Is the obesity epidemic overstated?

[cgallery]

You can't watch the news or read a newspaper w/o something on the rampant obesity epidemic. This articles says the obesity rate in the U.S. has doubled in the last 25 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20071023/hl_hsn/overweightnowaglobalproblem

Here is an article that says approx. 1 in 4 of us are obese:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071022/hl_nm/obesity_worldwide_dc

I don't know if I can buy it. The definition of obesity (by BMI) is fairly narrow. I know that when I've pointed out healthy looking people are actually significantly overweight to obese by BMI standards, I've gotten reactions from blank stares to guffaws.

[MilDoc]

Healthy looking does not necessarily mean healthy. Obesity and a large BMI translate into serious health problems in the future, from diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, joint problems, etc.

I've been a pediatrician over 30 years. The number of grossly obese children and teens has not been exaggerated. There are far more just plain fat kids today then I've ever seen 20-30 years ago.

Most people think they understand calories, exercise, etc. They don't. When I ask what a "serving size" is most way overestimate it. And of course Johnny can't be overweight - he rides his bike an hour a day (yeah, slow and leisurely - that won't even burn the calories in a small serving of McNuggets).

This isn't just an American problem, although we are in the lead. Other countries are rapidly catching up. I expect if the trend isn't reversed, health care costs will be far, far higher in the future, and life expectancy will begin to drop.

[cgallery]

This isn't just an American problem, although we are in the lead. Other countries are rapidly catching up. I expect if the trend isn't reversed, health care costs will be far, far higher in the future, and life expectancy will begin to drop.

Gotta love the American spirit of leadership.

I guess I just don't see it around where I live or I'm just not paying attention (either of which is equally likely).

I do take exception with the BMI charts. A 6'2" man is classified as overweight starting at 195#, and obese starting at 234#. I think they are over-simplified, not taking into account build or age.

But I do notice that when I go places like Disney World the # of what appear to be morbidly obese adults seems to be on the rise.

[JR]

My business frequently takes me overseas. The difference between Americans and most Europeans is extraordinary (Germans and especially Brits tend to be fatter than others in W. Europe).

At first you might not notice, when travelling in foreign lands, that they are so much thinner. It takes exactly one minute after getting off the plane in the US to see it, though. We are gigantic.

JR

[Ed62]

I don't think it's overstated. 25 years ago, you didn't see many school age kids who were even "hefty". Today, "hefty" would probably be thought of as "fat" was 25 years ago.

Girls seem to be more overweight than boys. Probably because they aren't into physical activities as much as boys.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I blame fast foods, video games, and working "Moms" for the problem. How many women actually cook good, healthy meals as the norm?

Ed

[jziegler]

My business frequently takes me overseas. The difference between Americans and most Europeans is extraordinary (Germans and especially Brits tend to be fatter than others in W. Europe).

At first you might not notice, when travelling in foreign lands, that they are so much thinner. It takes exactly one minute after getting off the plane in the US to see it, though. We are gigantic.

JR

I've been overseas twice in the last year (once to Europe and once to China) and I have to agree with this. Far more overweight people in the US. I think that part of it is our over dependence on cars as opposed to many other places, combined with the "supersized" servings that we all expect. In other countries, daily life is more likely to involve walking than it is here.

Compared to my overseas flights, the domestic flights that I took in August were a real wake-up call. The worst was coming back on an early saturday morning flight from Chicago to Philly (after the redeye from San Jose). I have NEVER seen so many overweight people in one place before as on that plane. And I was stuck sitting next to someone so big that he was a couple inches into my seat and the armrest couldn't go down. I was glad that it was a relatively short flight.

So, go out there and take your dogs for a nice long walk, or ride a bike, and try to eat a little healthier. Or, take a dance class (it really is good exercise).

Jim

[HarmsWay]

My business frequently takes me overseas. The difference between Americans and most Europeans is extraordinary (Germans and especially Brits tend to be fatter than others in W. Europe).

At first you might not notice, when travelling in foreign lands, that they are so much thinner. It takes exactly one minute after getting off the plane in the US to see it, though. We are gigantic.

JR

Yup. Ten years ago I would have said the average Canadian was thinner than his or her American cousin. Not anymore and the quickly Brits are catching up. I really noticed how much thinner the average person was in Spain and France. Kids included. Unfortunately, the larger people tended to be speaking English. Still time to do something about it though.

Bob

[cwsmith]

I used to be ultra-skinny, topping off at 120 lbs when I got married back in 1967. I couldn't get into the service because at 117 lbs, it simply wasn't acceptable. Yet I was otherwise quite healthy. I used to joke about it all the time, things like, "I'm not skinny, just streamlined" or "If I drank cherry soda I'd look like a thermometer", or "if you stuck out your tongue, you'd look like a zipper".

I remained pretty thin right into my forties, hitting around 140 lbs at the end of the 80's. Then they introduced the computer. Instead of standing up at my drawing board and taking the daily walks to the shop, engineering, and the blueprint dept, I found myself stuck at a "tube". Almost everything was a few keystrokes away.

Also, the new management thinking was that with all the investment in computers, there was no reason for most of us to be anywhere other than at our workstations. So there I was was, "chained" to the office. It would almost put me to sleep and about the only exercise one would get during the day was taking all too many trips to the vending machine, in order to stay awake and alert.

Well, within the decade, I hit 206 lbs. By the time I retired in 2003, I was up to 218. I still spend too much time at the computer, but now I'm down to 184 and I'm "working" at reducing even more.

