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  • Obesity

    They use the BMI which is somewhat inaccurate as a means of measuring body composition, yet the results display a massive cultural problem in america!

    http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world...er_fatter.html


    Americans getting ever fatterIn most states, a new report says, 1 in 5 is obese. But little is being done about it.By John Sullivan
    Inquirer Staff Writer

    Years after public-health authorities declared an obesity epidemic, Americans are not only getting fatter, but they are actually getting fatter faster. And most people aren't doing much about it.

    In 47 of the 50 states, at least one person in five was obese last year, and the percentage is rising, according to a study released yesterday by Trust for America's Health, a national nonprofit that advocates for health-risk prevention programs.

    In 1991, the group said, the scorecard was virtually the reverse: One person in five was obese in just four states.

    The findings come as Philadelphia and other cities are seeking to ban trans fats in restaurants, schools are yanking syrupy soft drinks from hallways, and television shows are pushing contestants to shed pounds.

    Yet too many Americans are treating obesity like an inconvenience instead of a public-health epidemic, said James S. Marks, a physician and vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in New Brunswick, N.J., which helped finance the study.

    "We're not sending a wake-up call," Marks said. "We're ringing the warning bell."

    Many states with the highest obesity rates are in the South, and many have high poverty rates. Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama were the highest of 19 states where at least one person in four was obese. Colorado and Massachusetts were the leanest.

    Thirty-one states showed higher obesity rates last year vs. the year before, while no state lowered its rate.

    Pennsylvania was in the middle of the pack, with the 23d-highest rate of obesity - 24.5 percent. That rate was unchanged from the previous year, but the state improved from 19th because more people got fatter elsewhere.

    New Jersey was 40th in 2006 - 22.2 percent - a ranking unchanged for three years as obesity rose from 20.1 percent in 2004 to 21.4 percent in 2005.

    Fat-related risks for children are calculated differently, but the epidemic is considered at least as serious as for adults.

    The new report ranked Pennsylvania's overweight rate for children 29th and New Jersey's 26th. Highest was Washington, D.C.; lowest was Utah.

    The more scientists study obesity, the more they find it contributes to or worsens a range of health problems. A 2005 study in the New England Journal of Medicine predicted it would shave up to five years off future gains in life spans.

    "It's one of those issues where everyone believes there's an epidemic, but it's not getting the political attention it ought to," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health.

    "We need a plan in proportion to the scope and depth of the problem," he said.

    Obesity rates have soared over a generation, with about two-thirds of American adults now considered overweight or obese. Rates of children at risk have tripled in 20 years.

    The new report relies on survey data from phone interviews by state health departments. Adults were asked their weight and height - the factors used to calculate the Body Mass Index. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight; 30 and above is obese.

    "When self-reporting, people tend to overestimate their height and underestimate their weight," said Lisa Hark, director of the Nutrition Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "It's probably worse than it says it is."

    "We've done a lot to raise awareness, and that's a good start," Hark said. "But we are just in the very early stages of making progress."

  • #2
    Duh - shaq's big challenge told us that.
    A Gold's Gym puppet - and proud of it.

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