Authors' response to 'The Association of religiosity with overweight/obese body mass index among Asian Indian Immigrants in California'

摘要

We thank Drs. Khanna, Shukla, and Meghani for their commendation and comments on our study. To address their first comment, alcohol intake was not measured in CAITS (McCarthy et al., 2005). In a 2004 review (Bhopal et al., 2004), local studies in the United Kingdom found that persons who identified as Sikh or Hindu had similar rates of alcohol intake and both were significantly higher than rates observed in Muslims (Cochrane and Bal, 1990; Williams et al., 1993). National studies in the UK also found that Indians had a higher prevalence of alcohol intake than Pakistanis or Bangladeshis (Bhopal et al., 2004); religious affiliation was not specified, but the majority of Indians in the UK are Hindu and almost all Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are Muslim. However, the South Asian populations in the United Kingdom and the United States may not be comparable in terms of socioeconomic status and other demographics. We also recognize that while there is no specific ban on alcohol use in Hinduism and wine may be consumed in Hindu tantric traditions as part of a sacrament, Hinduism generally frowns on the use of intoxicants and heavy drinking, and in fact, there are certain Hindu sects or practices that do require alcohol abstention (Dhaliwal, 2010; Fowler, 1997; Goetz, 1990).