Exercise Controls Weight in White Girls Better Than in Black Girls: Study

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Please people, stop with the diet questions. I've never purchased a quarter pounder and whenever I do get up the nerve to go there to buy food, I oftentimes get a happy meal (portion control). Soul food is NOT a mainstay in my house. There may be something to the study. That's not to excuse poor eating habits or lack of exercise. The study is just saying that during exercise, the black girls didn't burn as much. Don't read anything else into this and please don't generalize an entire race. I cook everything in my house from baked alaska to berry salad to spaghetti to fish tacos....I cook with olive oil and my kids aren't even allowed to have soda. But it's evident that my straight A, socially active in Soccer and Water Polo daughter has trouble keeping her weight under control. Her thighs are thick and she hates them. I hope something positive comes of this but please again, read and don't generalize the race and please don't assume that all black folk are just eating poorly. If that were the case, the boys would be fat too!

Yvette Jones of CA 6:23PM June 11, 2012

Its very simple, actually. Its all in the diet. Black eating habits are notoriously laden with starches, fats, sugar and salts, more so than just about any other diet in society. Whatever calories one can burn in two hours of straight anaerobic exercise can be consumed in one 10 minute sitting. So diet is actually the ultimate barometer of fitness and weight maintenance, even over and above exercise.

Ray of FL 8:53AM June 11, 2012

Most likely the exercise/movement by both was outdoors and the girls with light skins got a lot more vitamin D than the dark skinned girls.

Fact1: vitamin D allows weight reduction.

- http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=710

Fact2: Light skin gets at least 3X more vitamin D per minute than dark.

-http://www.vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=1064

1+2 = more exercise with light skin ==> lose weight more than if dark skin

Henry Lahore of WA 11:43PM June 07, 2012

I'm a black girl. When I go to the gym and eat healthy, I lose weight and my body looks great. When I don't go to the gym and eat junk food, I gain weight and my body looks like shiatzu. Skin color has no affect on weight management. Stop trying to create a little gate for your little sponsors to try and sell us their crap. These lies that people tell -_-

Rachel of VA 9:27PM June 07, 2012

This study is flawed, along with the limited approach of the researchers. They grouped a mixed number of young women from various economic and social backgrounds and then made conclusions about black vs. white and exercise.

So if I got 12 inner city girls from the jump rope team and 12 suburban young ladies from New Providence, NJ, who do you think is going to have better moves on that jump rope line? And who is going to kick butt on the soccer field?

I could have saved whoever paid for this research.

Less calories, more activity = you will lose weight.

Note: If the black girls had to exercise to Brittany Spears or Katey's music, that might also explain a lot. And all black girls are not in the ghetto, in unsafe neighborhoods or obese. The article, in a young girl's words, sucks.

I am a mother of three adult children. The music I exercise to is classic Motown, R&B, classic salsa and maybe one or two hip hop songs on my Ipod (I admi it, I like Beyonce's music). If I went to a gym where hip hop or rap was only played, I would leave, no exercise that day, with a horrible headache.

When Celia Cruz is played, everybody in my group gets up. That is why Zumba is so successful.

RosaMimosa of NY 3:33PM June 07, 2012

This is the most ridiculous article. Next thing I will read (again) is that blacks are not as bouyant in water than whites and that white man can not jump.

Did the researchers feed all those in the study same exact food? And what kind of exercise was involved?

When I visited family in a rural area, I lost 12 pounds in two weeks. First, I had to walk absolutely everwhere. We also went swimming daily. There were no fast food restaurants anywhere. Fresh fruits and/or veggies in abundance were the main course at every meal. Snacks, sweets, pastries and sugary drinks were unheard of.

RosaMimosa of NY 3:24PM June 07, 2012

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