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Scientists Spot Difference in Belly Fat of Black and White
Obese Women
Scientists have come up with a new clue about why loss weight
loss may be particularly hard for obese black women.
The clue lies in the belly fat of the 14 extremely obese black
women studied by Hisham Barakat, PhD, and colleagues. Barakat
works in the medicine department of East Carolina University
in Greenville, N.C.
Past studies have shown that "obese African-American
women lose less weight and at a slower rate than Caucasian
women do across a variety of treatments including conservative
interventions, very low calorie intake, and surgery,"
Barakat's team writes in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology
& Metabolism. Of course, those findings are generalizations,
not an iron-clad rule.
Age and education level don't seem to totally account for
that weight loss gap, the researchers note. So Barakat and
colleagues looked at another possible influence.
The researchers studied 14 white women and 14 black women.
All of the women were very obese, with a body mass index (BMI)
body mass index (BMI) of more than 40. A BMI of 30 or more
is considered obese.
The women in Barakat's study had come to East Carolina University's
surgery department for gastric bypass surgery. With the women's
permission, doctors took fat samples from the women during
surgery.
Some of that fat came from just below the women's skin. Other
fat came from deep inside the abdominal region.
The scientists were especially interested in certain cellular
receptors in the women's fat tissue. Those receptors act as
docks for a chemical called adenosine and curb fat breakdown.
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