# Why do obesity rates vary among various races **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 31, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706 "2013-10-31T01:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/1 "2013-10-31T01:50:36Z")
Please don’t say lifestyle. Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. So what causes this exactly? Did whites and asians have more steady food supplies over the last few thousand years, creating less incentive for people predisposed to obesity? I thought hunter gatherer evolutionary histories made people more predisposed to obesity. Also the Chinese get diabetes at a far lower BMI than whites, anyone know what that is about? My understanding was that insulin resistance and obesity were both side effects of a metabolism designed to survive famines. But Chinese get insulin resistance while being thin. In China 1/2 of adults are prediabetic, vs about 1/3 in the US. The Chinese now have slightly higher % of their population with diabetes than the US (11.6% vs 11.3%) despite the Chinese being on average thinner and younger than Americans. I’ve heard China having environmental pollution and the current generation being born during the stressful and famine prone times of Mao played a role (nutrition in the womb and all that). > **[China's Looming Diabetes Epidemic](https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/chinas-looming-diabetes-epidemic/279670/)** > > The country has a higher rate of incidence than the U.S., and screening for the disease is not covered by insurance plans.  ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/2 "2013-10-31T02:24:50Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. > > Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. > > So what causes this exactly? Did whites and asians have more steady food supplies over the last few thousand years, creating less incentive for people predisposed to obesity? I thought hunter gatherer evolutionary histories made people more predisposed to obesity. > > Also the Chinese get diabetes at a far lower BMI than whites, anyone know what that is about? My understanding was that insulin resistance and obesity were both side effects of a metabolism designed to survive famines. But Chinese get insulin resistance while being thin. In China 1/2 of adults are prediabetic, vs about 1/3 in the US. The Chinese now have slightly higher % of their population with diabetes than the US (11.6% vs 11.3%) despite the Chinese being on average thinner and younger than Americans. I’ve heard China having environmental pollution and the current generation being born during the stressful and famine prone times of Mao played a role (nutrition in the womb and all that). > > [China's Looming Diabetes Epidemic - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/chinas-looming-diabetes-epidemic/279670/) The difference between Jackson, Mississippi and Somalia or Ethiopia isn’t about the color of one’s skin, it’s about lifestyle, affluence, and culture. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/3 "2013-10-31T02:34:46Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. Why not? Diet is part of an individual’s lifestyle, no? > [@](#): > > Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. Here in the United States there’s a pretty strong correlation between poverty and obesity. It’s got something to do with what and how much you eat. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/4 "2013-10-31T02:35:58Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > The difference between Jackson, Mississippi and Somalia or Ethiopia isn’t about the color of one’s skin, it’s about lifestyle, affluence, and culture. Yes the lifestyle in Ethiopia is not the same as lifestyle in the US. But within western nations obesity rates vary drastically between races and ethnicities. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/5 "2013-10-31T02:38:43Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Yes the lifestyle in Ethiopia is not the same as lifestyle in the US. But within western nations obesity rates vary drastically between races and ethnicities. Does the variation disappear or diminish if you correct for socioeconomic class? Because, you know, lifestyles. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/6 "2013-10-31T02:54:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > But within western nations obesity rates vary drastically between races and ethnicities. Different races and ethnitities in western nations have different lifestyles. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/7 "2013-10-31T02:55:45Z")
1. You really cannot so glibly discount “lifestyle” when it obviously is the major (not only) factor. As immigrant populations become more assimilated they gravitate (heh) to the same masses that established populations do; as other countries become Westernized they also develop high obesity rates. 2. Some impacts are multgenerational, via effects on the brain prenatally caused by different diets, and possibly by altered gut biomes that are to no small degree passed on generationally. 