BLACK FEMALES MOST LIKELY TO BE OVERWEIGHT

But new study says obesity rates have stopped rising.



According to the latest government surveys, obesity among Americans appears to be leveling off but African American women remain the demographic group most likely to be overweight.

The survey results were published online by the National Center for Health Statistics (www.cdc.gov/nchs) and they showed Americans were most likely to be obese between the ages of 40 and 59.

Within this age range, approximately 53 percent of Black women were obese compared to 51 percent of Mexican American women and 39 percent of white women.

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or greater. The index is arrived at through a mathematical formula which compares weight to height.

Meanwhile, within the same age range 40 percent of men were obese with previous studies showing Black men slightly less likely to be obese that white men.

However, according to the latest data, female obesity rates stopped rising in 1999 while male obesity rate did not level off until 2003. The so-called Imperial formula for calculating Body Mass Index is 703 times your weight in pounds times divided by your height in inches squared. Otherwise, there are many Internet sites which will do the calculating for you. Simply search for "Body Mass Index." Again, if the resulting figure is 30 or more, one is considered obese.