The Global Epidemic of Obesity
Not so long ago, many people thought it was nice to be “fat and happy.” Being a bit overweight was a sign of success, a show of material plenitude, a token of leisurely relaxation. But times have changed. These days, being overweight is increasingly viewed as a health risk and a problem of global proportions.
The U.S. government has become particularly focused on obesity in recent years. In late 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published research showing that “the obesity epidemic spread rapidly during the 1990s across all states, regions, and demographic groups in the United States.” The study defined obesity as being over 30% above ideal body weight, and it found that obesity in the U.S. grew from 12% of the population in 1991 to 18% in 1998. Overall, fully 55% of the U.S. population is overweight. The CDC notes two particularly worrisome trends: the highest rates of increased obesity occurred among young people (18- to 29-year-olds) and among people of Hispanic origin, a minority group whose population is increasing.
Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the CDC, states, “Obesity is an epidemic and should be taken as seriously as any infectious disease epidemic. Obesity and [being] overweight are linked to the nation's number one killer – heart disease – as well as diabetes and other chronic conditions." The findings also show that a major contributor to obesity – physical inactivity – did not change substantially between 1991 and 1998. Koplan states that being overweight and physically inactive accounts for over 300,000 premature deaths each year in the U.S., second only to tobacco-related deaths.
The CDC reports that there are all sorts of reasons for the epidemic, from the spread of fast food to the increase in the number of hours young people play computer games. But it really all comes down to two things: people get less exercise and consume more calories than they once did. More than two thirds of U.S. adults are trying to lose weight or keep from gaining weight but many do not follow guidelines recommending a combination of fewer calories and more physical activity. Fewer than 40% of adults get the recommended 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity most days of the week.
The problem an overweight population is not limited to the U.S. A new WorldWatch report states that for “the first time in human history, the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people.” According to the research organization, the world's underfed population has declined slightly since 1980, to 1.1 billion, even as the number of overweight people has surged to 1.1 billion. In some nations, such as China and Brazil, there is a growing “weight gap” between the increasingly fat well-off and the underweight poor. This contrasts with the trend in developed nations, where people who are wealthier and better educated tend to eat right while the poor grow fat from a diet of cheap, fatty fast foods.
“Often, nations have simply traded hunger for obesity, and the diseases of poverty for the diseases of excess,” reports WorldWatch researcher Brian Halwell. Both the overweight and the underweight experience malnutrition. They endure sickness, disability, shortened life spans and lower productivity levels. Over half of the world's disease burden, as measured in years of healthy life lost, is due to hunger, overeating, and widespread vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
These trends result in enormous costs. In the U.S. alone, obesity cost $99.2 billion in 1995, according to a 1998 estimate by Anne Wolf of the University of Virginia and Graham Colditz of the Harvard School of Public Health. That statistic combines the costs of doctor visits, lost productivity, absenteeism and hospital stays.
The costly trend toward a fatter global population can put employers in a difficult position. On one hand, companies can boost their bottom line by helping employees improve their health and reduce their expanding waistlines. On the other, an employer that inappropriately focuses on employee weight problems may be accused of everything from an invasion of privacy to workplace discrimination. Moreover, employers must be careful not to unintentionally encourage eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
So far, education programs that are linked with larger health promotion programs have been corporations’ primary response to the obesity epidemic. Aerospace giant Boeing, for example, offers employees access to exercise centers at 16 different locations, plus one-on-one meetings with an exercise physiologist, at a low monthly cost. Much emphasis is placed on an educational program, structured as a 10-week series of 90-minute group meetings. Participants in the “LEARN Program” are trained in a total of 88 weight-management techniques in five different areas: lifestyle, exercise, attitude, relationships and nutrition.
The program's creator, Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Yale University, states, "The idea behind LEARN is to put all the necessary information together in a step-by-step, easy-to-follow program that people can integrate into their lives." During the first two years the program was used, Boeing participants lost an average of 11 pounds and their average body mass index declined by 1.7. However, Boeing stresses that an overall improvement in health, not just weight loss, is the focus of the program.
