# Why are so many black females obese? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002 "2009-04-13T22:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/21 "2009-04-14T03:25:35Z")
I just want to say that the women i’m talking about here are CLEARLY obese. Not a little junk in da trunk or a little meat on their bones. I work with a lot of brothers and have talked about women with them many times and they are not into “fat chicks” or obese women. They like big butts and tits. Not big guts and dangly arm fat. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/22 "2009-04-14T03:32:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Omega Glory** :Actually, an authentic “soul food” diet is pretty healthy, especially compared to the typical American diet. You get lots of green, leafy vegetables; most of your protein comes from fish or legumes; and not much in the way of sweets. “Soul food” does not mean chicken deep-fried in lard every day. > > Of course, the authentic soul food diet probably isn’t all that common any more, with the wide prevalence of cheap junk food. I think it pretty much evens out when you use a large chunk of fat to season the collard greens, “candy” your yams with brown sugar and butter, batter and fry the fish, etc. That style of eating might’ve been better back when the bulk of your calories had to come from grains or legumes to stretch a meal. For example, my black, southern born grandmother made Easter dinner yesterday that consisted of white rice with gravy, baked macaroni and cheese, chitterlings, corn meal dressing, sweet potato pie, collards with ham hocks, fried corn, ham, chicken and some other kind of beans (I think butter beans) seasoned with fat. Now this is a holiday dinner, but some people have similar menus every Sunday, and while the rest of the week’s dinners won’t have so many dishes, the ones that are offered often aren’t that healthy. Add the fact that some people eating this kind of food still reach for pop, chips and other typical unhealthy American snacks, and you have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/23 "2009-04-14T03:42:21Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > I think it pretty much evens out when you use a large chunk of fat to season the collard greens, “candy” your yams with brown sugar and butter, batter and fry the fish, etc. That style of eating might’ve been better back when the bulk of your calories had to come from grains or legumes to stretch a meal. > > For example, my black, southern born grandmother made Easter dinner yesterday that consisted of white rice with gravy, baked macaroni and cheese, chitterlings, corn meal dressing, sweet potato pie, collards with ham hocks, fried corn, ham, chicken and some other kind of beans (I think butter beans) seasoned with fat. Now this is a holiday dinner, but some people have similar menus every Sunday, and while the rest of the week’s dinners won’t have so many dishes, the ones that are offered often aren’t that healthy. Add the fact that some people eating this kind of food still reach for pop, chips and other typical unhealthy American snacks, and you have a problem. Shit! I got a problem. I wish I was at your grandma’s house this Easter. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/24 "2009-04-14T03:52:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Shit! I got a problem. I wish I was at your grandma’s house this Easter. Oh, there’s plenty of left overs. She cooks as if the family’s twice as big as it is, and there’s no way I’m going to finish all the stuff she sent with me. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/25 "2009-04-14T04:02:04Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > (FYI, your medscape link requires registration) Huh. That’s weird. I could see it just fine when went to it via google, but not when I clicked my own link… ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/26 "2009-04-14T04:22:11Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Huh. That’s weird. I could see it just fine when went to it via google, but not when I clicked my own link… Fortunately, there’s a [simple bypass via Yahoo! Cache](http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?u=www.medscape.com/viewarticle/469027&d=Q5Gis0xIShcK). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/27 "2009-04-14T06:11:03Z")
Dietary fat is not a major factor in obesity. High quantities of starches and sugars are. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/28 "2009-04-14T06:22:10Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Dietary fat is not a major factor in obesity. High quantities of starches and sugars are. Why is this? From a caloric standpoint alone, wouldn’t fat contribute more per gram than carbs? Though certainly it’s easier to down bottles of invisible carbs (soda) than swallow the equivalent weight in lard. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/29 "2009-04-14T07:10:02Z")
There’s also the matter of black women eating their mate during gestation, which goes back to prehistoric times when black women were pregnant and hungry and their husbands pissed them off. This is also the reason for high illegitimacy rates in some black communities, though ever since white women started eating mates they’ve been gaining on them. Generally speaking a disproportionate number of _southerners_ are fat. I’m from Alabama, the most obese state in the nation statistically, and here I’d say it’s about neck in neck, but then what’s known as “soul food” in NYC and Chicago is just known as “food” here- fried everythings and lots of cheese. Most black people are less than 2 or 3 generations removed from the American south, so they probably have a lot of our really bad dietary habits. My white friends and my black friends are about even in the obese to thin ratio. Latinos (the fastest growing minority here as elsewhere and disproportionately represented in Chinese buffet samplings) seem to be tipping the scales as well, though men more than women. I hardly ever see a fat Asian woman though. You almost never hear of anorexia or bulimia in the black female community. I’m sure it exists among black women (just as it does among white males) but it’s rare, and the only cases I can think of off-hand involve models or status brats. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/30 "2009-04-14T07:29:17Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Why is this? From a caloric standpoint alone, wouldn’t fat contribute more per gram than carbs? Proteins and fats are metabolized more evenly than starches and sugar, which cause spikes in blood glucose levels, leading to eating binges. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/31 "2009-04-14T12:42:46Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Why is this? From a caloric standpoint alone, wouldn’t fat contribute more per gram than carbs? > > Though certainly it’s easier to down bottles of invisible carbs (soda) than swallow the equivalent weight in lard. Because dietary fats do not cause the release of insulin, and insulin is the hormone which tells your body to start storing excess carbs as fat. That’s why 200 calories of soda will actually cause you to gain more weight than 200 calories of whole wheat bread. Your pancreas pumps out a huge amount of insulin quickly so that excess sugar in the soda can be stored. With the whole wheat bread, since the carbs are released more gradually, the body does not produce a big “spike” of insulin. Search for “glycemic index” for more info… ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/32 "2009-04-14T13:06:05Z")
