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Hispanic boys face unique issues with obesity prevention
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Prevalence rates of obesity are, in general, higher among Hispanic boys compared to other ethnic groups.
Researchers reviewed litarature on pediatric obesity among Hispanic boys using prevalence estimates from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance and 1995-1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health databases.
“The purpose of this article is to emphasize the magnitude of the problem of obesity and obesity-related complications within Latino-American boys, and to serve as a call for innovative strategies to prevent and treat obesity within this population,” the researchers wrote.
As the Hispanic population continues to increase in this country, so do the challenges in preventing and treating pediatric obesity, which affects more Hispanic-American boys than their non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black peers. This population has high rates of obesity-related metabolic complications, including metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and fatty liver disease.
The researchers said genetics play a role, but obesogenic behaviors play a larger role—drinking sugar-sweetened drinks, like soda, low levels of exercise and an emphasis on sedentary behavior, according to the review. Many obesogenic behaviors have been observed more in Hispanic boys than non-Hispanic white and black youths.
Avenues of prevention are challenging for this group, according to the researchers. Language barriers, fewer opportunities for exercise and less access to healthy food can point Hispanic boys in the direction of obesity. However, the researchers said parental involvement and awareness, sex-specific interventions, resistance-training exercises and strategies that encourage Hispanics to maintain certain ancestral health behaviors can direct this vulnerable population away from obesity. – by Christen Haigh
Am J Prev Med. 2008;34:153-160.
The fact that the obesity epidemic is not uniformly distributed among racial and ethnic groups has been known for some time. This paper reaffirms the significantly greater increase in obesity prevalence among Hispanic boys. Unfortunately, there are few hard scientific clues as to why these ethnic differences exist. Today, all children, regardless of their ethnic origins, live in a highly obesogenic environment and Butte, et al. (Obesity. 2007;12:3056) have shown recently that Hispanic children who become obese consume a large excess of calories. However, this excess energy consumption is not likely confined to only Hispanic children who become obese. Microenvironmental differences have been described between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children. These include various differences in food intake patterns and physical activity behaviors. Overall, however, there seems little reason to feel confident that such environmental differences, generally of small magnitude in the overall energy balance scheme, are alone sufficient to account for the much faster increase in obesity prevalence in Hispanic boys. Perhaps more compelling are results from heritability studies suggesting that Hispanic youth may have an underlying genetic background that shifts their weights toward the upper end of the BMI distribution, thus making them more susceptible to the abuses of the obesogenic environment.
– Dennis M. Bier, MD
Endocrine Today Editorial Board member