====================================================
For more information on how the global population is growing fatter, please see
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/000304.html
For information on the U.S. epidemic of obesity, see
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r991026.htm
To calculate body mass index, which is the standard used to discern obesity, see
http://www.mealformation.com/bmassidx.htm
The U.S. government has become particularly focused on obesity in recent years. In late 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published research showing that “the obesity epidemic spread rapidly during the 1990s across all states, regions, and demographic groups in the United States.” The study defined obesity as being over 30% above ideal body weight, and it found that obesity in the U.S. grew from 12% of the population in 1991 to 18% in 1998. Overall, fully 55% of the U.S. population is overweight. The CDC notes two particularly worrisome trends: the highest rates of increased obesity occurred among young people (18- to 29-year-olds) and among people of Hispanic origin, a minority group whose population is increasing.
Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the CDC, states, “Obesity is an epidemic and should be taken as seriously as any infectious disease epidemic. Obesity and [being] overweight are linked to the nation's number one killer – heart disease – as well as diabetes and other chronic conditions." The findings also show that a major contributor to obesity – physical inactivity – did not change substantially between 1991 and 1998. Koplan states that being overweight and physically inactive accounts for over 300,000 premature deaths each year in the U.S., second only to tobacco-related deaths.
The CDC reports that there are all sorts of reasons for the epidemic, from the spread of fast food to the increase in the number of hours young people play computer games. But it really all comes down to two things: people get less exercise and consume more calories than they once did. More than two thirds of U.S. adults are trying to lose weight or keep from gaining weight but many do not follow guidelines recommending a combination of fewer calories and more physical activity. Fewer than 40% of adults get the recommended 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity most days of the week.
The problem an overweight population is not limited to the U.S. A new WorldWatch report states that for “the first time in human history, the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people.” According to the research organization, the world's underfed population has declined slightly since 1980, to 1.1 billion, even as the number of overweight people has surged to 1.1 billion. In some nations, such as China and Brazil, there is a growing “weight gap” between the increasingly fat well-off and the underweight poor. This contrasts with the trend in developed nations, where people who are wealthier and better educated tend to eat right while the poor grow fat from a diet of cheap, fatty fast foods.
“Often, nations have simply traded hunger for obesity, and the diseases of poverty for the diseases of excess,” reports WorldWatch researcher Brian Halwell. Both the overweight and the underweight experience malnutrition. They endure sickness, disability, shortened life spans and lower productivity levels. Over half of the world's disease burden, as measured in years of healthy life lost, is due to hunger, overeating, and widespread vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
These trends result in enormous costs. In the U.S. alone, obesity cost $99.2 billion in 1995, according to a 1998 estimate by Anne Wolf of the University of Virginia and Graham Colditz of the Harvard School of Public Health. That statistic combines the costs of doctor visits, lost productivity, absenteeism and hospital stays.
The costly trend toward a fatter global population can put employers in a difficult position. On one hand, companies can boost their bottom line by helping employees improve their health and reduce their expanding waistlines. On the other, an employer that inappropriately focuses on employee weight problems may be accused of everything from an invasion of privacy to workplace discrimination. Moreover, employers must be careful not to unintentionally encourage eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
So far, education programs that are linked with larger health promotion programs have been corporations’ primary response to the obesity epidemic. Aerospace giant Boeing, for example, offers employees access to exercise centers at 16 different locations, plus one-on-one meetings with an exercise physiologist, at a low monthly cost. Much emphasis is placed on an educational program, structured as a 10-week series of 90-minute group meetings. Participants in the “LEARN Program” are trained in a total of 88 weight-management techniques in five different areas: lifestyle, exercise, attitude, relationships and nutrition.
The program's creator, Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Yale University, states, "The idea behind LEARN is to put all the necessary information together in a step-by-step, easy-to-follow program that people can integrate into their lives." During the first two years the program was used, Boeing participants lost an average of 11 pounds and their average body mass index declined by 1.7. However, Boeing stresses that an overall improvement in health, not just weight loss, is the focus of the program.
====================================================
For more information on how the global population is growing fatter, please see
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/000304.html
For information on the U.S. epidemic of obesity, see
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r991026.htm
To calculate body mass index, which is the standard used to discern obesity, see
http://www.mealformation.com/bmassidx.htm