Pre-acculturation as a risk factor for obesity: Findings from the Health of Philippine Emigrants Study (HoPES).

ABSTRACT: Immigrants to the United States may have an advantage in terms of healthier weight, but tend to gain excessive weight after arrival, and may suffer from obesity and related health conditions. Acculturation theory suggests that this increase in obesity risk is due to adoption of unhealthy western dietary behaviors, and assumes that "eastern/traditional" dietary behaviors prior to migration are healthier. While this assumption is supported by studies conducted several decades ago, the phenomenon of globalization that has risen since the 1990s has increased exposure to western ideas and behaviors in communities worldwide. Hence, today's immigrants are more likely to have already adopted less healthy behaviors that increase obesity risk prior to their arrival in the U.S., a phenomenon we term

SUBMITTER: Gee GC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6831884 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature