Diet and physical activity patterns of urban American Indian women

Obesity is an epidemic among American Indians, particularly among women in this population. The Strong Heart Study found that 73% of American Indian w omen from 45 to 74 years of age in Arizona, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas were overweight.(1) This rate is considerably higher than the third National Hea lth and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) all-races rate of 28% ove rweight for same-age females.(2) To plan effective weight reduction and weight gain prevention programs, an understanding of the dietary practices and physical activity patterns that may contribute to obesity is needed. To date, there has been relatively lit tle research on these health behaviors among American Indian women. In part icular, few studies have evaluated these behaviors for American Indians res iding in an urban setting, despite the fact that over one-half (66.6%) of t he American Indian population reside in urban areas.(3) Although data are a vailable regarding the dietary practices and physical activity patterns of Caucasian, African American, and lo iv-income urban women, the applicabilit y of these data to American Indian women residing in urban areas is unknown . It is plausible that these health behaviors differ for this population du e to cultural factors. To provide data specific to American Indian women residing in an urban sett ing, we conducted a survey to assess the dietary practices and physical act ivity patterns of American Indian women residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Along with assessing these health behaviors, perceived barriers to diet be havior and physical activity change were examined.