Posts Tagged ‘racial bias’

It’s nothing new. Overwhelmingly and for a long time it has been true that obesity care is mainly available to the few and the wealthy. This is the inevitable result of multiple forms of bias that collide in the chronic disease of obesity. Healthcare has a bias for serving the the wealthy. Health systems also […]

Obesity is growing more prevalent for all. But at the same time, racial and ethnic disparities are growing wider. In the U.S., 42 percent of adults have obesity. For Black women, that number is 57 percent. Despite this high prevalence and wide disparity, though, medical education board exams skip right over obesity and disparities. The […]

Impressive presentations at ObesityWeek exposed a thread that knits together obesity and COVID-19. But the thread we see is not inflammation – though inflammation is certainly important. Rather, it is disparate outcomes in health and obesity. These outcomes are not by chance. They are by design. In fact, a careful design of social systems ensured […]

Humans can rationalize anything. But that doesn’t make it rational. And sooner or later, reality intrudes to lay bare the irrationality of some systems that humans construct. What else should we call the deeply embedded racial and ethnic disparities in systems of healthcare around the world? They are simply irrational. By synergistically destroying the health […]

So…this happened. The Journal of Internal Medicine published an open-source article on race and obesity. In doing so, the journal paired it with an infographic incorporating a racial stereotype, apparently lifted from a movie. Furthermore, the imagery depicted a diet of honey, soda, and cupcakes. Our primary conclusion is that the journal has published an […]

Disparities are everywhere you look in healthcare. But they’re especially glaring if you take a moment to look at effects, healthcare, and policies related to obesity. Speaking at the Harvard Blackburn Obesity Course in Boston yesterday, Fatima Cody Stanford explained: Excess weight in racial and ethnic minorities is not just a cultural phenomenon. Research points […]