The longer an immigrant lives in the United States, the more likely that person is to be obese, according to a study in the December 15 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. population has become more obese, but little information has been available about the prevalence of obesity among immigrants, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, currently comprising more than 11 percent of the total U.S. population.

While immigrants generally originate from countries where the prevalence of obesity is lower than that of the United States, adopting U.S. norms appears over time to lead to an increasing prevalence of obesity among this population, Northwestern University researchers found.

Using data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey, the researchers found that the prevalence of obesity was 8 percent among immigrants living in the United States for less than 1 year, but 19 percent among those living in the United States for more than 15 years.

The higher obesity rate after more than 15 years was true for most immigrant subgroups, including whites, Latinos and Asians, but not for foreign-born blacks.

Other sources: Journal of the American Medical Association