WEB POSTED 01-30-2001

FAT-NOT WHERE IT'S AT!!

The day after Christmas, December 26th, THE NEW YORK TIMES printed a full-page feature article, complete with color pictures, entitled "RAMPANT OBESITY, A DEBILITATING REALITY FOR THE URBAN POOR". While the noncommittal term "Urban Poor" was used, both the text and pictures made it plain that the victims in question were almost exclusively Black and Hispanic.

The writer and the editors used a portion of Southside Chicago as "Exhibit A" in their mountain of evidence. One color picture showed an entire outside wall of a grocery store in our neighborhood covered with signs reading "Pork Chops, Chitterlings, Catfish, Pork Ribs, Rib Tips". A graph in the middle of the page showed the dietetic differences, and the resultant obesity gaps, between various income groups from under ten thousand dollars a year to over fifty thousand. At every level, obesity problems existed mostly among Blacks, with Hispanics a fairly close second. Doctor P. Peter Basiotis, an economist and the director of nutrition policy and analysis at the federal Department of Agriculture, stated unequivocally, "There�s no question that study after study shows that minorities have poorer diets from a nutritional point of view." He further pointed out that many are also "less physically active", creating more problems.

While obesity is recognized as a growing problem among all groups in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out that 27 per cent of Blacks and 21 per cent of Hispanics of all ages are considered obese, or about 30 percent overweight, compared to only 17 per cent of Whites.

"That means," the writer says, "that 26 million Blacks and Hispanics in the country are obese, and as a result, at risk for serious health problems. And lower income minorities are at even greater risk, according to federal statistics."

The article further points out that poor diet is among the causes of such ailments, besides diabetes, as asthma and sleep apnea, a disease that causes people to stop breathing temporarily during sleep. A mother of one such victim had to take five months off work, because when he slept, his windpipe had a tendency to close up, making it impossible for him to breathe.

While federal statistics show the link between income levels and these ailments, Dr. Roiss E. Anderson, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, states, "There have been several studies that suggest that Blacks and Mexican-Americans are less active than their Caucasian counterparts. Our study of Blacks and Mexican-Americans showed there was a clear link between the number of hours of TV watched and body fat."

Another study he conducted showed that, while 26 percent of children ages 8 to 16 in his study watched four or more hours of television daily, the figure was 42 percent among Black children.

A.C. Nielsen has a "Homescan" program, which tracks consumer buying habits among 55,000 households. A recent report showed that Blacks were heavy buyers of frozen and canned goods, pork products and starchy foods. Hispanics were more likely to buy vegetables, but also to buy large quantities of items high in saturated fats, like lard and refried beans.

Didn�t somebody once say, "You are what you eat"?