “rewards” it was just as my professor had told me—the students could barely control their happiness at the nice white man who was handing out necessities that the other evil whites were keeping from them. The lesson I was teaching was cut off suddenly by the appearance of a student with cart full of hot cheetos and soda pop—and every student had a dollar in his or her pocket to buy a bag of hot cheetos and a soda pop. Now, I don’t begrudge the kids a snack—once or twice a week when I was in elementary school, my dad would give us all an extra dime to buy an ice cream sandwich as a snack after lunch. It irritated me, however, to have been basically forced by my professor to subsidize this snack for they younguns, especially at a time when I wasn’t exactly dripping with excess wealth. What lesson do these kids learn? That school supplies are either unimportant, or that someone will shakedown yt to provide them, and that hot cheetos and soda pop is more important anyhow.
“Experts say poverty is the cause of black obesity.”
However, when the experts’ attention is brought to bear on the fact that wealthy blacks have the same percentage of obese people they change the subject and instead try to hang whitey in a different way.
But the near future holds the key to rectifying the situation. It’s called starvation and rioting, beginning next year when the bottom falls out of the economy.
Rioting is quite taxing on the system and it’s a known fact that there are very few fat rioters who have been going at it for a while. Of course, bare grocery shelves do their part to help too.
Since whitey, generally, has a natural inclination to lay in stores to get past the difficult times, guess where these short-sighted rioters will be headed?
This is a moronic argument. Due to poor economic circumstances, my budget is very tight. I know better than anyone that buying food at the store is much cheaper than eating out; regardless if you’re eating off the dollar menu or going to your average sit down restaurant. A cheap bag of noodles or rice can go a long way.
As far as exercise goes, I run 3-4 times a week and you don’t need a gym membership to run outside (the YMCA also offers very low membership fees for low income familes).
All these studies ignore the fact the health and fitness is a choice; and it appears that minorities do not prioritize it as much as whites do.
Obesity prevalence by race and region.