Obesity in the African American Community - Research Paper Example

However, over the last decade, statistics have shown that obesity is gradually becoming more pronounced among the black community (Pan et al., 2009). While it is still high among Caucasians, it appears to be plateauing or even slightly reducing while it increases for the blacks. This has resulted in considerable research and investigations in an effort to identify the specialized causative factors and come up with mitigative actions from both national health and community level. There have been numerous factors proposed for the high incidences of obesity among the African American community most, which stem from education and poverty and an overreaching culture grounded in unhealthy eating habits.

A study carried out by Slone Epidemiology Center followed up on 23,631 African American women aged under 55 from 1995 to 2009 (Coogan, 2012). They found that women whose parents had not gone through college tended to gain weight as children and often became obese as adults. However, women whose parents were college educated were much less prone to this; in cases where women had completed college, their risk was significantly lower irrespective of their parent’s education. The study determined that lower education and by extension income levels among parents are attributed to weight gain and a greater obesity risk and over a lifetime (Coogan, 2012).

When a woman is disadvantaged in childhood, she is likely to develop obesity but this can often be overcome if she achieves a high level of education and “liberates” herself. For black women found to have a low obesity risk, the study suggested that education provided more access to financial security, which enabled them access to healthy foods and other factors that prevent obesity such as gym membership. Most scholars agree that the most likely culprit is diet; however, this like many of the social problems facing the African American population is compounded with a host of other