TITLE:
Colombian Migration and the Body Mass Index: The Relationship between Migration and Weight Gain among Colombian Migrants
AUTHORS:
Michael B. Aguilera
KEYWORDS:
Body Mass Index, Migration, Colombia, Acculturation
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.14 No.11,
November
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: The Latin American Migration Project-Colombia is used to study the Body Mass Index (BMI) of Colombian migrants to
determine whether their BMI score increased the longer they were abroad. The
study contributes to the literature on BMI by studying Colombian migrants, an
understudied migrant group. Duration of trip is used as a measure of
acculturation. The study also evaluates the claim that trip duration is a
measure of acculturation using data specific
to migrants, which shows that trip duration is an adequate proxy measure
of acculturation. The study includes current migrants, returned migrants and
non-migrants. The study accounts for the selectivity of migration by comparing
migrants to non-migrants, as some studies highlight the health selectivity of migration. The study uses
multinomial regression to test whether the probability of being
overweight and/or obese is associated with spending more time abroad. Consistent with studies conducted within the receiving
countries, the study finds that increased duration of trip is positively and
significantly associated with the probability of being overweight and obese.
Furthermore, the study also shows that among return migrants there is a
negative relationship between time they had remained in Colombia and
probability of being obese. The findings show that migrants put on weight while
abroad and lose that weight the longer they remain in Colombia. The findings
show that place has an indelible impact on health through migrant’s weight.