Running head: HIGHER RATES OF OBESITY IN AFRICAN AMERICANS 1

Adult Obesity in African Americans

Kyle K. Tran, Giavanna Z. Pitts, Javier A. Garcia, RobinLynn Patton, Ergida J. Reyes

Luis G. Govea

Stanford Medical Youth Science Program 2019

Abstract

An increased prevalence of obesity in Americans over the past decade has raised concerns

for healthcare professionals across the globe. Although rates of obesity are increasing everywhere
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in the US, it differentially impacts specific marginalized populations. A comparison of adult

obesity rates within the United States reveals that a profound disparity exists between African

American and Caucasian American populations. This research paper will thoroughly explain how

culture, environment, and socioeconomic status affects the rates of obesity in African Americans.

All of these factors also trigger other health effects in the African American population. This paper

also provides possible solutions, such as education on lifestyle or support centers, to address the

issue of obesity within the African American population.

Keywords: Obesity, African Americans, Caucasian Americans, Socioeconomic, Health

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Adult Obesity in African Americans

Introduction

One outbreak ravages the United States. The U.S. Surgeon General in 2014, Vivek

Murphy, announced that obesity had reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. According to the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity affects 46.8% of African Americans.

Obesity is a chronic condition categorized as an excess amount of body fat. A healthy individual’s

body fat (expressed by BMI) usually falls between 18.4 and 24.5, according to the Center for

Disease Control and Prevention. People with a BMI of over 30 are considered “obese”. Obesity in

America grows at a rate of one additional percent per year, which leads it towards epidemic

proportions among Americans, especially African Americans (State of Obesity, n.d.). Within the

United States, the prevalence of obesity is strongly associated with increased healthcare costs and

an increased risk for premature death. Multiple research papers show that there are higher rates of

obesity in African Americans than Caucasian Americans, which are due to lower socioeconomic

statuses and unhealthy high-fat diets that arose from the American slave era, which ended in 1865,

and racism, which still exists in the United States. There are solutions to these problems, such as

educating others and promoting healthy changes in lifestyle.

Method

This paper thoroughly reviewed several online sources such as scientific journals, non-

profit sources, and governmental agency papers to obtain the information used in this project. The

studies mentioned in this paper acquired their statistics by surveying populations and extracting

data from other government-provided sources.

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Results and Discussion

It is important to fully understand the current state of obesity in the United States of

America, because it may become easier to distinguish the disparities that occur between African

Americans and Caucasian Americans. According to an article published by Stanford Health Care,

three common factors heavily influence obesity: lifestyle, genetics, and metabolic. This paper will

focus on one of the common factors: lifestyle. Lifestyle has the highest effect on Americans

compared to the other three. One important aspect of lifestyle that contributes to obesity is the

amount of sugary, high-fat, refined foods an individual consumes in their everyday lives. In

addition to this, the CDC has said that 85 million Americans eat fast food every single day. With

these factors in mind, a clear connection can be made which explains one of the reasons why

obesity affects 35% of women and 31% of men in the United States. Although obesity affects a

large portion of the United States, African Americans are affected the most out of any other

ethnicity. According to the Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 1.4 times more likely

to become obese than White Americans. The higher rate of obesity in African Americans is caused

by socioeconomic differences which have their origins in racism and slavery.

In the 17th century, slave owners only gave their slaves the worst parts of meat and other

spare food they didn’t need. Those foods usually included pork feet, gizzards, pig intestines, ribs,

chicken, black eye peas, etc. Each slave received around three to four pounds of meat per week,

and the meats they received were high in fat, calories, and sodium. The high levels of sodium led

to high blood pressure, and the high amounts of fat and calories led to issues with weight and

obesity (Horton, 2015). According to Horton, the diets stayed with African Americans long after

the slave era, as their new cuisine gave them a strong “sense of hope” and built connections and a

community while being oppressed in a new country. Because they kept their diets, they also kept
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the unhealthy aspects associated with them. Racism also affected African American health in a

different aspect than food. Not only were African Americans subject to brutal racism, White

Americans also forced African Americans to a lower socioeconomic status after emancipation.

