Are
we depressed? Lazy? Compulsive? Self-destructive? Undisciplined? What is it
with Americans and getting fat… OK, I won’t mince words… even obese or morbidly
obese? A March 23rd report from the Journal of the American Medical
Association – entitled Trends in Obesity and Severe Obesity
Prevalence in US Youth and Adults by Sex and Age, 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 – supplies the down and dirty numbers, to no
one’s surprise: Americans are, on average, getting fatter.
In the time periods studied (noted in the above
title), obesity in American adults increased from 33.7%
in 2007-2008 to 39.6% in 2015-16. The numbers for “severe obesity” over the
same period went from 5.7% to 7.7%. The only mildly good news is that younger
people aren’t getting as chubby as their adult counterparts, but around 65% of
all American adults are at least overweight.
It
is useful to understand the terms used to describe various medical categories
of body size and health standards: the Body Mass Index (BMI) which is an
objective measurement, a ratio based on height and weight. Because global
standards are determined under the metric system, scholarly works speak in
kilos (2.2 lbs to a kilo) and centimeters (39.37 inches to a meter). Here’s how
the Centers for Disease Control define those ratios:
·
If your BMI is less than
18.5, it falls within the underweight range.
·
If your BMI is 18.5 to
<25 falls="" it="" normal.="" span="" the="" within="">
·
If your BMI is 25.0 to
<30 falls="" it="" overweight="" range.="" span="" the="" within="">
·
If your BMI is 30.0 or
higher, it falls within the obese range.
Obesity is frequently subdivided into
categories:
·
Class 1: BMI of 30 to
< 35
·
Class 2: BMI of 35 to
< 40
·
Class 3: BMI of 40 or
higher. Class 3 obesity is sometimes categorized as “extreme” or “severe”
obesity.
As healthcare is a particularly difficult topic
in polarized America today, the fact that we are getter fatter makes related
medical costs skyrocket. Diabetes is epidemic. Heart disease is spreading like
wildfire; what was once a predominantly male ailment is rapidly escalating
among women. The list of weight-related diseases is long, as our shift to a
GOP-dominated, anti-social program, Congress (and most state legislatures)
pulls money out of medical services, the demand for those services is exploding.
Weight gain is perhaps the major contributor to that upward demand. To
exacerbate what is already under-funded government healthcare, a GOP-led move
to cut regulations on business has prompted food manufacturers to fight against
labeling and regulations in their sector, including fighting school lunch
programs where fatty manufactured “fast” foods are restricted. Where
tobacco-related disease trailed off, obesity jumped rapidly to succeed its
ravages.
What’s
worse, even as information about the devastation of obesity is now
well-publicized, Americans struggle with food and exercise like never before. “Public health experts said that they were alarmed by the
continuing rise in obesity among adults and by the fact that efforts to educate
people about the health risks of a poor diet do not seem to be working.
“‘Most people know that being overweight or obese is unhealthy,
and if you eat too much that contributes to being overweight,’ said Dr. James
Krieger, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington and
executive director of Healthy Food America, an advocacy group. ‘But just
telling people there’s a problem doesn’t solve it.’
“The latest data from the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey comes at a time when the food industry is pushing back
against stronger public health measures aimed at combating obesity.
“In recent NAFTA negotiations, the Trump administration has
proposed rules favored by major food companies that would limit the ability of
the United States, Mexico and Canada to require prominent labels on packaged foods warning about the health risks of foods high in sugar and fat.
“While the latest survey data doesn’t explain why Americans
continue to get heavier, nutritionists and other experts cite lifestyle,
genetics, and, most importantly, a poor diet as factors. Fast food sales in the
United States rose 22.7 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Euromonitor,
while packaged food sales rose 8.8 percent.
“The latest survey data found that American youth are faring
somewhat better than adults. Among Americans ages 2 to 19, 18.5 percent were
obese in the 2015 and 2016, while 5.6 percent were severely obese. (A severely
obese youth is defined as being 120 percent above the 95th percentile of
body-mass-index for age and gender.)” New York Times, March 23rd.
And yes, by comparison, Americans are fatter than their European counterparts.
We see proportionately fatter people in rural versus urban communities; those
with more education or higher up the economic ladder are also less likely to be
obese.
Make no mistake; it’s a trade-off. To manage healthcare costs to
increase healthcare coverage, we are also going to have to tackle the most
obvious pressures that challenge good health. Eating and exercise have to
become the new values drilled into young minds, just as essential as reading,
writing and math. Clean air and water shouldn’t be balancing acts between
business and human life. And while these decisions start with individual
choices, the impact on the social and economic cost to all of us, in hard dollars, requires that these issues be
addressed with implementable goals by government itself. Your fat hits my
wallet!
I’m Peter Dekom, and we
are slowly killing ourselves with our individual and social priorities.
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