Studies have shown that fat patterning is an important risk factor for diabetes and possibly cardiovascular diseases. The Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health in 1985 concluded that diabetes and cardiovascular diseases were among the six causes of death that contribute most to the disparity in death rates between Blacks and whites, yet the relationship of fat patterning with these diseases was largely unstudied in Blacks. Since there are known racial differences in growth rates, body proportions, and adiposity, it cannot be assumed that studies done on whites are applicable to Blacks.