Racial Disparities in Obesity: Role of Culture and Enviornment

描述（由申请人提供）： 与白色人相比，非裔美国人患2型糖尿病及其相关并发症的比率很高。这些差异的原因包括家族史，社会经济地位（SES），疾病控制和糖尿病护理质量的差异，仅举几例。2型糖尿病最大的危险因素之一是肥胖，非裔美国人和白人之间存在很大的差异，特别是在女性中。事实上，超过75%的20岁及以上的非洲裔美国女性超重或肥胖。鉴于令人震惊的统计数据，这种疾病负担的严重健康影响，以及联邦消除健康差距的任务，有必要确定这些差距背后的新的解释因素。因此，候选人提出了两项观察性研究来评估新的风险因素：1）对三代非洲裔美国人进行横断面家庭研究，以评估与营养和体重相关的保守文化因素; 2）一项前瞻性研究，嵌套在随机对照试验中，以评估环境影响（即总体水平的社会经济地位、食物供应、消费者购买）对体重和对减肥干预的反应。候选人是建立在一个强大的研究背景，并制定了进一步的培训和研究指导的全面计划。该计划包括通过课程进行正式培训，参加讲习班和研讨会，与其他机构的团体开展合作研究活动，以及与教师导师和顾问的多学科团队定期举行会议。通过这种额外的培训，候选人应该实现她的目标，成为一个独立的研究者，专注于糖尿病和肥胖症的病因和减少种族/民族差异，特别是与非洲裔美国人。(End摘要）

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): African Americans experience high rates of type 2 diabetes and its associated complications compared to their white counterparts. Reasons for these disparities include differences in family history, socio-economic status (SES), disease control, and quality of diabetes care just to name a few. One of the strongest risk factors for type 2 diabetes is obesity, and a substantial disparity exists between African Americans and whites, particularly among women. In fact, over 75% of African-American women aged 20 and above are overweight or obese. Given the alarming statistics, the serious health implications of this disease burden, and the federal mandate to eliminate health disparities, there is a need to identify novel explanatory factors underlying these disparities. Therefore, the candidate proposes two observational studies to evaluate novel risk factors: 1) A cross-sectional family study of three generations of African Americans to evaluate conserved cultural factors related to nutrition and body weight; and 2) A prospective study, nested within a randomized, controlled trial, to evaluate environmental influences (i.e. aggregate-level SES, food availability, consumer purchases) on body weight and response to a weight-loss intervention. The candidate is building on a strong research background and has developed a comprehensive plan for further training and research mentorship. The plan includes formal training through coursework, participation in workshops and seminars, collaborative research activities with groups at other institutions, and regular meetings with a multidisciplinary team of faculty mentors and advisors. With this additional training, the candidate should achieve her goal of becoming an independent investigator focused on the etiology and reduction of racial/ ethnic disparities in diabetes and obesity, particularly in relation to African Americans. (End of Abstract)