Rethinking the Fight on Fat
The differences in obesity rates between black and white women may be more complex than researchers think, according to a new study that could lead to a revised game plan on weight.
Common variables such as exercise, nutrition and socioeconomics accounted for only 10 percent of the difference, said Bisakha Sen, author of the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Obesity. Researchers might need to delve deeper into culture and genetics, according to Sen, an associate professor of health care policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D., founder and chair of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said in an American Heart Association statement: “This research recognizes an important problem that is poorly understood and shows there are more creative ways to study obesity in African American women. But it points to the need for more comprehensive data.”
About 56 percent of African-American women are obese, compared to 32.8 percent of white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control. People are considered obese if they weigh more than 20 percent over their ideal weight.
SLEEPY KIDS? Teenagers aren’t getting the recommended eight to nine hours of sleep on school nights, according to a new Pediatrics study. Black boys had the least amount of shut-eye and more fragmented sleep. Girls had poorer quality sleep. Talk to your pediatrician for tips.
Stressed Out? Avoid Junk Food
The more stressed out you are, the riskier it is to eat food that’s high in fat and sugar, a new study reports.
Junk food is riskier for the very stressed out, says a recent study. (Bill Branson)
Health risks were higher for highly stressed women who ate the same amount of junk food as women with lower levels of stress. These risks include diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
“Many people think a calorie is a calorie, but this study suggests that two women who eat the same thing could have different metabolic responses based on their level of stress,” said Kirstin Aschbacher, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco.
“The chronically stressed women didn’t report eating more high sugar, high fat foods than the low stressed women,” Aschbacher said. “However, they did have higher levels of a stress-related biomarker, peripheral Neuropeptide Y (NPY).”
“Many people think a calorie is a calorie, but this study suggests that two women who eat the same thing could have different metabolic responses based on their level of stress,” said Kirstin Aschbacher, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco.
Yanick Rice Lamb, publisher of FierceforBlackWomen.com, teaches journalism at Howard University.