3. Different ethnicities also may have different levels of fat relative to fat free mass (think muscles but not only) and in particular different levels of central adiposity at the same BMIs. Hence what is “obese” may from a health impact perspective be a different BMI for one ethnicity than another. Why that last bit? I dunno, but [here](http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/1/226.full) is one discussion about it that may inform to your question. > [@](#): > > The greater central adiposity of South Asians compared with Europeans is by no means the only such ethnic difference. African-Americans have less visceral fat than white Americans despite a high prevalence of high BMI,5 but nonetheless are relatively insulin resistant and experience high rates of cardiovascular mortality.6 Hispanic Americans appear prone to central adiposity (Wells et al. unpublished data), but there is some suggestion that they may paradoxically experience lower rates of cardiovascular disease.6 Collectively, such studies indicate complex interactions between ethnicity, BMI, central obesity and mortality risk. > > Whilst the harmful effects of an enlarged visceral fat depot are increasingly appreciated, the more fundamental functions of visceral fat have received minimal attention. Within any population, the contemporary profile of visceral fat must reflect its value to that population’s ancestors in the past. … In short, whilst clinicians view visceral adipose tissue as a source of harmful cytokines, an evolutionary approach illuminates it as a regulatory organ whose role becomes enhanced during malnutrition. It is plausible that South Asians allocate fat disproportionately to the visceral depot, not because other depots are constrained, but because in the absence of excess weight gain (a late 20th century phenomenon) chronic energy deficiency favours increased allocation to this depot. Support for this hypothesis comes from consideration of the history of South Asian populations. > > The high levels of human body fat are commonly attributed to cycles of ‘feast and famine’ in our evolutionary past. Evidence for such cycles is rarely produced, and exactly when during our evolutionary heritage they might have occurred is rarely discussed. When seeking to explain population differences in adiposity, however, we must be dealing with a maximum timescale of around 150 000 years BP, when modern humans evolved. Although modern humans appear to have reached Asia around 50 000 years ago,9 the vast majority of population growth occurred in the last few thousand years, alongside the emergence of agriculture which significantly increased fertility rates. It is in the interaction between diverse agricultural practices and local climatic conditions that we should therefore search for the origins of ethnic differences in adipose tissue biology. … I suggest that the specific stress of occupying an extremely volatile habitat for many generations, perhaps further exacerbated by dietary factors such as vegetarianism, has made the metabolism of South Asians substantially more sensitive to fluctuations in energy supply in comparison with other populations which have inhabited more stable environments, and that today’s South Asians owe their very existence to the sensitive visceral fat of their ancestors. Importantly, however, South Asians are likely to lie near one extreme of a continuum, with differential exposure to ancestral climatic and ecological selective pressures shaping a contemporary continuum of differential ethnic susceptibility to specific components of the metabolic syndrome. [Alternatively](http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/1/63.full) … > [@](#): > > This paper reviews evidence for the role played by adipose tissue in immune function and proposes that adipose tissue biology responds to selective pressures acting through infectious disease. Different diseases activate the immune system in different ways and induce different metabolic costs. It is hypothesized that exposure to different infectious disease burdens has favoured ethnic genetic variability in the anatomical location of, and metabolic profile of, adipose tissue depots. … So lots of educated WAGs but no one really knows. You also may find [this](http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/1/33.short) of interest in context to your US numbers. > [@](#): > > UK South Asian children have higher adiposity levels and black African–Caribbeans have similar or lower adiposity levels when compared with white Europeans. However, these differences are not well represented by comparisons based on BMI, which systematically underestimates adiposity in South Asians, and in black African–Caribbeans it overestimates adiposity because of its association with height. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/8 "2013-10-31T05:01:36Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. Why on Earth would you say that? Eating patterns vary dramastically by ethnic group (ag, racial groups). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/9 "2013-10-31T08:34:05Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Yes the lifestyle in Ethiopia is not the same as lifestyle in the US. But within western nations obesity rates vary drastically between races and ethnicities. Within western nations or specifically in North-America? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/10 "2013-10-31T09:09:14Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. > > Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. > > So what causes this exactly? Did whites and asians have more steady food supplies over the last few thousand years, creating less incentive for people predisposed to obesity? I thought hunter gatherer evolutionary histories made people more predisposed to obesity. I don’t know why you would discount lifestyle. I’m an Asian who was brought up for the US and all my Asian friends grew up in similar households, at least in terms of food. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/11 "2013-10-31T09:13:47Z")
Not to mention that different cultures (i.e races and ethnicities) look at size, exercise and weight differently. And place different values on different aspects of lifestyles. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/12 "2013-10-31T09:35:28Z")
Should also be remembered - Different cultures have different tastes in the food they eat. it is quite noticeable to me (and generalising here) Malay food uses a lot more sugar than chinese food traditional western desserts (custard, stewed apples, tarts and pies) are much sweeter than chinese desserts - which tend more towards the savoury ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/13 "2013-10-31T10:23:10Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > traditional western desserts (custard, stewed apples, tarts and pies) are much sweeter than chinese desserts - which tend more towards the savoury And the American versions of those desserts tends to be much sweeter than versions from other Western countries. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/14 "2013-10-31T11:30:12Z")
