Nearly 36 Percent of Black Americans Are Obese

Racial and ethnic disparities in rates of obesity among U.S. adults remain, with blacks and Hispanics recording considerably higher obesity rates than Hispanic whites, the CDC reported.

Photo: Nearly 36 Percent of Black Americans Are Obese

From 2006 to 2008, non-Hispanic blacks had the highest prevalence of obesity (35.7%), followed by Hispanics (28.7%) and non-Hispanic whites (23.7%), according to Liping Pan, MD, MPH, of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, and colleagues, MedPage Today reports.

Meanwhile, nearly 36 percent of black Americans are obese — much more than other major racial or ethnic groups — and that gap exists in most states, a new federal study finds.

About 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites are obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Overall, about 26 percent of U.S. adults are obese.

Racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before, and health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales ,The Associated Press reports.

At the same time, the prevalence of obesity, a major cause of diabetes, stroke and heart attacks has more than doubled in the past 30 years in the U.S. Certain ethnic groups have been disproportionately affected, said David Katz, the founder of Yale University’s prevention research center in New Haven, Connecticut. Members of those groups are less likely to live in neighborhoods with fresh produce and streets that are conducive to walking, he said , Bloomberg reports.