Please write about a quote of the paragrap. Latinas

As the fastest-growing minority population in the U.S., Latinas have been increasingly included in studies of disordered eating. Like African-American women, Latina women were thought to bear cultural immunities to eating disorders because they have a preference for a larger body size, place less emphasis on physical appearance, and generally pride themselves on a stable family structure.

Studies are now challenging this belief. Research suggests that white and Latina women have similar attitudes about dieting and weight control. Further, prevalence studies of eating disorders indicate similar rates for white and Latina girls and women, particularly when considering bulimia and BED. As with African-Americans, it appears that eating disorders among Latinas may be related to acculturation. Thus, as Latina women attempt to conform to the majority culture, their values change to incorporate an emphasis on thinness, which places them at higher risk for bingeing, purging, and overly restrictive dieting.

Consider Gabriella. She is a young Mexican woman whose parents moved to the U.S. when she was just a child. While her mother and father continue to speak Spanish at home and place a high value on maintaining their Mexican traditions, Gabriella wants nothing more than to fit in with her friends at school. She chooses to speak only English, looks to mainstream fashion magazines to guide her clothing and make-up choices, and wants desperately to have a fashion-model figure. In an attempt to lose weight, Gabriella has made a vow to herself to eat only one meal a daydinnerbut on her return home from school, she is rarely able to endure her hunger until dinnertime. She often loses control and ends up "eating whatever I can get my hands on." Frantic to keep her problem hidden from her family, she races to the store to replace all the food she has eaten.

Disordered eating behavior among minority women often goes unnoticed until it reaches dangerous levels.

Gabriella says that although she has heard her "Anglo" friends talk about eating problems, she has never heard of anything like this in the Latina community. Like Patricia, she feels isolated. "Yeah, sure, I want to fit in with mainstream America," she says, "but I hate what this bingeing is doing to my life."

Despite an apparent rise in such problems among Latina women, it is difficult to assess the status of eating disorders among them for three reasons. First, little research has been conducted on this group. Second, the few studies that have been done are somewhat flawed. Many studies, for example, have based their conclusions on very small groups of women or on groups comprised only of clinic patients. Finally, most studies have neglected to consider the role that factors like acculturation or country of origin (e.g., Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba) might have on the prevalence, type, or severity of eating disorders.