Obesity Among Samoans Attracts International Attention

A local doctor agrees with the findings of a survey by a US physician who has been studying the weight of Samoans for decades, Dr. Stephen McGarvey of Brown University.

He has published widely on the high rate of obesity among Samoans, and most recently pennes articles in a leading medical journal in the United Kingdom, Lancet, on the findings of his studies.Dr. McGarvey has documented that as Samoans in both Samoa and American Samoa move from a traditional diet to imported fatty foods for convenience, and living a life style with little physical movement, the rate of people with diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases have increased.

He’s also highlighted that whereas in the early 50’s and 60’s there was a huge gap between the average weight of a person in American Samoa and that of a person in Samoa.

However more recent studies have shown that gap narrowing.

We asked Dr. Fred Urhle, who heads the VA Clinic, and often appears on public education programs on TV and radio concerning NCDs if he supports the findings of the Brown University studies on obesity among Samoans.

Dr. Urhle says Dr. MacGarvey has researched the topic widely and he supports the findings of his comparative studies on this topic.

The VA doctor says one only has to look at TV pictures of American Samoans in the old days on Channel 2 (KVZK-TV) to see the difference in the size of the people then and now.

The Samoans of yesteryears were much leaner.

Dr. Urhle says in order to reverse the trend, we need to return to a traditional diet and eat less imported food.

He also advocates a strong public education program to get people to change their eating habits while increasing physical activity.
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