Black and Hispanic Americans at higher risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity: Time to fix our broken food system

Differences in rates of comorbidities – health conditions that increase the risks following infection – are also a significant contributor to racial inequalities. Here we break down CDC data for three health conditions known to increase the risk associated with COVID – hypertension, obesity, and diabetes – by race and gender. All three are strongly related to diet and nutrition, and highlight the need for reform of the U.S. food system.

The prevalence of each condition varies significantly across racial groups, and between men and women in complex ways; the gender gaps differ by race and the race gaps differ by gender. The differences across groups are, in many cases, quite large. Black women, for example, are twice as likely to be severely obese (with a Body Mass Index of at least 40), at a rate of 16%, as almost every other group. Hispanic men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as white women. Men have much higher rates of uncontrolled hypertension than women of the same race: except among Black Americans, where hypertension prevalence is for both men and women.