HHS HealthBeat (October 05, 2009)

Obesity differences

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

People in some racial and ethnic groups are more likely than others to be obese. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bettylou Sherry saw this in national survey data on black, white and Hispanic adults.

[Bettylou Sherry speaks] "Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks had a 51 percent higher prevalence of obesity, and Hispanics had a 21 percent higher prevalence of obesity."

The numbers don’t explain the differences, but Sherry offered possible explanations:  People could differ in their amounts of physical activity and healthful food consumption, as well as in their perceptions of what healthy weight is.

In any case, the numbers show many people need to reduce their weight to a healthy level.

The study was in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October, 26 2009