I hope that most readers are aware that obesity in the U.S. is at frighteningly high levels. That is 24.6% of people in the U.S. were at least 30 lbs. overweight and 3% were morbidly obese (at least 100 lbs. overweight) in 2005. Not to mention that these numbers are actually deflated because people normally under-report their weight!!! Some of you may think: "I'm not fat, so I don't need to worry about it." But nothing could be farther from the truth. George Blackburn, associate director of nutrition at Harvard Medical School, calls the increase in the percent of severely obese people a catastrophe. "It is an emergency because the disability, the discrimination and the health care costs for this population are enormous."
Another interesting finding of this study was that it contradicted a long held theory of many professionals in the field that morbid obesity is overwhelmingly defined by one's genetic composition. According to this theory, the percentage of morbid obesity in the population would stay constant. This was not the case in this study of the general population finding that morbid obesity grew on practically the exact same pace as did groups who were overweight and/or obese.
2 comments:
Yes, you are right - I immediately think: I'm not fat so I don't need to worry about it. What do you propose I would do that would help this situation? Or what can you do?
~Sam
That's a good question that I really don't know the answer to. The only thing I can think of is to spread the word that the obesity epidemic costs everyone a lot of money! I don't know what we can do to help those who are obese or very overweight unless they are friends or family. Even if they are it is still incredibly hard to address the subject.
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