THE SOURCE: “Immigration and the American Obesity Epidemic” by Lingxin Hao and Julie J. H. Kim, in International Migration Review, Summer 2009.
Excerpt:
The average immigrant is slimmer than the average native-born American and stays that way for some 10 years after coming to the United States.
The typical native-born American male, 5’8″ tall, weighs 187 pounds. This makes him officially seriously overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A man of that height should weigh 170 pounds, at most. His immigrant counterpart weighs, on average, 175 pounds. An immigrant women of average stature (5’4″) is also about 12 pounds lighter than a corresponding native-born woman. Roughly 30 percent of Americans are obese, which is defined as weighing more than 205 pounds for men of typical height, and 180 for similar women. One’s body mass index, the formal measurement of healthy weight, tends to increase until age 60, then level off.
Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Autumn2009)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Health & Medicine, Immigration, International
