The figures are frightening. Obesity is responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and many adult Americans are in danger of suffering from diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, and cancer because of this. Additionally, obese individuals are 10 to 50 percent more likely to die from the above diseases.
This was revealed by the US Surgeon General and the Weight Control Information Network of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases that called obesity an “alarming trend” that needs to be addressed.
The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) said about one-third or over 68 million American adults aged 20 and older are overweight while another one-third or over 64 million are obese. Overweight is defined as an excess of body weight that may come from muscle, bone, fat or water while obesity refers to an abnormally high proportion of body fat.
“In 1962, research statistics showed that the percentage of obesity in America’s population was at 13 percent. By 1980, it rose to 15 percent. By 1994, it was 23 percent and by the year 2000, the obesity progression in America had reached an unprecedented 31 percent,” according to American Sports Data (ASD) Inc.
In its report, the ASD said that 3.8 million Americans carry over 300 pounds with the average adult woman weighing 163 pounds! The ASD added that over 400,000 people (mostly men) are over 400 pounds!
Of the 64 million obese adults, over 34 million are women and over 30 million are men. These people are at risk for various diseases including osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and other breathing problems as well as cancers of the uterus, breast, kidney, and gallbladder. Obesity is also associated with complications in pregnancy, menstrual irregularities, psychological disorders like depression, and increased mortality.
“While direct prevalence information is not available, a recent study found that individuals with a body mass index (BMI) over 40 had death rates from cancer that were 52 percent higher for men and 62 percent higher for women than rates for their normal-weight counterparts. Overweight and obesity could account for 14 percent of cancer deaths among men and 20 percent among women in the United States. In both men and women, higher BMI is associated with higher death rates from cancers of the esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney. The same trend applies to cancers of the stomach and prostate in men and cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, and ovaries in women. In one study (the Nurses’ Health Study), women gaining more than 20 pounds from age 18 to midlife doubled their risk of breast cancer, compared to those whose weight remained stable,” revealed the Weight Control Information Network.
The total cost of overweight and obesity is staggering. It amounts to over $117 billion while the cost of lost productivity due to these problems is almost $4 billion with $239 million in restricted – activity days, $89.5 million in bed days, $62.7 million in physician office visits, and $39.3 million in workdays lost.
“As the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased in the United States, so have related health care costs – both direct and indirect. Direct health care costs refer to preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services such as physician visits, medications, and hospital and nursing home care. Indirect costs are the value of wages lost by people unable to work because of illness or disability, as well as the value of future earnings lost by premature death,” explained the Weight Control Information Network.
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