As it is now the holiday season, it is important for people to consider what and how much they are eating. While Asian American obesity rates are lower than the American average, a recently published study summarized here shows that obesity rates among subgroups of Asian Americans can very widely. Using standard BMI metrics, Filipino Americans have the highest incidence at 16.8% and Vietnamese Americans have the lowest incidence rate of 6.3% . Using the BMI scale modified for Asian Americans, Filipinos still have the highest incidence at 26.7% and Chinese Americans have the lowest at 13.2%. You can read the full study here (it is behind a paywall though)
Note that this study covers adult obesity, in contrast to previous studies on childhood obsesity in Asian Americans. Since Filipino Americans seem to come out on top in this study (or bottom, depending on your point of view), I would like to remind them of one post we did on how to eat healthy (or at least as healthy as possible) at Filipino parties.
(photo credit: Karolina Grabowska)