People, get past his apparently wanting to totally dismiss lifestyle. The fact remains that there are differences beyond lifestyle that impact, if not how fat each ethnicity is, then at least _how they are_ fat. But revisiting the op, **Wesley** where did you get those numbers? They are [not what the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsobesityadults/)cites. Non-Hispanic Black is 37%, not 50; non-Hispanic White is 24% not 33; Hispanic 29%, not 40. Bigger differences by states for the same racial groups, e.g. in Blacks - NH has 23%; Oregon 42. Their take - > [@](#): > > At least three reasons may account for the racial and ethnic differences in obesity. First, racial and ethnic groups differ in behaviors that contribute to weight gain; second explanation may be differences in individual attitudes and cultural norms related to body weight. A third explanation may be differences in access to affordable, healthful foods and safe locations to be physically active; this limited access may negatively impact diet and physical activity levels. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/15 "2013-10-31T13:30:02Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > People, get past his apparently wanting to totally dismiss lifestyle. The fact remains that there are differences beyond lifestyle that impact, if not how fat each ethnicity is, then at least _how they are_ fat. Okay. It’s just that **how** they are fat is based off their lifestyle. According to your quote that includes individual attitudes, cultural norms and what kinds of food they have access to. Those are all part of someone’s lifestyle. Tangent: I’ve noticed that whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant and I see the staff eating they’re not eating the same thing the customers are. More often than not I’ll see them eating a small plate of pickled vegetables or a bowl of noodle soup. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/16 "2013-10-31T13:59:52Z")
Actually however, despite the CDC take, how they are fat is likely not exclusively lifestyle. There are differences in fat distribution, level of adiposity for the same BMI level, tendency to the metabolic consequences of the same level of adiposity even in the same locations, that vary according to ethnic group. Hence the point of the other articles provided. Not cited but available upon request are serious questions about whether the same BMI cut-offs should be used for Asians, for example, given the fact that adiposity, and in particular central adiposity is greater at the same BMI levels and that the metabolic consequences are more common at the same levels of adiposity. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/17 "2013-10-31T14:54:55Z")
Really, when you say, “Don’t say lifestyle”, you’re saying, “Don’t give me the answer.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/18 "2013-10-31T14:59:00Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. > > Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. > > So what causes this exactly? What were the rates for those groups 50 years ago? Did their genes change in that time period or did their way of living (see, I didn’t say “lifestyle”) change? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/19 "2013-10-31T15:05:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Please don’t say lifestyle. > > Among adults the obesity rates (in the US) among blacks are about 50%, about 40% for latinos, about 33% for whites and about 11% for asians. > > So what causes this exactly? Did whites and asians have more steady food supplies over the last few thousand years, creating less incentive for people predisposed to obesity? As others have said: lifestyle. Blacks and Hispanics are much more likely than whites to live in poverty and be gathered in poor areas, particularly urban ghettos. Asians are the least likely. In such areas, food is dominated by fast food restaurants, gas station stores, and the like. High-class restaurants that serve healthier food are non-existant in such places. With more of certain races in these areas, it’s no surprise that there’s a difference in rates of obesity. But suppose we were to take a particular area of roughly uniform economic means, and compare obesity races among racial groups in that area. I bet the rates would be much closer to equal. > [@](#): > > I thought hunter gatherer evolutionary histories made people more predisposed to obesity. If the hypothesis doesn’t match the facts, reject the hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706/20 "2013-10-31T15:53:07Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > As others have said: lifestyle. Blacks and Hispanics are much more likely than whites to live in poverty and be gathered in poor areas, particularly urban ghettos. Asians are the least likely. In such areas, food is dominated by fast food restaurants, gas station stores, and the like. High-class restaurants that serve healthier food are non-existant in such places. With more of certain races in these areas, it’s no surprise that there’s a difference in rates of obesity. I suspect most people, especially poor people, consume most of their calories at home. And the cheapest food you can buy is often the worst for you in terms of maintaining a healthy weight. That, and lack of education about what actually is good for you and I suspect the added factor of poorer people having less time to prepare healthy food. That is not to say that poor people can’t lead healthy lifestyles. It’s just that there are a lot of factors piling up to make it more difficult for them to do so. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-obesity-rates-vary-among-various-races/672706.md?page=2)