This prevented the Black community from being able to afford proper health care and healthy

ingredients. Unable to transition to healthier diets or receive proper aid with health, rates of adult

obesity in African Americans climbed faster than White Americans, ending with African

Americans being 1.4 times more likely than Caucasian Americans to become obese (Office of

Minority Health, n.d.).

Similarly, a factor that contributes to obesity in African Americans is their socioeconomic

status. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, African Americans are one of the largest

groups that are low-income in the United States. Therefore, low-income African Americans are

more vulnerable to unhealthy living habits because they may not be able to afford healthy foods

such as fruits and vegetables. Most African Americans who are not financially stable tend to buy

inexpensive, unhealthy foods that contain a high amount of carbohydrates, sugars, and fats. The

unhealthy food that they consume contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle and may directly cause

obesity. In addition, low-income African Americans are the most likely to live in low-income

communities where they are susceptible to low-quality stores, education, and health care. These

communities also tend to have a lot of advertisements for fast foods, which results in people eating

unhealthy food and becoming more susceptible to obesity (FRAC, 2018). Lastly, the financial

instability accompanied with being low-income may lead to stressors, which can trigger “stress

eating”, a condition where the individual consumes a lot of food to cope with their stress. African

Americans who are financially unstable have a lot of bills to pay which makes saving money a lot

more difficult. The leftover money from paying bills would be for the unhealthy food that they can
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afford, such as frozen and preserved foods. On the other hand, Caucasian Americans make up one

of the largest populations with a high income in the US. As a result, Caucasian Americans do not

confront most of the determinants that contribute to obesity such as living in low-income

communities and having low-quality resources. Overall, these factors mostly affect African

Americans’ health and leads to them being more prone to obesity in comparison to other

ethnicities.

Obesity is ravaging the United States, but the African American population is

disproportionately affected, due to cultural and socioeconomic issues that stemmed from the era

of slavery and racism. Slavery influenced African American diets by introducing unhealthy foods

and health issues which are still kept today. The racism following slavery pushed African

Americans into a lower socioeconomic status, preventing them from changing to healthier diets

and lowering rates of obesity in their population. This problem with body fat and weight is deeply

ingrained in African American culture and needs to be resolved before more fall to obesity and the

other diseases that arise with it. Public education about healthy lifestyles, the implementation of

local support centers, and more easily accessible healthy foods can help prevent obesity and stop

it at the roots, so future generations do not need to go through the medical issues and other stressors

associated with obesity.

References

Abraham, P. A., Kazman, J. B., Zeno, S. A., & Deuster, P. A. (2013, January 27). Obesity

and African Americans: Physiologic and behavioral pathways. Retrieved from

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901988/
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This article explains many possible contributing factors that lead to African

Americans being more obese than non-Hispanic whites. The one we’re focusing

on in this article is physical inactivity. This article, along with many others, shows

data and proof of topics the research paper will consist of.

D, F. C., P, H. J., A, H. K., & A. (2018). Products - Data Briefs - Number 320 - September 2018.

Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db322.htm

The percentage of adults who consumed fast food decreased with age: 44.9%

aged 20–39, 37.7% aged 40–59, and 24.1% aged 60 and over. Also, 85 million

Americans consume fast food every single day.A higher percentage of non-

Hispanic black adults consumed fast food than non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic

Asian, and Hispanic adults.

Effects of Obesity. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-

conditions/healthy-living/obesity.html

The U.S. Surgeon General in 2014, Vivek Murphy, declared that obesity had

reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Approximately 35 percent of

women and 31 percent of men are considered seriously overweight, and 15

percent of children between the ages of six and 19 are overweight.