Since you specified in your OP “black women and girls” and an age of 9+, I will contest that with my own personal and unscientific observation that although I agree on your impression of black women, I strongly disagree in the matter of girls. It seems to me that black kids (both male and female) tend to remain thin until well past their teen years. At least in comparison with white kids who definitely go for obese since toddlers. Once again, this is just my personal impression with nothing to back it up. ETA: And I think that for all races, the economic factor weighs heavily (no pun intended). Poor people seems more likely to be fat than more affluent types. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/33 "2009-04-14T13:35:34Z")
You know, I don’t think we’re ever going to get a real answer to this question, mainly because it involves a rather sensitive subject (obesity, especially so on the SDMB) as it relates to another sensitive subject (race). Here’s what I’ve seen so far: 1. _Black women are more comfortable with their bodies than women of other races, and thus more comfortable with being overweight._ This is the “empowering” answer, the one that says black women choose to be obese. While some black women may be proud of some booty, are they really comfortable with or proud of their bodies when they’re massively overweight? 2. _Black men like their women with a few extra pounds._ Assuming this is true, do they like women that are generally Nell Carter-sized; overweight to the tune of 100 pounds or more? That was the norm for the majority of black women in the Cleveland area. We’re not taking “baby got back” big, but “yo mama so fat …” big. 3. _Poor people are generally larger than middle-class and wealthy people._ Generally true, but I lived in a middle-class, racially integrated neighborhood, and black women were still generally Nell Carter-sized. Also, unlike among whites, a smaller percentage of black men were obese. There were far more couplings of thin black men and large black women than what’s seen among whites. (I think, overall, there’s far more thin man/large woman couplings than vice versa, regardless of race.) 4. _Soul/Southern food is fattening._ Maybe, but as others have noticed, obesity really doesn’t seem that prevalent among black children; there seems to be quite a few chubby white kids, but not so many chubby black kids. Again, black men tend not to be overweight to the extent of black women, even though they might share the same diet. Could it be something physiological, where black women are more prone to obesity in the same way Native Americans are more prone to alcoholism? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/34 "2009-04-14T13:59:40Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > I think it pretty much evens out when you use a large chunk of fat to season the collard greens, “candy” your yams with brown sugar and butter, batter and fry the fish, etc. That style of eating might’ve been better back when the bulk of your calories had to come from grains or legumes to stretch a meal. > > For example, my black, southern born grandmother made Easter dinner yesterday that consisted of white rice with gravy, baked macaroni and cheese, chitterlings, corn meal dressing, sweet potato pie, collards with ham hocks, fried corn, ham, chicken and some other kind of beans (I think butter beans) seasoned with fat. Now this is a holiday dinner, but some people have similar menus every Sunday, and while the rest of the week’s dinners won’t have so many dishes, the ones that are offered often aren’t that healthy. Add the fact that some people eating this kind of food still reach for pop, chips and other typical unhealthy American snacks, and you have a problem. Well, I’m white and that is the exact stuff I would expect to find at my white, southern Mom’s house for a holiday dinner - except the chitlins’. Pork fat is a major addition to all vegetable dishes and everyone drinks iced tea - understood to be syrupy sweet. Mmmmmm. And yes, we may have a few large folks in the family tree. As for the OP, you may be correct in your observance but I want to know why I see so many incredibly hot black women all the time. Voluptuous, shapely and not afraid to show it and definitely willing to stand out in a crowd. Damn. Maybe being in a minority, and therefore more noticeable, makes some people give up trying to look good and some try to stand out even more? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/35 "2009-04-14T14:05:03Z")
I’m going with Sampiro’s answer. The only reason you don’t see as many fat white people as fat black people at Universal is that lots of the white people are British. They tend to bring down the fat curve. And the people wearing socks with sandals are tourists. Floridians don’t do this. _Ever_. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/36 "2009-04-14T14:08:00Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > A group of sociologists took a trip to Scotland. While in the tour bus, they noticed a field with black sheep. > > \*One of them said: “Hey, all sheep in Scotland are black” > > - Another said: “All we know is that \*some \*sheep in Scotland are black” > - And a third one said: “All we know is that \*some \*sheep in Scotland are black on one side” Don’t forget the fourth, who said “All we know is that some of the sheep in Scotland are black on one side, at least part of the time.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/37 "2009-04-14T14:38:23Z")
This comes up a lot in discussions about obesity at the SDMB. Isn’t there a difference between having some “meat” on your bones and being obese? Odesio ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/38 "2009-04-14T14:42:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > There’s also the matter of black women eating their mate during gestation, which goes back to prehistoric times when black women were pregnant and hungry and their husbands pissed them off. This is also the reason for high illegitimacy rates in some black communities, though ever since white women started eating mates they’ve been gaining on them. 😛 Seriously, that was just too hilarious! Odesio ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/39 "2009-04-14T14:56:08Z")
It’s not safe for work, but if you do an image search for “Swaziland Reed Dance,” you can see some pretty revealing pictures of young black African women. Although none of them looks particularly overweight, a good number seem to have the sort of body type which could easily lead to gaining a lot of weight on the sort of junk foods which are so popular in much of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002/40 "2009-04-14T15:01:29Z")
Along the lines of this thread, I have always wondered why there have been more very large black women in lead roles of TV sitcoms than thin ones. And why I can’t really think of any really large white actress in a lead role of a TV series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-black-females-obese/493002.md?page=3)