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CHICAGO, Mar 14, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The incidence of obesity remains disproportionately higher for black U.S. women than for white women, Chicago researchers say.
Although excess weight often observed in African-American women has been primarily considered a result of low socioeconomic status, or SES, evidence from previous studies suggests SES may influence excess weight or obesity for women of different racial groups.
Tene Lewis of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago examined the interactive effects of race and three levels of education: low -- high school or less; moderate -- some college; and high -- college degree or more, on women's body mass index.
There were no differences in BMI in African-American and white women with a high school education or less, however, at all levels of education, African-American women were equally heavy, while white women were thinner with increasing baseline educational attainment.
In that respect, African-American women do not seem to benefit from educational attainment in the same way that white women do, according to the findings published in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
