I'm certainly not dismissing the suggestions made by this research--they could very well be true--but has perception of ideal body type been considered? In popular culture, it seems to be that thin white women are glamorized while "curvy" black women are given more attention. This is plain to see if one observes men's magazines targeted at those demographics. It's plausible that women of both races have similar perceptions of how far from the "ideal" they feel they can allow themselves to go while still remaining attractive/healthy. The implication of this is that one group would be more likely to be carry some "extra" weight, while the other becomes overweight. For example, let's say both groups think that a 20% size increase over their racial "ideal" is ok. Let's also say (and this is completely arbitrary) that a 5'5" "ideal" body would weigh 120lbs for a white woman and 150lbs for a black woman. This means that, respectively, these women perceive that 144lbs, and 180lbs are acceptable. Obviously, one of these numbers is closer to healthy weight than the other. I know this isn't scientific--it's just a complementary theory that sprung to mind--but it seems to make at least some sense, logically.