Americans in 2004 are fatter than ever, the heaviest since the government started tracking patterns of body weight for the U.S. adult population in the first half of the twentieth century. An estimated 100 million adults weigh more than is considered healthy, and of this group, more than forty-four million are considered obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Surgeon Ge…
During the twentieth century, advances in public health and medical care helped Americans to lead longer, healthier lives. Two important measures of the health of the population are infant mortality (death) rates and life expectancy at birth rates. Infant mortality rates significantly decreased and life expectancy increased by thirty years. Table 2.1 shows the decline in infant mortality between 1…
That diet and appetite are closely linked to psychological health and emotional well-being is well known. Psychological factors often influence eating habits. Many people overeat when they are bored, stressed, angry, depressed, or anxious. Psychological distress can aggravate weight problems by triggering impulses to overeat. Emotional discomfort drives many people to overeat as a way to relieve a…
One of the most disturbing observations about overweight and obesity in the United States is the epidemic of super-sized kids. A survey of adolescents in thirteen European countries, the United States, and Israel found that the United States, followed by Greece and Portugal, had the highest percentage of overweight teens (Inge Lissau, et al., "Body Mass Index and Overweight in Adolescents i…
Americans have long been consumed with losing weight, seemingly willing to suffer deprivation and to embrace each new diet that debuts—even if the "new diet" is simply a twist on an ages-old weight-loss plan. The fixation with weight loss is so longstanding that even the word diet has assumed a new meaning. Used as a verb, diet means to eat and drink a prescribed selection of …
One credible hypothesis about the source of the epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States is the progressive decrease in physical activity expended in daily life—for work, transportation, and household chores. Some researchers contend that the average caloric intake of Americans has not substantially increased; instead by reducing daily physical activity, the caloric imbalance…
The economic impact of obesity is considerable. The World Bank estimated the cost of obesity in the United States as 12 percent of the national health-care budget in the late 1990s. The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States has resulted in a corresponding increase in direct and indirect health-care costs. Direct health-care costs are those incurred for preventive mea…
At the international level, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an aggressive plan to combat an escalating global epidemic of overweight and obesity—"globesity"—throughout the world. The WHO guidelines on diet and exercise, The Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease, released in 2003, advocate such actions as lowering intakes of sugar, salt, and saturated fats. They also recommend sharply limiting the marketing of fo…
One of the challenges facing public-health professionals as they seek to combat obesity among Americans is helping consumers to distinguish myths, lore, legends, and outright fraud from accurate, usable information about nutrition, diet, exercise, and weight loss. Some of these inaccuracies are so longstanding and deeply rooted in American culture that even the most educated consumers unquestionin…
Many obesity researchers and health professionals believe that the most effective way to win the war on obesity is to intensify efforts to prevent overweight and obesity among children, adolescents, and adults. They assert that over time, prevention is far more cost effective than the costs associated with weight-loss efforts and medical treatment of obesity-related diseases. They also observe tha…
To date, the United States is losing the battle against overweight and obesity. More Americans than ever before are overweight and obese, and by their own admission, more people are gaining weight than losing it. Gallup Poll data collected in July 2003 revealed that more than one-third of Americans said they had gained "a little" weight, and 9 percent admitted they had gained "…