Childhood Obesity Among Asian American Subgroups

By Jeff | Wednesday, December 5, 2012 | 2 Comments

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obesitystats Childhood Obesity Among Asian American Subgroups Asian American children are commonly thought to have a lower risk of childhood obesity, but a study published in the journal Childhood Obesity reveals that once data is disaggregated, there are wide variations between Asian subgroups. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study for four year olds, the study concludes Asian Indians have the lowest rate of being obese or overweight (15.6%) while Vietnamese had the highest rate (34.7%). These are still lower than the white rate for children being obese or overweight of 36%. Asian American children with mothers born overseas are said to have a lower rate, which suggests that as Asian Americans adapt the American diet, they are more likely to be overweight. Children whose parents have higher education levels also are said to have a lower rate of being overweight.

While I am happy to see disaggregated data in this study, a concern about some of the conclusions, admitted by the authors of the study, is that the sample size was relatively small. This makes the 95% confidence interval for some of the conclusions very wide (consider the overweight and obesity interval for Vietnamese children ranges between 20.55 and 52.25). Looking at Number Two Son’s school, which is 70% Asian, mostly Filipino and Vietnamese, the results of the study seem counter to what I observed after years of coaching teams and sports clinics (I’d say there are more overweight Filipino kids).

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

The Obesity problem really is the diet and sedentary lifestyles.
Kids these days are eating way too much refined foods (from snacks to fast food) and sugar drinks. Lower or cut them out completely (if possible) and you might be able to solve half the problem.
The other half is they’re not moving or playing enough. Exercise more and it might help with the weight issues. At the very least, it’s beneficial to them internally and mentally.

With Asian kids, our traditional diets, (excluding the fusion, tea shop snacks and bakeries, put those things aside for the moment), our traditional diets are actually pretty hefty with sodium, fats and carbs. However, those traditional foods were meant for people who labor a lot of move around more. In a way, they are healthier than the modern American diet but mainly because there’s more fruits and vegetables involved.
Edwin

good points-would like to see breakdowns between first, second, third, etc. generations of Asian American kids.

One would expect that longer a family is here in American the longer they assimilate into the “obese” American culture

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