s diet and less cultural preoccupation with thinness, but experts have wondered for years if biological factors are at work. In an article entitled “Black women face tougher weight-loss battle,” the authors report on research at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center which indicates that black women may have a fundamental biological difference in their ability to shed extra pounds. The authors said, “Overweight black women who say it's hard to lose weight could be battling more than weak will power. They may face a biological disadvantage when it comes to dropping excess pounds. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center have found that, at rest, overweight African-American women burn fewer calories than their overweight white counterparts. And statistics bear this out: Almost half of black women are overweight, compared to 33 percent of white women. The resting metabolic rate of black women is nearly 100 calories per day less than that of whites” (Williams & Ashton, n. pag.).
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