The benefits of exercise with regards to weight loss does not affect Black girls in the same way that it does their counterparts of other ethnicities, according to research published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Study investigators reviewed the exercise levels and caloric intakes of 1,148 12-year-olds. After two years, lower levels of obesity correlated with higher levels of exercise in white girls. Yet, surprisingly, the study results for Black girls didn’t pan out in the same way.
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Those adolescents that reported vigorous physical activity were nearly as likely to be obese two years later at age 14 as those who rarely exercised.
Study authors James White, Ph.D. and Russell Jago, Ph.D. summarized that Black girls have lower fat oxidation rates coupled with lower resting metabolic rates that predisposes them to retaining fat during puberty. Other contributing factors toward obesity in the higher risk group is a sedentary lifestyle (like television viewing) and the consumption of high calorie eats.
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“Our results suggest that prompting adolescent girls to be active may be important to preventing obesity but that using different approaches (e.g. emphasizing reductions in energy intake) may be necessary to prevent obesity in Black girls,” the authors wrote.
This latest research comes on the heels of a frightening trend of obesity among Black women: An overwhelming 78 percent of African-American women are overweight or obese, which is the highest in the country for all women, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, Black women are 35 percent more likely to die of heart disease.
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