Disparities in obesity affected by socioeconomic status

People with a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to be overweight, regardless of racial/ethnic background, and the level of nutritional knowledge and health awareness does not lead to significant racial differences in weight and diet, according to a new study published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The finding suggest disparities in obesity in the United States may be more affected by the broader social environment. Poor quality retail food environments in disadvantaged neighborhoods, in conjunction with limited individual economic resources, contribute to increased risk of obesity within ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations," the researchers said.

The researchers analyzed nationally representative data collected from 4,356 individuals who had participated in the U.S. Department of Agricultures Continuing Survey of Individual Food Intakes, and who had completed the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey, which asks about self-perceptions of nutritional intake, awareness of the relationship between diet and health, perceived importance of following nutritional guidelines, and other questions related to health and diet.

Participants were asked 24 questions to evaluate nutrition and health-related psychosocial factors (NHRPF). Socioeconomic states (SES) was assessed using education and household income. The authors analyzed the relationship between NHRPF and SES with self-reported dietary intake, diet quality (measured by the USDAs Healthy Eating Index [HEI]), exercise participation, body mass index (BMI), and overweight or obesity. Changes in racial/ethnic differences in weight status were compared with diet and exercise participation.

Compared to non-Hispanic Caucasians, non-Hispanic blacks had higher BMI and scored lower on the HEI and were less likely to participate in exercise; Hispanics scored higher on the HEI. The racial and ethnic differences in diet and BMI changed little after controlling for NHRPF. But when SES was controlled for, the black-Caucasian differences in HEI became smaller and the Caucasian-Hispanic differences became greater.

Our study shows several important findings that could help enhance the understanding of the complex

factors that affect disparities in diet, exercise, and obesity across ethnic and SES groups," the researchers said. Different from what we expected, few of the racial/ethnic differences in diet, exercise, and weight status were explained by health- and nutrition-related psychosocial factors. But SES explained a considerable portion of the disparities."