It is a mistake to think that obesity is a problem only in certain social or racial groups. It is rampant in all races, in both genders, and across all ages. It would be (sic) mistake as well to believe that race and social class do not matter. The prevalence of significant obesity (body mass index over 30) in the U.S. population is 29% for Caucasians, 34% for Hispanics and 40% for African Americans. Fully 78% of African American females are overweight or obese.
78 percent is a HUGH figure. How can this be?
My sampling of demographics around Atlanta would seem to support this. In our office, which ranges from execs to entry level, I don’t need one hand to count the in shape black women out of a population of about 120 total people. Seriously, it is 4. Number of black women total is about 30.
The only thing I can figure is that obesity among African-American men must be close to zero.