Horton, A. (2015, September 05). Adult obesity in the US: obesity problems affecting the

African American community. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from

http://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/adult-obesity-in-the-us-obesity-problems-

affecting-the-african-american-community-2167-0420-1000261.php?aid=60586

African Americans have high rates of obesity because of the diets that were

introduced to them during the slave era, and lower socioeconomic statuses which
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often results in inadequate housing; poor nutrition; bad social environments, and

working conditions, all of which contribute to obesity. This paper provides a

historical reason for the higher rates of obesity in the African American

community.

Income and Wealth in the United States: An Overview of the Latest Data. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2018/09/income-and-wealth-in-the-united-states-an-overview-of-data

Peter G. Peterson Foundation is a non-partisan organization that focuses on improving

the economy but also providing the public awareness on possible long-lasting

solutions. The website is based on income from different ethnicities and it shows how

African Americans are one of the lowest ethnicities to be low-income to others. The

article will help prove a point that the top ethnicities to be low-income are more

vulnerable to be obese due to many factors.

Office of Minority Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=25

African American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese

compared to other groups in the U.S. About four out of five African American

women are overweight or obese. In 2015, African Americans were 1.4 times as

likely to be obese as non- Hispanic whites. In 2015, African American women

were 60 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white women. In

2011-2014, African American girls were 50% more likely to be overweight than

non-Hispanic white females.

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Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and Youth: United States, 2015–2016[Pdf]. (n.d.).

Retrieved from CDC NCHS Data Brief.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db288.pdf

In 2015-2016, NCHS Data Brief collected data on the obesity of adults, which is

39.8% of all U.S. adults. In 1999-2000 through 2015-2016, a significantly

increasing trend in obesity was observed in both adults and youth. Obesity is the

BMI calculated by weight in kilograms and divided by the height in meters

squared, rounded to one decimal place.

State of Obesity, (2019). National Obesity Rates and Trends. Retrieved from

https://www.stateofobesity.org/obesity-rates-trends-overview/

Obesity rates are already dangerously high, and are continuing to rise, on an

average of one percent each year. Latino and African Americans are also at higher

rates of obesity than Caucasian Americans.

The African American Population. (2013, January 25). Retrieved from

https://blackdemographics.com/health-2/obesity/

Black women are one of the most obese people in America. Many people believe

this is due to an unbalanced diet mainly consisting of fast foods and fried foods.

This article along with many shows data and proof of topics the research paper

will consist of.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (2018, September 23). Overweight and Obesity

Rates for Adults by Race/Ethnicity. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from www.kff.org/other/state-

indicator/adult-overweightobesity-rate-by-
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re/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22%3A%22Location%22%2C%2

2sort%22%3A%22asc%22%7D

72.4% African American adults are overweight while 62.7% of white adults are

overweight. All other races still have lower rates than African Americans, with

Hispanics and Native Americans coming in close at around 70%. This paper

provides concrete proof of a health disparity across different races in America,

and that it reaches further than just obesity.

Townsend, T. G. (n.d.). Ethnicity and Health in America Series: Obesity in the African-

American Community. Retrieved from

https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/african-american/obesity

Obesity in the African-American community has been a growing concern in

recent decades and can be attributed to a multitude of societal elements. Among

African-American adults, nearly 48 percent are clinically obese (including 37.1

percent of men and 56.6 percent of women, compared to 32.6 percent of whites

(including 32.4 percent of men and 32.8 percent of women).

Why Low-Income and Food-Insecure People are Vulnerable to Poor Nutrition and

Obesity. (n.d.). Retrieved July 4, 2019, from https://frac.org/obesity-health/low-income-

food-insecure-people-vulnerable-poor-nutrition-obesity

FRAC is a non-profit organization that has a mission to reduce the amount of

people who are in poverty and malnutrition. They address the issue by doing

campaigns and enforcing laws to revoke other laws that put people such as

minorities in poverty. The article is based on low-income and how they are more

exposed to poor nutrional foods and becoming obese. The sources that they
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provide are all recent years and they elaborate how people who are low-income

are prone to being obese, have diabetes, or have health issues due to only

affording food that they could only afford.