Study Shows That Africans, Caribbean Immigrants Are Healthier Than African-Americans

An African-American, born and raised in Philadelphia and had only been in the States for a month, said one thing he didn’t enjoy about returning home was the weight gain. So far, he had gained 15 pounds.

According to him, he thinks part of the reason for his weight gain is because the food over there is horrible.

“A new study from the city’s Health Department examining health discrepancies among black New Yorkers found that Caribbean and African immigrants tend to have fewer health problems like asthma and obesity than American-born blacks.

American-born blacks are also more apt to smoke and drink than blacks who are originally from other countries, the study says.

Some 53% of American blacks labeled themselves as drinkers, compared with 44% of Caribbeans and 34% of Africans.
No black group drinks as much as white New Yorkers, 70% of whom reported being drinkers, the study found.”

The health distinction between Diaspora and native Africans does not stop there. As the article notes, African-Americans have a greater percentages of obesity, asthma and high-blood pressure than our West Indian and African counterparts.

In fact, the only illness category in which all Blacks rated the same was diabetes (between 13 and 14 percent).

Although this particular health department study doesn’t spell out other factors that might contribute to the health gap (outside of smoking and drinking), its findings underscores previous research, which contrasts the health benefits between African-Americans and traditional South African diets.

In that study, which was published in April of 2015, colon cancer researchers at the University of Pittsburgh switched the diets of 20 African-Americans and 20 South Africans in a two week period span.

“In this time, the Africans consumed traditional American food — meat and cheese high in fat content — while African Americans took on a traditional African diet — high in fiber and low in fat, with plenty of vegetables, beans, and cornmeal, with little meat.
After the exchange, researchers performed colonoscopies on both groups and found that those in the African diet group increased the production of butyrate, a fatty acid proven to protect against colon cancer. Members of the American diet group, on the other hand, developed changes in their gut that scientists say precede the development of cancerous cells.”

Hmm! what do you think?