Health Concerns
Obesity and related metabolic disorders

Obesity
The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older—over 60 million people—are obese.

Obesity is of great concern because it can lead to other dangerous and costly health problems—like diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

FOR HER, is actively interested in projects designed to understand the causes of obesity and innovative methods to help reduce obesity in women and children through improving health habits in a culturally-appropriate, evidence-based fashion.

According to the Health Industry Council of Dallas/Fort Worth Region, nearly two-thirds of North Texans are either overweight or obese.

The percentage of North Texans who maintain a healthy weight dropped 19 percent between 1999 and 2002 while the percentage of obese North Texans climbed 39 percent between 1999 and 2002.

Ethnicity plays a role in obesity. Obesity rates in African-American women and Mexican-American women are higher than in the white women (37.4 percent and 34.2 percent vs. 22.4 percent respectively with ethnic differences recognized as early as 6-9 years of age. (NHANES data)