DALLAS — African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to use diet and exercise to lose weight than to seek counseling from a dietitian or try prescription medications, according to a poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Medical Association.
Among individuals who had attempted to lose weight, about 69% of African American adults and 61% of Hispanic adults said they had tried exercise. And eating healthier as a weight loss method was reported by 59% of African Americans and 51% of Hispanics.
But fewer reported seeking counseling from a dietitian, with 12% of African Americans and 8% of Hispanics citing that approach as a weight loss method. Only about 8% of individuals in both groups had ever used prescription medications for weight loss.
The study, conducted by investigators at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare of Pittsburgh and consultants affiliated with the company, included 604 African Americans and 600 Hispanics who were surveyed by telephone about their weight loss strategies. All of the participants were overweight or had been overweight.
A significantly greater proportion of African American respondents were overweight or obese, compared with the Hispanics surveyed. Of the 604 African Americans who participated, 31% were overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9 kg/m