BLACKS HAVE LESS ‘BAD FAT’ THAN WHITES: But study shows blacks suffer more from obesity-related conditions. A new study shows that blacks tend to carry around less of a particularly unhealthy type of abdominal fat than whites, even though they suffer more from obesity-linked illness. The new finding, reported by Jennifer Thomas of HealthDay News, suggests that body-mass index (BMI) guidelines may need to be tailored to specific racial groups to better reflect risk. “The study clearly shows we have these racial differences in body fat, not just in the type of body fat but where the fat is stored, and these are important differences,” said study author Peter Katzmarzyk, a professor of population science at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. Adipose (fat) tissue is found throughout the body. Subcutaneous adipose tissue is found just under the skin, while visceral adipose tissue is found in the abdominal cavity around the organs. Fat settling around the organs has been linked to development of obesity-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, according to background information in the article. But you can’t tell just by looking at someone how much visceral fat someone has. Even a pot belly won’t tell you for sure because visceral fat is deep within the body cavity, Katzmarzyk said.

In the study, researchers used computer tomography (CT scans) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to measure visceral fat in about 1,400 white men and women and 570 black men and women aged 18 to 84. Participants’ height, weight, BMI and total body fat composition were also measured. At a given body fat percentage, black men and women had lower visceral fat than white men and women. Conversely, blacks also tended to have higher subcutaneous fat than whites. Researchers controlled for age and smoking status, among other variables. Despite the tendency to have less visceral fat, black Americans are still at higher risk of dying from obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. One explanation for this is that blacks have higher obesity rates overall, Katzmarzyk said.

About 31 percent of white adults and 45 percent of black adults are obese, according to the study. “It’s a paradox,” Katzmarzyk said. “The fact that white individuals have more visceral adipose tissue and also have lower rates of obesity-related disease is probably because African-Americans have higher rates of obesity overall.” The findings also bring up the issue of whether the “one-size-fits-all” BMI guidelines apply equally to all races, Katzmarzyk said. The study appears in the January issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.