The point is, I think too many of us exercise too little. Technology allows us to get things done without having to physically exercise and kids, as well as adults have found the good life with all kinds of electronic entertainment. It's pretty rare to see kids out playing, running, doing the physical kind of play that we used to do.

Add to that an amazing variety of fast foods, snacks, and drinks that are available everywhere you go and it's evident that we can't help but being fat!

CWS

[germdoc]

No its not hype. Look at this PP presentation:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/obesity_trends_2006.ppt

Even 6 years ago I rarely saw people with severe recurrent infections due to obesity (primarily cellulitis). Now I see them consistently. Today I had a woman with recurrent abdominal wall infection who weighs 380 #. I see this ALL THE TIME. I have started telling such people, if you want to live past age 60, get a gastric bypass, whatever, but LOSE THE WEIGHT.

The complications of severe obesity are really unpleasant. We need to figure out how to solve this problem, or we won't be able to produce enough diabetologists, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons (to fix worn-out joints), nephrologists (for dialysis), and other specialists to keep up demand. And you don't need to wonder why health-care costs keep going up...

[mschrank]

...and working "Moms" for the problem. How many women actually cook good, healthy meals as the norm?

Ed

Watch it there...seems you're implying that it's the womans job to stay home and cook. It just doesn't work that way anymore.

While I hold a full time job, my wife makes close to twice my wage. The downside is, she doesn't often grocery shop or cook. And when she does cook, well....let's just say I appreciate her effort.

Back to OP: You must live in an area where there are more fit people than average, or else you've become accustomed to "fat" looking normal. To my eye, seems most of us are overweight and IMHO I don't believe the epidemic is overstated.

[Uncle Cracker]

I'm not obese, I'm fat... and I don't need some chart to tell me that. But you know what? I never felt so bad as I did when I starved myself down to somebody else's idea of my ideal weight. I am what I am, I feel fine, and it's nobody's business but my own. Now where did I put that beer?

[MilDoc]

Solution to the problem?

None. Unless you want to close fast food restaurants (or at least ban supersizing). Or how about banning unhealthy foods in school cafeterias (pizza anyone?). How about mandating 5 day a week strenuous PT in schools? How about charging the obese double for their health insurance and cutting my rates?

And if you are already fat, how about simply filling your plate as usual, then put 1/2 of everything back, and no seconds (or thirds or fourths)?

But people don't want to hear that. They want a "pill."

I have counseled far too many grossly fat teens over the years, and seen perhaps 1% ever lose a pound. Of course, when mom and dad weight 250 or more, there's no chance.

A few years ago I saw a graph that tracked the percentage of the population that were obese in other countries with the growth in number of American fast-food restaurants in each country and their acceptance. The lines were parallel. Fast food = fat folks.

But people don't want to hear that either.

[MilDoc]

... and it's nobody's business but my own. Now where did I put that beer?

Not quite. When your health problems start costing thousands a year, it's everyone's problem.

In the 1980's my weight hit it's maximum - 340 pounds. Now I hover between 190-200.

Special diet? Pills? No. I learned what a "serving size" is, ate less, and exercised more. And my health is better.

Last week LOML saw a woman with a BMI of 54. And of course she "just can't lose weight."

Yeah. She can. She just doesn't want to. Food is her life, rather than life-giving.

[jking]

You can't watch the news or read a newspaper w/o something on the rampant obesity epidemic. This articles says the obesity rate in the U.S. has doubled in the last 25 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20071023/hl_hsn/overweightnowaglobalproblem

Here is an article that says approx. 1 in 4 of us are obese:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071022/hl_nm/obesity_worldwide_dc

I don't know if I can buy it. The definition of obesity (by BMI) is fairly narrow. I know that when I've pointed out healthy looking people are actually significantly overweight to obese by BMI standards, I've gotten reactions from blank stares to guffaws.

Come to the Iowa State Fair next summer. You'd be hard pressed to find more overweight people in one place, and the thing to do is eat deep fried anything.

Fortunately, the general physician my wife & I see is pretty no-nonsense. He tries to be proactive about weight issues. I'll agree that the BMI graphs/charts seem a bit simplistic, but, the obesity epidemic is not exaggerated. Remember "hamburger helper"? Now you can buy it with meat included. We have alot of people in America who are too lazy/busy to even brown hamburger to add to hamburger helper. I don't know how you help anyone with that kind of a mentality.

[docrowan]

One thing that has recently come to my attention is the overwhelming prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in all of our food. I've read that high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than cane sugar only in America due to a high tariff on imported sugar and subsidies for corn farmers that artificially create an incentive for food processors and suppliers to put the stuff in everything. I've also read that fructose does not trigger the "satiation", or feeling of fullness proportional to the calories that you're consuming. I read this in a couple of different sources and started reading labels to avoid buying and consuming high fructose corn syrup and it is EVERYWHERE. It is actually pretty hard to avoid. My wife and I told our parents about this on a recent visit, they did not really believe us. My wife walked up to our pantry, grabbed a can of plain red kidney beans totally at random, and sure enough high fructose corn syrup was the second ingredient. My parents visited my brother on their way home and told him about it and he didn't believe them until he pulled a can of beans off HIS shelf and saw the same thing.

I recognize there are a number of bad habits and supersizing that most Americans, including me, engage in. But western Europeans have ready access to cars, relatively cheap food, McDonald's is everywhere there, and some arguably have more sedentary lifestyles than the average American, yet they're not as obese as we are. It does make me wonder if it could in part be from the corn syrup.

Edit: My user ID is not meant to indicate I have ANY medical training. Nickname in high school from being somewhat brainy.