[nverno]

But if the underlying causal factor is obesity, then it is meaningless to say various races were impacted more heavily - in fact, it is worse than meaningless cause it implies they are causal factors.

[brabel]

It is not meaningless, nor misleading. It's a reality. They ARE affected more heavily. All you're saying is that the reason they're affected more heavily is not really race. But that does not change the fact they are affected more at all.

Imagine if you tried to say it's misleading to say black people are targetted by the police, because in reality it's criminals who are targetted. Can you see the problem?