Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States, in recent decades, and there’s overwhelming evidence that obesity rates will continue to rise in the upcoming decades. New York City and all of the neighborhoods in it are no exception to this trend. The areas of Harlem and Washington Heights are actually some of the few neighborhoods that are mostly affected by this. On average, roughly 1 in 4 people in Harlem are obese and roughly 1 in 5 people in Washington Heights are also obese; both of these rates are higher than the New York City average. To understand how serious these rates are, it is best to take a look at the global rates of obesity and compare them to the United States and these neighborhoods as well.
Global Obesity Rates
As seen in this chart, the United States is the industrial nation that’s leading with its obesity rate of roughly 36% which translates to 1 in 3 Americans are obese. On top of this, the United States also his a high rate for being overweight. Combine these two statistics and you see that roughly every 2 in 3 Americans are considered to be overweight or obese. Now one may ask, “How long did it take for the United States to reach this position?” and to answer this, a look at the obesity rates from the previous decades is required. The following chart provides the obesity rates and percentage of the population that was overweight, through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Obesity rates started to increase during the 1960’s and it continued growing up to the current decade. Surprisingly, the percentage of overweight people stayed roughly the same throughout the years while the obesity rate continued to grow, without stopping. What this information demonstrates is a change in the American culture specifically with the diet of Americans, their work ethic and lifestyle. In the past decades, technology has advanced exponentially and there have been numerous products made providing conveniences for the general public. One particular aspect of technology which has seen significant growth is food technology. In the past couple of decades, there has been numerous artificial preservatives made and many methods of food preparation were developed in order to more efficiently prepare food for the general public. A consequence of this is the development of the fast food industry which also happened to gain prosperity as obesity rates went up. This is no mere coincidence. As more and more fast food restaurants opened, such as McDonald’s and Burger King, Americans began to rely on them for daily sustenance which is what allowed these fast food chains to grow. To this day, McDonald’s has thousands of restaurants around the world and they serve millions of people everyday. This is simply one fast food chain and when one adds up all of the other fast food chain’s customers, the impact of the fast food industry on the American diet becomes more apparent. The culmination of the past couple of decades of fast food industries’ efforts to expand have resulted in a complete cultural change. Now when one talks of the American diet, the first that will usually come to mind is fast food. It is now engrained into American culture and there’s essentially no means of removing it.
The problem with having fast food be so popular and accepted is that the food most of the chains serve are unhealthy, calorie dense and they lack the proper nutrients to nourish the human body. As a result of their popularity, their foods have contributed a significant amount to the obesity epidemic. This epidemic affects everyone, both nonimmigrants and immigrants in the United States and a prime example of this is seen in the Harlem and Washington Heights areas.
Before taking a closer look at the obesity rates of each of these areas and the consequences of them it is necessary to see the demographics of each of the areas, in order to further explore just how assimilation is affecting the immigrants in the area. Central Harlem, East Harlem and Washington Heights each have 19%, 21% and 51%, respectively, of their population being foreign born. Now the obesity rates for the same respective areas are 27%, 31%, and 21%. What can be concluded from this data is that a fair amount of immigrants are obese in these areas. The interesting bit is that in each of these areas, most of the immigrants come from Latin America, the Caribbean or Africa. However, when comparing obesity rates from America to countries in these areas, the obesity rate of the United States is much higher.
One must then ask, “how is it that people of the same origin are able to have such a huge difference in health?” The answer to this is environment. The work hours for individuals in different are countries are going to be different, along with the stress they are subjected to, and specifically the diet when it comes to comparing obesity rates. Those who live in the United States have easier access to these cheap, unhealthy foods from fast food chains and although convenient at times, it is slowly damaging the health of every person. Focusing more on the immigrants in these areas who are obese, they are obese partially due to the fact that they have this easy access to unhealthy food. When immigrating to the United States, these people have assimilated, to a certain degree, by adopting some of the diet of the average American as well as the work ethic and lifestyle. In the case for some of the immigrants, there are negative consequences for adopting the American lifestyle such as obesity and other health conditions related to obesity such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer.
The rather dangerous thing about obesity is that it is connected with so many other illnesses and health conditions. When a person is obese they are usually at a higher risk of getting all of the other health conditions and illnesses. This is the reality that many immigrants and residents in these neighborhoods face everyday and partially due to their assimilation into American society. The positive side of this is that many of these individuals can reverse the damage their body has undergone by simply eating healthier and being more active. Still it is important to recognize how culture and more specifically diet, can affect the health of many individuals.
Resources
http://geography.about.com/od/lists/qt/mcdonalds.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-302.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-303.pdf
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-04/mcdonalds-24-7
http://www.nyc.gov/html/ops/nycstim/downloads/pdf/e_harlem_spotlight_110919.pdf
http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS2011_Full.pdf
http://obesity.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004371
http://www.helpcurechildobesity.com/global-obesity.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2228rank.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
http://censusviewer.com/city/NY/Washington%20Heights
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http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/adult_obesity/international
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http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-301.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.htm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/dpho/dpho-harlem-obesity.pdf
https://icahn.mssm.edu/static_files/MSSM/Files/Research/Clinical%20Trials/East%20Harlem%20Statistics.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_adult_07_08/obesity_adult_07_08.htm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-301.pdf
