The San Joaquin Valley’s Latino population is experiencing obesity rates that significantly exceed non-Latinos among both adults and children – a disparity that carries with it broader health implications for a demographic that represents more than half of the region’s population.

Officials with the California Health Care Foundation issued a report in September that points out a wide range of data insights into Latino health, and bemoaned the myriad challenges faced by the state’s Latinos compared to the rest of the population.

Those challenges not only include significant disparities in a number of physical health conditions including diabetes, but also greater reliance among Latinos upon Med-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program for low-income residents; a shortage of Latino health care providers; and more restrictive federal policies that they say disproportionately affect the Latino community.

“Latinos in California are being targeted, harassed and intimidated by federal agents and federal policies,” said Sandra R. Hernandez, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation. “The collection of data, the reporting of data, and efforts at achieving progress are systematically being attacked in California and across the country.”

(Note: The California Health Care Foundation is a contributor to the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust, which underwrites the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative’s Health Care Reporting Fellowship.)

Across the Valley, obesity rates among Latino adults are an average of 10.5 percentage points higher than for non-Latinos, according to a new Latino Health Almanac published by the California Health Care Foundation. The disparity is even greater, at an average of more than 14 percentage points, between Latino and white children at the fifth-grade level.

Dr. Alicia Fernandez, one of the almanac’s authors and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, pointed out a link between higher rates of obesity and diabetes among Latino adults and children. Both, she said, are related to diet, particularly for foreign-born Latino immigrants.

“The obesity epidemic is driving the increase in diabetes,” Fernandez said. “Obesity increases among the foreign-born Latinos partly because of the change in diet that occurs with immigration, and in some areas people become much more sedentary.”

She added that Latino children have higher rates of soda consumption than non-Latino groups. 

“Not surprisingly, perhaps, they also have much higher rates, twice the rate of childhood obesity for both children and young people,” she said.

In the San Joaquin Valley, obesity rates from the foundation’s almanac and accompanying data dashboard include:

  • Fresno County: 41.3% obesity among Latino adults, compared to 39.3% of non-Latino adults, a difference of 2 percentage points. Among fifth-grade children, 51.9% obesity among Latino children, compared to 33.7% of white children, a difference of 18.2 percentage points.
  • Kern County: 46.9% obesity among Latino adults, compared to 39.4% for non-Latinos, a difference of 7.5 percentage points; 49.2% obesity among Latino children, compared to 33.7% of white children, a difference of 15.5 percentage points.
  • Kings County: 50.4% obesity among Latino adults, 41.1% among non-Latinos, a difference of 9.3 percentage points; 48.8% obesity among Latino children, compared to 31% of white children, a difference of 17.8 percentage points.
  • Madera County: 37.6% obesity among Latino adults, 26.6% among non-Latinos, a difference of 14 percentage points; 47% obesity among Latino children, compared to 33% of white children, a difference of 14 percentage points.
  • Merced County: 47.5% obesity among Latino adults, 29% among non-Latinos, a difference of 18.5 percentage points; 50.9% obesity among Latino children, compared to 42.6% of white children, a difference of 8.3 percentage points.
  • San Joaquin County: 45.5% obesity among Latino adults, 24.5% among non-Latinos, a difference of 21 percentage points; 50.2% obesity among Latino children, compared to 35.6% of white children, a difference of 14.6 percentage points.
  • Stanislaus County: 49.8% obesity among Latino adults, 44.2% among non-Latinos, a difference of 5.6 percentage points; 48.7% obesity among Latino children compared to 35.6% among white children, a difference of 13.1 percentage points.
  • Tulare County: 43% obesity among Latino adults, 34% among non-Latinos, a difference of 9 percentage points; 48.7% obesity among Latino children, compared to 37.7% of white children, a difference of 11 percentage points.

“Compared with children at a healthy weight, children with obesity are at higher risk for a range of health problems, including asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes; they also are more likely to become obese as adults,” according to an analysis by KidsData.org, a program of the private, nonprofit Population Reference Bureau. “In addition, childhood obesity is linked to social and emotional difficulties, such as anxiety, depression, stigmatization, bullying, and low self-esteem.”

Arturo Bustamante, a professor of health policy and management and research director for the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, also noted the link between obesity and diabetes in the Latino community.

“Latinos, in spite of being the plurality of the state’s population, also keep experiencing very wide gaps, particularly … very specific areas such as diabetes outcomes, youth obesity, dental and preventive care, access to a usual source of care, and also underrepresentation in the health workforce,” Bustamante said. 

For adults, other health risks associated with obesity include heart disease, stroke, fatty liver disease, some forms of cancer, osteoarthritis, gout, kidney disease, and pregnancy and fertility problems, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Mortality data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control identifying the 15 leading causes of death across the San Joaquin Valley from 2018 through 2024 indicates that ailments associated with obesity – heart disease, diabetes, stroke, kidney disease and high blood pressure – accounted for more than 21,300 deaths among Latinos, and more than 151,000 Latino deaths statewide.

Fernandez said lack of access to health insurance and rising costs for care impose additional burdens on Latinos. “We know that even small co-pays are an issue for many Latinos,” she said. “We also think that cultural and language factors in the health system (are) at play.”

“For example, our research has found that Latinos with diabetes, cared for by Latino physicians, have better diabetes control,” she said. “Indeed, Latinos who switch to a Spanish-speaking doctor have better control at one year than those who switch to a doctor that does not speak Spanish.”

Statewide, Latino physicians accounted for only 12.2 active primary care doctors per 100,000 population in 2023, while there are 93.1 non-Latino doctors per 100,000 population, according to the Latino Health Almanac. The proportion of Latino doctors is well below the 40% of the overall statewide population that is of Latino heritage.

In the San Joaquin Valley, where the Latino population share exceeds 50%, the representation of Latino physicians is even smaller, at 8.4 per 100,000 population compared to 90.1 non-Latino doctors per 100,000 population.


Tim Sheehan is a senior reporter and Health Reporting Fellow with the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. The CVJC fellowship is supported by a grant from the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust. Contact Sheehan at tim@cvlocaljournalism.org.