Study: Immigrants face growing risk of obesity
Likelihood goes up the longer they live in the United States

Saturday, June 19, 2004

By VICKI CHENG
THE (RALEIGH, N.C.) NEWS & OBSERVER

Pepe Caudillo and Sandra Castro, who moved to North Carolina in 1996,
exercised all the time in their native Mexico City. Caudillo played
basketball regularly; Castro was an aerobics instructor. You had to be rich
to own a car, so most people walked everywhere -- to the store, school or
the bus stop.

However, since they arrived in the United States, they've found exercising
-- and staying away from junk food -- more of a challenge.

"The American way is to work, work and work," said Castro, who manages a
Bojangles' restaurant and sells ads for La Conexi-n, a Spanish language
newspaper. Her husband is the executive editor.

"Exercise was part of my life for a long time," she said. "Now I don't have
time."

Public health officials have been targeting minority groups for years with
messages about healthful diet and exercise. In 2001, when the U.S. surgeon
general first issued a "call to action" about the obesity epidemic,
government officials recognized racial and socioeconomic disparities.

Minority women were more likely to be overweight than white women,
according to the surgeon general's office. Low-income families were more
likely to be fat than higher-income families. Studies showed that families
were less active if they lived in unsafe neighborhoods, as many low-income
people and immigrants do.

Now, a study by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has shown that
the longer immigrants live in America, the more likely they are to become
part of the growing obesity epidemic here.

One group that continues to struggle with being overweight is African
American women. They may be genetically predisposed to the condition, said
James Gavin, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.

For years, African American community organizations, such as churches and
schools, have been trying to drive home messages about diet and exercise.

Two chapters in his new book, "Dr. Gavin's Health Guide for African
Americans," are devoted to a healthful diet and to the obesity problem. For
readers who may be afraid to walk around in their neighborhoods or who
don't have money to join a gym, Gavin describes stretches and exercises to
do in small spaces. People can get exercise just marching in place or
sitting in a chair and using packages of food as weights, he said.

"Poor people are the most resourceful people in the world," Gavin said.
"They have ways of getting by. We now want them to harness that creativity
on their own behalf. The less you spend on trying to get well, the more you
spend on quality of life and staying healthy."

But despite good intentions, the average American doesn't exercise much.
And now, super-sizing is spreading across the globe.

Here in the United States, new immigrants have many reasons to slip into
bad American habits, said Guadalupe Ayala, an assistant professor in the
department of health behavior and health education at the University of
North Carolina.

Often, watching TV is a way to become socialized to U.S. culture or to stay
connected to their homes through Spanish-language channels. And parents
want their kids to be like Americans.

"Parents often say, 'I want my child to have all the advantages of being an
American,' " she said. "If that means eating hot dogs and hamburgers
because that's what Americans eat, then I want to give them that."

The perception that immigrants pick up bad habits when they come to America
isn't just anecdotal.

Penny Gordon-Larsen, an assistant professor of nutrition at Chapel Hill,
co-wrote a 2003 study looking at the health effects of Americanization on
immigrant families.

First-generation Hispanic immigrants ate more rice, fruit and vegetables
than those born in the United States.

Later generations were also more likely to smoke. First-generation Mexican
Americans watched less TV and were more physically active than later
generations.