Lightening the Burden

In the District's Latino Community, Some Are Learning Healthier New Habits to Fight Overweight and Obesity. But Challenges Remain

Last year, 12-year-old Alejandra Rojas acknowledged that she was a little too chubby, or gordita , as her Spanish-speaking mother, Gabriela, would say. At 5-4 and 145 pounds, she was overweight, her pediatrician told her, and at risk of becoming obese.

In their Adams Morgan apartment, Alejandra and her mother slathered their breakfast bagels with butter or cream cheese. The girl's lunch was usually a Hot Pockets sandwich, followed by chips and cookies.

At dinnertime, Gabriela Rojas, 48, a single mother from El Salvador, cooked mostly pork and red meat and piled their plates with fried yucca, fried plantains and rice. When Gabriela, who is not overweight, was too tired to cook after a long day cleaning houses, she bought her daughter burgers and fries at McDonald's or fried chicken at Popeye's.

"I ate whatever I liked, but I was always hungry," said Alejandra. She also had little energy during gym class. She and her mother have no car but they rarely walked, preferring to take the bus. They hardly ever exercised, Gabriela said, because they did not think it was important.

The Rojases' experience is common in the U.S. Hispanic population of 41.3 million, where excess weight is a problem. According to the 2005 National Health Interview Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least one of every four Hispanic adults living in the United States is obese, which is defined as having a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or more.

Among the major population categories, only non-Hispanic black women, a group in which at least every one of three is obese, have markedly worse figures. But in some sub-groups, notably Mexican-Americans, the problem is worse than in the Latino population as a whole -- and growing, particularly in children.

Obesity is leading to health problems, according to a 2003 American Medical Association study, which found that Hispanic children under age 10 have about a 50 percent lifetime risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Overweight and obesity also increase risk for other illness, including heart disease, stroke, and certain forms of cancer.

A study released in September by the District's Council of Latino Agencies assessed the health of Washington's Hispanic community (population 47,258, according to the 2000 Census). The study -- which involved 800 Latino adults, 99 percent of whom were recent immigrants -- found that 61 percent were overweight or obese. Community activists now are struggling to change habits that may contribute to this problem, starting with women like Gabriela Rojas.

"We realize that this is an emergency for us," said Eugenio Arene, executive director of the Latino council. "Mothers are the key informant of our culture and customs, and we tell them, 'You have a big responsibility in front of you. We are getting overweight, and we have to do something about it.' "

Placing Blame

National and local health experts offer several theories why overweight and obesity plague such a large portion of the U.S. Latino population.

Madeline Wilks, a primary care physician at La Clinica del Pueblo in the Columbia Heights, which serves a largely Latino clientele of more than 5,500 patients a year, thinks some of the answer lies in cultural norms.

"Being a little gordita is almost seen as a positive," she said. "When people are at an appropriate BMI, they are almost seen as being too skinny."