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Obesity rates climbing in nearly all states Report: Alabama showed the largest increase; only Oregon not gaining
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:02 p.m. ETAug. 23, 2005
WASHINGTON - The percentage of Americans with bulging waistlines is growing in just about every state, with residents of Alabama joining the obesity ranks the fastest. Only Oregon failed to fatten, according to a report released Tuesday.
The advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health, said data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the percentage of obese adults for 2002-04 stood at 22.7 percent nationally. The percentage for the previous cycle, 2001-03, was 22 percent. An estimated 64 percent of adults age 20 years or older are considered overweight or obese, according to the most recent CDC statistics.
The state exhibiting the largest increase in obesity was Alabama. There, the rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent. Oregon’s rate held steady at 21 percent.
The report said the states with the highest percentage of obese adults are Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee.
The states with the lowest percentage of obese adults are Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Montana. Hawaii was not included in the report.
'Crisis of poor nutrition'
While certain regions of the country fared worse than others, particularly the Southeast, the organization said that no state meets the federal government’s goal of a 15 percent obesity rate for adults by 2010.
“Bulging waistlines are growing and it’s going to cost taxpayers more dollars regardless of where you live,” said Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health.
Hearne said the United States is stuck in a “debate limbo” about how the government should confront obesity. She used the report to call for more government action on several fronts, such as ensuring that land use plans promote physical activity; that school lunch programs serve healthier meals; and that Medicaid recipients get access to subsidized fitness programs, such as aerobics classes at the local YMCA.
“We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the U.S., and it’s time we dealt with it,” she said.
Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said he is wary of the call for more government action on obesity. The institute is a think tank that prefers free-market approaches to problems.
“I think obesity is a very personal issue. What you eat and how often you exercise, if that comes within the government’s purview, it’s difficult to think of what’s left that isn’t,” Balko said.
Health policy analysts maintain that obesity increases the burden on taxpayers because it requires the Medicare and Medicaid programs to cover the treatment of diseases caused by obesity. The report issued Tuesday said taxpayers spent $39 billion in 2003 for the treatment of conditions attributable to obesity.
The Trust for America’s Health recommended mandatory screening for obesity among Medicaid recipients, as well as nutritional counseling.
“Better prevention and disease management programs will result in cost savings to the system as a whole,” the report stated.
Balko said it’s not clear the government really knows how to persuade people to make better decisions. He said open-ended entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, don’t provide much of a financial incentive for people to watch their weight. The government just picks up the cost of treating diseases for those patients, regardless of the amounts, he said.
He prefers that the government give Medicaid and Medicare recipients an incentive to open medical savings accounts, which would allow them to save money when they did not access the health care system.
“If they knew they only had so much to spend, or what they did not spend could be saved, then maybe you could instill a certain sense of responsibility and ownership,” Balko said.
Adults with a body mass index of 30 or more are considered obese. An overweight adult has a body mass index of 25 to 29.9. The equation used to figure body mass index is body weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The measurement is not a good indicator of obesity for muscular people who exercise a lot.
Obesity rates climbing in nearly all states Report: Alabama showed the largest increase; only Oregon not gaining
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:02 p.m. ETAug. 23, 2005
WASHINGTON - The percentage of Americans with bulging waistlines is growing in just about every state, with residents of Alabama joining the obesity ranks the fastest. Only Oregon failed to fatten, according to a report released Tuesday.
The advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health, said data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the percentage of obese adults for 2002-04 stood at 22.7 percent nationally. The percentage for the previous cycle, 2001-03, was 22 percent. An estimated 64 percent of adults age 20 years or older are considered overweight or obese, according to the most recent CDC statistics.
The state exhibiting the largest increase in obesity was Alabama. There, the rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent. Oregon’s rate held steady at 21 percent.
The report said the states with the highest percentage of obese adults are Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee.
The states with the lowest percentage of obese adults are Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Montana. Hawaii was not included in the report.
'Crisis of poor nutrition'
While certain regions of the country fared worse than others, particularly the Southeast, the organization said that no state meets the federal government’s goal of a 15 percent obesity rate for adults by 2010.
“Bulging waistlines are growing and it’s going to cost taxpayers more dollars regardless of where you live,” said Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health.
