Colombian Migration and the Body Mass Index: The Relationship between Migration and Weight Gain among Colombian Migrants

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.