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Article: Black women at major risk for obesity-related diseases.(Izindaba)
- Article from:
- South African Medical Journal
- Article date:
- July 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 South African Medical Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Health care planners in South Africa will have to 'think hard and fairly quickly' about what levers they can use to shift widespread perceptions among obese black women that they are underweight.
With powerful anecdotal evidence that obesity is becoming even more prized because it signals HIV negativity plus wealth, influence and power, this false belief had 'all sorts of troubling implications' for a rapid increase in weight-related diseases.
The warning was sounded by Martin Wittenberg, an associate professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Cape Town, whose research shows that an increase in weight has different implications for ...