Obesity rates poised to rise among Black Canadians

Canada is facing an obesity epidemic. According to the 2005 Community Health Survey [2], Canadian children, youth and adults are heavier now than at any other time in our history. An estimated 26 per cent of Canadian children and adolescents aged two to 17 are overweight, eight per cent of whom are considered obese: body weight is composed of more than 25 per cent fat in males and more than 32 per cent fat in females. Fifty-nine per cent of Canadian adults are considered overweight of whom 23 per cent are considered obese.

What's causing this epidemic? Experts cite well-known risk factors such as a poor diet and a lack of structured and unstructured exercise. These risk factors affect all Canadians equally: if you eat too much and exercise too little, you will gain weight. Simple.

Recently, however, experts are beginning to explore the not-so-simple or straightforward connection between income level, neighbourhood location and weight. These factors do not affect all Canadians equally and accumulatively these risk factors are very bad news for Black Canadians.

A 2005 Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH) study [3] notes, “Neighbourhood characteristics directly influence the odds of being overweight.” The study examined the relationship between the weight of five to 17 year-old children and the neighbourhoods in which they live. The study found the following:

• Children who live in neighbourhoods with higher unemployment rates, lower average family incomes or fewer neighbours with post-secondary education are at a greater risk of being overweight or obese.
• The percentage of overweight children varied from 24 per cent in areas with high socio-economic status to 35 per cent in areas with low socio-economic status.
• Fewer children in low socio-economic neighbourhoods tended to participate in structured and unstructured physical activity.

Put simply, in Toronto, if you live in Regent Park you are more likely to be overweight than if you live in Richmond Hill. In Halifax, if you live in Spryfield, you are more likely to be overweight than if you live in Clayton Park. In Montreal, if you live in Little Burgundy you are more likely to be overweight than if you live in Westmount. Finally, in Vancouver, if you live in Strathcona you are more likely to be overweight than if you live in Southlands.

The findings of the CJPH study, in combination with studies from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives [4] paint a very ominous picture for Black Canadians. We know Black Canadian two-parent families earn on average $13,000 less annually than the average Canadian family; we know Black Canadians are disproportionately located in urban neighbourhoods like Regent Park, Spryfield, Little Burgundy and Strathcona; we know a disproportionate number of Black Canadian families are female-headed lone-parent families who comprise the largest percentage of families living below the poverty line; and we know the low-income rate of recent immigrants from Africa have more than doubled since 1980.

Accumulatively, these reports suggest Black Canadians will experience higher incidences of excess weight and all the physical, emotional, social and economic effects that accompany the condition.

Although ominous, these studies paint a very useful picture. If as a community and a country we can wake up to all the potential costs of excess weight we may be able to implement effective strategies to head off this potential crisis in the Black Canadian communities before it reaches the epidemic proportions experienced by many African-American communities.

The problem has reached such dire proportions for African-Americans that one U.S. city has put itself on a diet. “Beginning June 3 [2006], we will embark on a 12-month journey with the objective to get African Americans in the Chicago area to lose one million pounds,” says Roland Martin [5] in a recent article. Roland notes after watching himself and others in his community get fatter and fatter he was inspired to do something. “Far too many of our people are dying at an early age,” he writes. With initiatives like citywide workout days, health seminars and free cooking classes, the Black community of Chicago is addressing the problem of excess weight head-on.

Nationally this problem has not gone unnoticed. In 2005, the U.S. government allocated $1.2-million in grants to directly address the issue of obesity among African-Americans.

Is Canada heading down this road? It would appear that way. Canada's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [6] (NHANES) indicates that although Americans have a higher percentage of overweight and obese children and adults, both countries are steadily getting heavier. Therefore, right now we may not be as heavy as Americans, but in a number of years, we will be.

This needs to be a wake-up call to quickly and decisively head off the problems of excess weight within the Black Canadian community. Canada's plan to address the issue of weight is contained in the Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy [7]. The strategy has three targets: health eating, physical activity and healthy weight. 2015 is the year the strategy has set to achieve its aims of increasing by 20 per cent the proportion of Canadians who make healthy food choices; increasing by 20 per cent the proportion of Canadians who participate in regular physical activity; and reducing by 20 per cent the proportion of Canadians considered obese.

The strategy, however, makes no direct statements regarding addressing the weight problem in any ethnic community except the Aboriginal Canadian community. This is shortsighted. Not directly addressing the potential health impacts of weight in Canada's ethnic communities will not only have real human costs, but also a sizable economic cost for Canada.

The Black community must send out an SOS now to draw attention to this emerging situation. The risk factors that contribute to an overweight and obese population are disproportionately prevalent in our community. Research not only suggests we will eventually be as heavy as African-Americans, but research clearly outlines what will happen once we get there.

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