Health professionals need to use more than tape measures and scales to define and tackle obesity, according to a paper in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
A research review carried out by Maryanne Davidson from Yale University, USA, has discovered that many women don't make the link between high weight and poor health and that culture plays a big role in how positively they see themselves.
She reviewed key papers published over a 10-year period to see how health professionals and Black and White American women define obesity and to identify differences in attitudes.
This revealed that while health professionals used quantitative methods, such as Body Mass Index measurements based on the height to weight ratio, women are more likely to base their ideal weight on cultural criteria.
"I'm glad to say that that situation is changing and there is a move towards standardised measurement of what is obese and what is overweight.
For example the International Obesity Task Force is helping to address the need for a global objective measurement based on BMI."
"It's also clearly a cultural issue, as rates range from below five per cent in China, Japan and some African nations to more than 75 per cent in urban Samoa.
"Recent data also suggests that 54 per cent of adult Americans are overweight and that women of all cultures are particularly affected.
Edited by Professor Alison Tierney, it is published 24 times a year by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part of the international Blackwell Publishing group.
Read more from this post.
