Summary:
African Americans are more prone to obesity than white Americans due to the presence of inherited genetic factors that causes lower metabolism rate leading to obesity.
From a normal view, the famous cartoon character Fat Albert could be seen as an amusing person giving out great social messages with some moral fiber attached. From the point of science, people would question the reason behind the portrayal of Fat Albert as an African American instead of a Caucasian. This is a realization from our daily lives that most African Americans rather than whites constitute the obesity population. We cannot deny the fact that United States has the world's largest obesity population but cannot equally blame every racial group for this problem. Various researches and experiments have supported the view that African Americans are more obese than Caucasians. Lower metabolism rate is a major cause of obesity as it hinders the process of complete usage of energy intake which can lead to energy (fat) accumulation in the body. Most African Americans have various exclusive genetic characteristics which lower the metabolism rate in the body and causes obesity. African Americans are more prone to obesity than white Americans due to the presence of inherited genetic factors that causes lower metabolism rate leading to obesity.
General conception is that people get fat due to eating fat containing food. Although the concept is true, it does not provide accurate reasons to explain the big difference in obesity rates between African Americans and other races. Both African Americans and others have the same food available to them, so the obesity rate should be approximately similar. Unfortunately, this is not the case. According to a research done by the National Centre for Health Statistics seventy percent of African Americans are overweight while fifty percent are obese, which is considerably higher than any other American race (AOA). The reason behind African Americans being more prone to obesity than most races, especially Caucasians is not due to food but to the presence of various selective genetic characteristics that lead to lower metabolism rate. Due to genetic features, African Americans are more obese and are thus more inclined towards fat-related diseases. So they should be given more importance and precautions towards obesity and related medicines.
Quite a few researches and experiments have been done to provide support to the theory that genetic characteristics are responsible for African Americans being more obese than other races. According to a research done by the Medical University of South Carolina, Human Uncoupling Protein 3 or simply UCP3 is one such gene that causes obesity as it has the capacity to fluctuate energy balance (Argyropoulos et. al. 1998). A UCP3 has 6 different exons present in them. An exon illustrates the different types of acid structures present in a UCP, which contributes to the overall characteristic of the UCP. When the study was completed, out of the 6 exons, only exon3 and exon6 were found to be exclusively present in African Americans. A remarkable discovery from the experiment was that there were no traces of these two exons in the Caucasian UCP (Argyropoulos et. al. 1998). As compared to other exons, the acid structures of exon3 and exon6 have only fifty percent capacity to oxidize fat. As the acids are unable to oxidize to their capacity, they do not completely burn the fat intake, thus causing lower metabolism rate. Due to the resulting low metabolism, the unburned fat accumulates in the body leading to higher obesity. As both exon3 and exon6 are absent in Caucasians and present in African Americans, it causes African Americans obesity rate to be higher than that of the Caucasians. Thus, a genetic factor UCP3 is responsible for African Americans being more obese than other races.
Fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP2) and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) are additional types of genes that are liable for making African Americans more obese than others. In a genetic report submitted by Doctor Hsein Lei and his associates, both the FABP2 and IRS-1 genes are proven to be present in the African American chromosome (Lei et. al. 1999). Both these genes are shown to have close links with the Body Mass Index (BMI) and metabolism rate of a person. Body Mass Index is numerical measurement of the body mass of a person, taking both weight and height into account. The BMI is inversely proportional to the metabolism rate. If the BMI is high it leads to lowering of metabolism rate that causes obesity. In the scientific world, a BMI measurement of more than 25 kg/m2 is considered to be overweight. The report explains that if both the genes are absent in the body, then the person would have a BMI of a normal weighted person, but if both FABP2 and IRS-1 are independently present in the body, then the BMI increases by 0.85 kg/m2 (Lei et. al. 1999). The surprising aspect of the research is that if both the genes were to be jointly present in the body then the BMI increases by 3.33 kg/m2 approximately. Regardless of the genes being present independently or jointly, the consequences are clear that the overall BMI of the body would increase. As both the genes are present in the African American body (independently or jointly), they are prone to be more obese. Thus, yet again a genetic feature is responsible for explaining the huge difference in the obesity rates between African Americans and other races.
Another type of a gene that is responsible for obesity in African Americans is pro-opiumelanocortin (POMC). According to a study done by Dr. Rotimi and associates, chromosome 2 of the African American body has POMC genes present in them (Rotimi et. al. 1999). These POMC genes have shown to establish strong linkages with level of leptins. Leptins are plasma proteins found in the body which are highly correlated with fatness. The fat cells are responsible for producing the leptins which in turn are responsible for controlling the metabolism rate and appetite. If the amount of leptins present in the body is higher than the normal point, it illustrates that more fat cells are present in the body that are responsible for producing the extra leptin which results in lower metabolism rate and higher obesity. The extra leptin present in the body also results in bigger amount of POMC genes in the chromosome 2 region. The POMC gene is considered a "strong positional candidate gene for obesity" as it produces number of hormones such as melanocyte-stimulating hormone and andrenocorticotropic hormone which are alleged to be involved in causing obesity (Rotimi et. al. 1999). Evidently, the presence of leptins, fat cells and POMC genes are interrelated and play a part decreasing the metabolism rate and causing obesity. As these genetic substances are present in the chromosome 2 of the African American body, they are more inclined to be obese than other races.
We cannot scientifically change the genetic characteristics of African Americans to make them less obese for the very same reasons why we cannot continue human cloning. Although the scientists could solve some obesity related problems by altering the genes, it would give rise to ethical issues. Nevertheless, one cannot argue against the fact that obesity is related to various life threatening diseases. Unfortunately, due to exclusive genes such as POMC, UCP3 exons, FABP2 and IRS-1 present in the African American body, they are inclined to be have higher obesity rate, thus being in more danger than others. As African Americans have a higher tendency to be more obese and obtain fat related diseases due to their inherited genes, it has become a matter of urgency that they should be given special precautions and medicines against obesity and diseases related to it.
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