Mexican-American women are at particularly high risk for obesity. Recent NHANES data showed that over 75% of Mexican-American women over the age of 40 were overweight or obese, and nearly 53% were obese. In spite of the high prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors in this population, Mexican- American women have received relatively little attention in weight-loss intervention programs. Likewise, the few clinical trials specifically targeting this population have shown disappointing results. Culture plays an important role in the epidemiology of obesity, and it has become increasingly clear that treatments must incorporate a cultural perspective to effectively treat obesity in ethnic minority populations. This study specifically targets Mexican-American women and will develop a culturally appropriate weight-loss intervention program based on the DASH dietary pattern and the WLM weight-loss intervention, and will test the feasibility of this intervention. This intervention is modeled after the WLM intervention, a comprehensive, multicomponent, behavioral intervention program shown to be successful in previous trials. The WLM intervention will be modified by a well-defined series of cultural adjustments in order to address the specific needs of Mexican-American women. These cultural adjustments were developed from a series of focus groups on the topic of weight and weight-loss conducted with Mexican-American women, as well as through the collaborative work of a bicultural multidisciplinary research team. The specific goals of the intervention are to help participants lose 7% of baseline body weight during an initial 6-month intervention and then maintain the weight loss for the subsequent 6 months. Experience gained from this study will be an important step toward developing similar weight-loss interventions targeting other Hispanic subethnicities.
While Mexican-American women are especially susceptible to obesity, we have little information on how to stop this epidemic. This study will address the cultural roots of obesity to help Mexican- American women lose weight and keep it off.
| Lindberg, Nangel M; Stevens, Victor J; Vega-López, Sonia et al. (2012) A weight-loss intervention program designed for Mexican-American women: cultural adaptations and results. J Immigr Minor Health 14:1030-9 |
