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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #74: Immigration to the United States and obesity

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The longer immigrants stay in the United States, the more likely they are to become obese. That’s the conclusion of several studies, which typically show that immigrants from Asia and Latin America arrive in the United States in better health, and with a lower weight, than the rest of U.S. population, but the difference disappears over time. A 2019 study showed that among immigrants from China, the likelihood of having a lower obesity rate than white Americans disappeared by the third generation. Among other Asian immigrant groups, the lower obesity was gone by the second generation. According to the study’s authors, “All the evidence suggests an increased risk of being obese among immigrants due to lifestyle changes closer to the U.S. born population with increasing generation, i.e., indicating that acculturation to U.S. lifestyles contributes to their heightened obesity risk.” Or, as a University of Texas professor told the New York Times, “There’s something about life in the United States that is not conducive to good health across generations.” The article pointed to studies showing that foreign-born Hispanics in the United States live about three years longer than their American-born counterparts.