Literature Review on the Effects of Obesity on the Middle Adulthood African American Community
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Literature Review on the Effects of Obesity on the Middle Adulthood African American Community
According to Agyemang & Powell (2013), obesity in black women is analyzed with particular attention to Therapeutic and Genesis approaches. Obesity is prevalent in the United States, black women majorly basing on the body mass index. It is directly linked to cardiovascular mortality and mobility within black women. While the obesity worldwide epidemic is rising, a prevalence is disparate amongst ethnic and racial groups. About 60 % of black women are rendered obese because they have above 30 BMI. Also, black women have a 70% chance of becoming obese instead of white (Agyemang & Powell,2013). the obesity disparities are associated with disproportionate levels of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. They have also explored the heritable traits associated with obesity amongst the blacks, and it has been established that genetic-associated obesity studies are scarce on black women. It is also evident that most black women are exposed to various cardio-vascular impacts of Visceral adipose layers, which generate further evidence on the ethnic and racial differences within adipokine levels. Weight cycling is a significant struggle experienced by obese African American women. weight cycling involves a repeated regain or loss of body weight. Obesity also results due to differences in dietary intake. Therefore, social, genetic, and behavioral determinants contribute to the interconnected and multifactorial aspect of obesity genesis within black women.
Barrington & Williams (2020) illustrates how the socioeconomic situation correlates with obesity within the Caribbean and African American black women and men. They illustrate that the high prevalence of obesity among black Americans seeks additional examination into its connection with ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and sex. The study utilizes a representative national model of about 3570 African Americans aged above 18 with cross-sectional data acquired by the national survey on American life between 2001-2003 (Barrington & Williams, 2020). The socioeconomic position is a significant location within the societal structure that determines the differentiated access to desirable resources, power ad privileges. It is also a multidimensional aspect that can be measured basing on individual levels of occupation and education, household-level basing on familial resources like wealth and poverty, and the neighborhood levels such as neighborhood structural characteristics, crime, and poverty levels. The study indicates that African –American women had the highest prevalence of obesity, with a majority being below 45. The African-American women had higher chances of acquiring public support as most of them had the minimum family income compared to the other sex and ethnic groups. The study illustrates socioeconomic positions (SEP), multiple dimensions, and obesity through the US black’s samples which illustrates that the associations varied across sex and ethnicity. An inverse connection between SEP individual level and obesity was discovered for education, while high-status occupations had lower obesity odds than the lesser status professions.
Lincolin (2020) presents an argument on the relationship between race, mental health, and obesity in older adults in’ united states. Obesity is becoming a severe health concern issue in the united states as it is causing both physical and mental health consequences. By understanding the aspects connecting mental health disorders and obesity amongst the older individuals, one can enhance the efforts to distinguish older adults who are at high risk while improving targeted treatment and mechanisms of prevention, hence improving the quality of life for most African American older adults and caregivers. The increased prevalence of obesity amongst the older adult population, particularly across the older ethnic and racial minorities, is becoming a significant concern. It poses severe consequences for individuals across this life span. The aspect of overweight old individuals is the base of many debates and research regarding appropriate care, treatment recommendations, and healthcare costs for older adults. Obesity correlations are dependent on aspects of culture, race, and ethnicity, which may determine the level of susceptibility and vulnerability to obesity while altering the relationship between mental and physical health situations. As illustrated by the BMI index, approximately 40% of united states adults are obese (Lincolin,2020). While the risks associated with mental health disorders amongst obese and overweight adults increases, it is not entirely determined by ethnicity and race but rather a wide range of contextual factors ranging from physical to physiological and how they interact with the diverse populations.
According to Sharpe & Hall (2016), children with obesity are most likely to be obese or overweight in adulthood. There is an increased prevalence of children with obesity in the united states. From the 1980s, the percentage of African American children with obesity has tripled from five to fifteen percent. This study seeks to identify the common causes of obesity within the African American population and highlight various effective management strategies. The study utilizes a review of various databases, including peer-reviewed and scholarly journals. It ascertains that obesity is majorly caused by physical inactivity, parental influence, socioeconomic status, media influence, and food availability (Sharpe & Hall, 2016). When such situations are not dealt with at early life stages, these children have higher chances of becoming obese in adulthood.
