Normally, BMI and Weight Scale have been the standard measurements and points of identification for individuals with obesity-related health risks. The utility for BMI in the identification of people with individuals’ higher risks of mortality has been evidenced by associations with measures of the incidence of chronic disease and premature mortality. It is important to note that the BMI scale is not suitable for determining obesity in diverse populations. For instance, it cannot be the standard measure in African American women. This is because the standards of BMI were created based on population samples that had been obtained from Caucasians and calculated using weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Besides ethnicity, the genetic composition of Caucasians differs from that of African American women.
The findings from the study indicate BMI thresholds for identifications of cardiometabolic risk factors of those involved. From the findings, doctors can communicate to female patients that they should not rely on the scale to determine whether they are at risk or not. For instance, the recommended threshold is 88cm. Yet the results were 92 cm and 97 cm for white and African women respectively. Therefore in guiding women on weight loss and prevention of obesity-related diseases such as obesity, clinicians should not advise them to rely on the IBM measurements. With recent studies seeking to determine the appropriateness of BMI scale in determining obesity for African women coming under scrutiny, there has risen a need for use of alternatives. These include percent body fat (PBF) and percent body water (PBW) (Clark, Taylor Wu & Smith, 2013)
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One of the negative implications of these findings is physicians may lack confidence in the likelihood of their patients changing and adapting a healthy lifestyle. This could be interpreted as a promotion of racism in a society where African Americans have been discriminated and marginalized in several issues. A positive implication of the findings is that women will be aware of a method that is appropriate for determining whether they are at risk of obesity or not. In addition, they will engage in physical activities. Physicians suggest that exercise combined with a healthy diet can reduce the risks of heart diseases as well as that of Obesity. This will put them in a position to get early treatment and avoid to deal with complications such as cardiac among other obesity-related diseases.
Body image is a multidimensional perception that includes behavioral, perceptual and the feedback from society about one’s appearance. The extent to which society accepts or rejects an individual is a strong determinant of the kind of nutritional habits and weight loss strategies among different people in society. Since these findings indicate that the BMI scale is not appropriate for African American women, they can create a perception that people of African descent in the U.S. are actually more obese and are at great risk than we think. Another implication is that low perception of the threat obesity poses to health and particularly overweight African women can be a challenge to not only control obesity but also get people to lose weight.
Accurate perception of one’s weight status is crucial for the right weight control behaviors. Self-body perceptions reveal that an individual is aware of their body weight status in relation to their ideal weight. The mechanism linking accurate self-perception to weight control is that the former acts as a starting point to manage one’s weight. Also attempts to lose weight among obese people are not likely to work unless they have the correct self-body perceptions. People that have incorrect or rather misperceived body images are more likely to engage in unhealthy weight management practices. For instance, if a person has self-perception to be thin yet they are not, and they intend to add weight, they could turn to unhealthy eating which would sequentially put them at risk of obesity and related diseases.
The social and cultural factors that put African American women at the risk of being obese are income, education, housing, economy, religion views on health and wellness and varying beliefs regarding food and diet (Katzmarzyk et al. 2011). Majority of African American women are in abject poverty and cannot access and afford medical care. Others have beliefs that the body is self-healing and
Media coverage has greatly influenced body image and eating behaviors. This has greatly impacted on the health industry globally. In addition, it has promoted healthy eating among girls and women. It does so by promoting healthy food choices such as advertising the kind of foods that are healthy for children. They discourage girls from consuming foods that have high contents of sugar, sodium, and fat. In addition, the media promotes commercials that major on healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables (Park et al. 2019). These ads and campaigns have positive impacts on how to change choices of foods and habits by educating and making girls and children aware.
The implications of health care policy due to the findings of the study are numerous. One of the numbers of obesity cases in the United States is on the rise. Sequentially the costs have increased and this has become a burden to the economy of the United States. Obesity is being considered as the next epidemiological challenge that doctors have to deal with. Annual allocations of health care costs have exceeded billions of dollars. Many policies are seeking to find ways of eliminating fatty acids and high levels of sodium and sugar from foods consumed by citizens of the U.S. Another implication is that with the rising costs of health, women and children that re affected are unlikely to afford the expenses of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
References
Clark, A. E., Taylor, J. Y., Wu, C. Y., & Smith, J. A. (2013). Alternative methods for measuring obesity in African American women. The Yale journal of biology and medicine , 86 (1), 29.
Katzmarzyk, P. T., Bray, G. A., Greenway, F. L., Johnson, W. D., Newton Jr, R. L., Ravussin, E., ... & Bouchard, C. (2011). Ethnic ‐ specific BMI and waist circumference thresholds. Obesity , 19 (6), 1272-1278.
Park, B., Cho, H. N., Choi, E., Seo, D. H., Kim, N. S., Park, E., ... & Rhee, Y. (2019). Weight control behaviors according to body weight status and accuracy of weight perceptions among Korean women: a nationwide population-based survey. Scientific Reports , 9 (1), 9127.
