Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Editorial

Obesity and Sexual Abuse in American Indians and Alaska Natives

¹Department of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

²Obesity Solutions, Mayo Clinic Arizona and Arizona State University, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Corresponding Author:

James A Levine
Department of Endocrinology
Mayo Clinic Arizona and Arizona State University
13400-East Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ-85259, USA
Tel: 480-301-4524
E-mail: levine.james@mayo.edu

Received Date: August 26, 2016; Accepted Date: August 27, 2016; Published Date: August 29, 2016

Citation: Levine AJ, McCrady-Spitzer SK, Bighorse W (2016) Obesity and Sexual Abuse in American Indians and Alaska Natives. J Obes Weight Loss Ther 6:e119. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000e119

Copyright: © 2016 Levine AJ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Mainstream American culture frequently minimizes the prevalence and significance of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, this denial of extensive victimization of women is also present in many underserved populations. In June 2007, Amnesty International released its report on sexual abuse in indigenous women, which states that, “One in three Native American or Alaska Native women will be raped at some point in their lives. Most do not seek justice because they know they will be met with inaction or indifference.” This report highlighted an infrequently discussed issue namely, very high levels of sexual abuse in Native American and Alaska Native women. The relationship between sexual abuse and obesity has been delineated in several studies; overall about one quarter to one half of women with high levels of obesity has been sexually abused and it has been postulated that weight-gain serves as an adaptive response for many survivors of sexual abuse. It is also well known in Native American and Alaskan Native women that there is a high prevalence of obesity (about 40% greater than the population average) and that this obesity is associated with a many-fold greater risk of diabetes and increased risks of hypertension, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The link between the concomitantly high rates of sexual abuse and obesity in this population may or may not be partial causality but the issue is nonetheless important. If approaches are to succeed in reversing the trend of increasing levels of obesity in Native American and Alaskan Native women, the high prevalence of sexual abuse will need to be specifically and comprehensively addressed.

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