Racism is alive and well all over the world and finding new ways to affect its victims.
According to a new study, there are a lot of new reasons more and more people have been classified as obese and racism may be one of them, as scientists found that women who are more frequently victimized for their race are also more likely to suffer from having too much body fat as well.
According to DailyMail:
The study, by Slone Epidemiology Centre at Boston University, found the relationship between racism and obesity was strongest among women who reported consistently high experience of racism over a 12 year period. The research was based on the Black Women’s Health Study, which enrolled 59,000 African-American women in 1995 and has followed them since.
The site goes onto explain:
Scientists said that racism is a form of psychosocial stress that African Americans experience disproportionately. Data suggests that chronic exposure to stress can result in dysregulation of important neuroendocrine functions, (interactions between the nervous and endocrine systems) which can influence the accumulation of excess body fat.
Wow, we figured stress alone could do it to you but who knew that stress specifically connected to racism could have effects like this? To read the entire study, head over to DailyMail.
SOURCE: DailyMail | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
