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"Long before it's in the papers"
June 20, 2005

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In the USA, “the longer you stay, the bigger you get,” researchers say

Posted Sept. 7, 2004
Special to World Science

It's well known that Americans are among the world’s fattest people. Now, new research suggests foreigners living in the United States also quickly start putting on weight – and the longer they stay, the bigger they get.

At least, researchers found that this was the case for 174 low-income immigrant women living in Hartford, Conn.

Although the sample size was relatively small and restricted to one ethnic group, the findings seem to fit a growing pattern. Several other studies have also shown that people “often experience weight gain when they migrate to new countries where the prevalence of overweight and obesity is high,” the scientists wrote in a report of the new study, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Among the Hartford women, 29 percent of those who had lived in the United States for one year or less were obese, the researchers found. By contrast, 40 percent of those who had lived in the United States for 10 years or more were obese. The researchers said they included only Puerto Ricans in the study, not in order to single out this group but to make the results statistically more reliable.

The research team, headed by David Himmelgreen of the University of South Florida, wrote that “as new immigrants acculturate, they begin to adopt the cultural practices of the larger and more dominant group, including food consumption and physical activity patterns.”

Consistent with this, the team also found that immigrants who spoke English better tended to be more overweight.

“Research is needed to more adequately define the process of acculturation and how it affects food habits, food consumption, and physical activity patterns,” the scientists wrote.

This research could then be used to design better-targeted, more culturally aware public health programs to help people maintain healthy weight and exercise levels, they added. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and the Hispanic Health Council, a community organization, also took part in the study.

—EJL

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