Researchers have been studying the relationship between body mass index and socioeconomic status[1] for years, agreeing, for the most part, that women in areas with fewer economic resources have higher BMIs than women in more affluent communities.


But a new study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion, shows that higher education, rather than income, may actually be the thing that protects women in disadvantaged neighborhoods in the battle of the bulge.


Take a look at why researchers say education trumps income in the fight against obesity, and more notes on the black health chart this week.



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  • More Education, Not Income, Fights Obesity


    Gathering data from more than 4,000 women, ages 18 to 45, living in low-income neighborhoods, researchers from Deakin University in Victoria, Australia examined <a href="http://www.ajhpcontents.com/doi/abs/10.4278/ajhp.120316-QUAN-143" target="_blank">the role of education and income on BMI</a>.

    Looking specifically at subjects who are at what they call an "amplified disadvantage," meaning they have a disadvantage in <em>both</em> education and income, the team determined that one bore a greater impact on the development of obesity.

    "It has often been suggested that obesity happens because low-income people cannot afford high-quality food. Yet this study's results suggest an alternative narrative: that it is education, and not income, that constrains people's ability to eat healthfully," said Frederick J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., of the study.

    A person's education level, on the other hand, may be associated with greater access to health information and the capacity to understand and use health information, the study authors noted.

    Zimmerman, who is the Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, added, however, that "because only low-income women were studied, it isn't clear to what extent the results would apply to higher-income women, to men or to non-Australians."




  • Higher Alzheimer's Risk In Blacks Linked To Gene


    A new gene mutation has been identified that nearly doubles African Americans' risk for getting Alzheimer's disease, according to a large, government-funded report released this week.

    A mutation in the gene ABCA7, which is involved in producing cholesterol and lipids, has led researchers to believe that there could be multiple causes of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia.

    "The first thing this tells us is there are probably many different ways to get Alzheimer's," study author, Richard Mayeux, chair of the department of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, <a href="http://www.digtriad.com/(X(1)A(SlTUQo8OzQEkAAAAMDE0MDdiN2UtNDBlMC00ZjQwLTkxMWEtMmYwNDRiNDRkMWE2jqBWVN2S1ECjhPUK4T-4xLsbIiI1))/news/health/article/279343/8/Gene-Linked-To-Higher-Alzhemiers-Risk-In-Blacks" target="_blank">told USA Today</a>. "It might be like some forms of cancer where the type of cancer you have dictates the type of treatment you receive."

    Treatments that lower cholesterol and lipids may potentially be an effective way to reduce or delay Alzheimer's in patients with the gene variant, Mayeux added.




  • Regular Colonoscopy Screening Could Prevent 40% Of Colorectal Cancers


    Among 88,902 study participants followed over a period of 22 years, researchers found that 1,815 developed colorectal cancer. But <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1301969?query=featured_home" target="_blank">40 percent of those cancers could have been prevented</a> if all of the patients in the study had received colonoscopy, the study authors concluded, naming promixal colorectal cancer -- a subtype of the disease, which develops in the first part of the colon that physicians can see only via colonoscopy. "Proximal colorectal cancers are associated with worse survival odds," said Kenneth K. Wang, MD, FASGE, president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. "Colonoscopy allows gastroenterologists to not only visualize this hard-to-reach area of the body, but to remove pre-cancerous polyps, preventing a deadly disease." According to researchers, promixal colorectal cancer is more common in African Americans than whites.




  • Milk Myths May Be Overshadowing Its Benefits


    A University of California Berkeley Wellness newsletter reignited conversation this week over milk's benefits and African Americans' tendency to avoid it and other dairy products. According to Constance Brown-Riggs, registered dietitian and national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, there is an emerging body of evidence linking dairy products to a reduced risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity and Type 2 diabetes -- diseases that affect African-Americans at disproportionate rates. Read more of Brown-Riggs milk myth-busters <a href="http://thegrio.com/2013/09/18/got-milk-maybe-not-if-youre-african-american/" target="_blank">here</a>.