Ask Dr. Marie
I hope you find this Question & Answer section helpful, and that you share it with your friends. Feel free to forward, post, or reprint it.
I hope you find this Question & Answer section helpful, and that you share it with your friends. Feel free to forward, post, or reprint it.
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Q. I have just bought your book and, though I would love to believe in the body shape theory, how is it that the majority of African American women are pear shaped and our top killers are heart disease and cancer? I assume we are pear shaped, because many of us bottom heavy. I am just in the beginning of the book, but that has been on my mind.
A. Thank you so much for writing to me. it is true that there are major ethnic differences in body shape or waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) although the research is really just beginning to understand the differences and why they are. For example, Asian and Pacific Islanders have a much higher amount of visceral or dangerous belly fat and therefore a higher WHR. They also have a very high risk of type 2 diabetes from the visceral fat. On the other hand, African American women have a lower WHR than Caucasian women. Women of Irish and English descent have higher WHR too in some geographic locations.
So why do African American women with low WHR still have high cardiovascular disease? Although no one knows for sure there are probably many reasons. First of all high blood pressure is more dangerous for some ethnic groups and men generally. But what is certain from more and more research world wide - in men AND in women too - the greater your waist size and WHR - the greater your health risks. Apple-shaped people have higher health risks regardless of ethnic background. So if you take two women of the same ethnic background, the woman with the higher WHR will have the higher health risks regardless. There are many references in the book that may be of help in your research and interest in this topic. Researchers are also trying to understand the differences - and asking whether the WHR criteria for good health should have different ethnic criteria. We think for Asian women, a waist size of only 31 inches may be dangerous, whereas for Caucasian women we say a waist size of 35 inches is the danger point.
IF your waist size is small - you can be assured you have a low risk overall but body shape is a good way to alert people to their risks - it should never take the place of knowing your blood pressure, cholesterol etc. which are also important to keep track of.
