From BET: Is Childhood Abuse Linked to Obesity in Black Women?

http://www.bet.com/news/health/2012/07/06/is-childhood-abuse-linked-to-obesity-in-black-women.html

Is Childhood Abuse Linked to Obesity in Black Women?

Researchers believe that using food to cope with past trauma is another way that childhood abuse is linked to adult obesity.

By Kellee Terrell

Posted: 07/06/2012 10:26 AM

"Sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy eating, lack of access to healthier foods and poverty have been factors in African-American women having the highest obesity rates in the country, but a recent study believes that past childhood abuse may also be to blame.

Researchers from Boston University found that higher levels of physical or sexual abuse may be linked to obesity in adult African-American women. Now, this connection isn't specific to African-American women,past studies have found that abuse has been linked to obesity in women from other races and ethnicities. This particular study is the first large scale study on Black women."