In his article, Horton (2015) addresses the obesity epidemic, which widely affects most African American populations. Obesity is majorly caused by the economic, cultural, and social aspects of lifestyle and diet. As much as food is an enjoyable aspect in many cultures, it may also be the root cause of the significant problems we may experience in our bodies. Many African diets incorporate foods they were introduced to during the slavery period, containing high calories, sodium, and fats. When it comes to socioeconomic factors, most Africans are not usually at the top. They experience low healthcare units, inadequate housing, poor social environments, and nutrition, resulting in low mortality or morbidity rates. As a result, many African Americans spend most of their income and time paying bills rather than healthy diets. Approximately 82.1% of black women and 75.2% of Hispanic women have been proven obese (Horton, 2015). This illustrates that a larger percentage of black women suffer from obesity, resulting in other health issues. Therefore, the study illustrates that obesity is an intersection between lifestyle and diet.
James & Raghunathan, (2006) article illustrates how obesity within African American women is related to their socioeconomic position(SEP) in adulthood and childhood. Currently, adulthood obesity in the united states is acquiring increased attention from various public health researchers. The study experiment involves 679 women in North Carolina who are classified into high or low SEP about education, employment status, occupation, and homeownership. The study indicated that women from low SEP childhood backgrounds had 25% higher odds of obesity than those from high SEP backgrounds (James & Raghunathan, 2006). This clearly illustrates that those African American women who grew up with a SEP factor deprivation in childhood had higher chances of becoming obese in adulthood. Therefore, one’s family’s socioeconomic position throughout their childhood developments impacts their health, physical or mental status in adulthood.
Lastly, Wilkes (2017) stipulates that obesity is prevalent amongst African American children from low-income societies. The study illustrates the effects of educational interventions on guardian’s perceptions regarding childhood obesity prevention strategies, risk factors, and weight status within the rural community of South Carolina. Currently, a significant cause of obesity among many adults is associated with their adolescent lifestyle. There are minimal resources available to help control the spread of obesity since while strategies such as promoting exercise and diet modification are put in place, socioeconomic status arises. Childhood obesity is prevalent within most African American poverty-stricken communities that lack adequate resources, access to physical activities, and health education. These undesirable situations negatively impact children’s health within such communities hence potentially increasing their chances of obesity. Many individuals have a lifestyle of consuming excessive amounts of food, which overpowers the body’s natural processes, leading to chronic diseases. Therefore, obesity is positively associated with poverty. Most children living within the US rural areas have a 25% chance of becoming obese than those living within the urban locations. They are hampered by poverty-related economic and social barriers (Wilkes, 2017). This clarifies why most chronically overweight African Americans trace the start of their struggle with weight back from their childhood.
References
Agyemang, P., & Powell-Wiley, T. M. (2013). Obesity and black women: special considerations related to the genesis and therapeutic approaches. Current cardiovascular risk reports, 7(5), 378-386.
Barrington, D. S., James, S. A., & Williams, D. R. (2020). Socioeconomic Correlates of Obesity in African-American and Caribbean-Black Men and Women. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 1-11.
Horton, A. (2015). Adult Obesity in the US: Obesity Problems Affecting the African American Community. Journal Women’s Health Care, 4(261), 2167-0420.
James, S. A., Fowler-Brown, A., Raghunathan, T. E., & Van Hoewyk, J. (2006). Life-course socioeconomic position and obesity in African American Women: The Pitt County Study. American journal of public health, 96(3), 554-560.
Lincoln, K. D. (2020). Race, obesity, and mental health among older adults in the United States: A literature review. Innovation in Aging, 4(5), igaa031.
Sharpe, D. K., Collins-McNeil, J., Jones, J. W., Sharpe, J. F., & Hall, J. K. (2016). Contributing factors to obesity in African American children within the United States. Epidemiology: Open Access, 6(6).
Wilkes, C. W. (2017). Perceptions of Childhood Obesity among African Americans in a Low-Income Community.