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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2927 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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There was discussion here in the culture war thread on the position of black women in the US mating market. There was also a different discussion yesterday on interracial marriages.

One aspect of all of this that seems rather important or at least non-trivial to me is that there seems to be a marked difference between the obesity rates of black men and women, which seems to be something peculiar to blacks. Can anyone offer an explanation?

There have been some attempts to investigate this further academically. This study found that the difference is minimal among those with high parental education, but extreme among those with the lowest parental education (16% of men, 45% of women). Initially I thought it might be due to family formation differences, but the divergence exists beyond the US. In South Africa, the richest major African country, 2/3 of women but only 1/3 of men are obese. Strongly indicative of a genetic explanation, especially since we know some populations like Pacific Islanders are already genetically more prone to obesity.

Thanks. It makes sense. 16% of men, 45% of women is indeed rather extreme.

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