“…Obesity has long been recognized as an independent risk factor for CVD (Hubert, Feinleib, McNamara, & Castelli, 1983). However, information on the relationships between measures of obesity and abdominal obesity with a cluster of metabolic disorders including type 2diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (high triglyceride levels and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels) has largely been obtained from studies involving Caucasian or populations of European descent (Denke, Sempos, & Grundy, 1993;Denke, Sempos, & Grundy, 1994;Després et al, 1990;Huxley, Mendis, Zheleznyakov, Reddy, & Chan, 2010;Seidell et al, 1991). A more limited number of studies have been conducted in diverse race/ethnic groups with most studies focusing on Blacks and Hispanics and few on subgroups within these race groups (Brown et al, 2000;Cannon, 2007;Dalton et al, 2003;Fisher-Hoch et al, 2010;.…”