Hearne said the United States is stuck in a “debate limbo” about how the government should confront obesity. She used the report to call for more government action on several fronts, such as ensuring that land use plans promote physical activity; that school lunch programs serve healthier meals; and that Medicaid recipients get access to subsidized fitness programs, such as aerobics classes at the local YMCA.
“We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the U.S., and it’s time we dealt with it,” she said.
Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said he is wary of the call for more government action on obesity. The institute is a think tank that prefers free-market approaches to problems.
“I think obesity is a very personal issue. What you eat and how often you exercise, if that comes within the government’s purview, it’s difficult to think of what’s left that isn’t,” Balko said.
Health policy analysts maintain that obesity increases the burden on taxpayers because it requires the Medicare and Medicaid programs to cover the treatment of diseases caused by obesity. The report issued Tuesday said taxpayers spent $39 billion in 2003 for the treatment of conditions attributable to obesity.
The Trust for America’s Health recommended mandatory screening for obesity among Medicaid recipients, as well as nutritional counseling.
“Better prevention and disease management programs will result in cost savings to the system as a whole,” the report stated.
Balko said it’s not clear the government really knows how to persuade people to make better decisions. He said open-ended entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, don’t provide much of a financial incentive for people to watch their weight. The government just picks up the cost of treating diseases for those patients, regardless of the amounts, he said.
He prefers that the government give Medicaid and Medicare recipients an incentive to open medical savings accounts, which would allow them to save money when they did not access the health care system.
“If they knew they only had so much to spend, or what they did not spend could be saved, then maybe you could instill a certain sense of responsibility and ownership,” Balko said.
I am 6' 0" and weigh 205 I have a BMI of 27.8 which puts me in the overweight catagory. Wile I could loose a few pounds I am in pretty good shape.
BMI has no way of identifing muscle vs. fat.
Then I think this line of that bolded section applies to you:
Quote:
The measurement is not a good indicator of obesity for muscular people who exercise a lot.
I personally don't know a lot about it one way or the other. But I would have to agree with the majority of this article. While I know I have some weight to lose, it's pretty sad when I walk through the mall or grocery store, and I'm average. It seems that the majority of the people I see are the same as me or bigger. It says something about our society when the thin, fit people are the rarity.
__________________
~Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean...~
I am 6' 0" and weigh 205 I have a BMI of 27.8 which puts me in the overweight catagory. Wile I could loose a few pounds I am in pretty good shape.
BMI has no way of identifing muscle vs. fat.
at 6' and 205 you are overweight. Musclebound is in no way = to good shape (dont kick my butt for saying so!)
at 6' your top weight should be no more than 185. The index is more a barometer of being in shape as far as strong, quick, agile, fast and the weight you need to be to be ALL of those.
I knew guys in the army that lifted all the time and failed the weight test. Sure they could have pulverized me but they would have died getting their hands on me lol
I was 6' 165-175 in the army. now Im 6' 215. Ugh im obese. Even tho people look at me and laugh when I say I am obese because I still look good fact is I am obese and our society says that is fine.
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Goal for 2008: Half as many penalties.
Longer needles needed for fatter butts
Many patients fail to receive full dosage of drug, study finds
Updated: 2:07 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2005
CHICAGO - Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle, researchers said Monday.
Standard-sized needles failed to reach the buttock muscle in 23 out of 25 women whose rears were examined after what was supposed to be an intramuscular injection of a drug.
Two-thirds of the 50 patients in the study did not receive the full dosage of the drug, which instead lodged in the fat tissue of their buttocks, researchers from The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin said in a presentation to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Besides patients receiving less than the correct drug dosage, medications that remain lodged in fat can cause infection or irritation, researchers Victoria Chan said.
"There is no question that obesity is the underlying cause. We have identified a new problem related, in part, to the increasing amount of fat in patients' buttocks," Chan said.
"The amount of fat tissue overlying the muscles exceeds the length of the needles commonly used for these injections," she said.
The 25 men and 25 women studied at the Irish hospital ranged in age from 21 to 87.
The buttocks are a good place for intramuscular injections because there are relatively few major blood vessels, nerves and bones that can be damaged by a needle. Plentiful smaller blood vessels found in muscle carry the drug to the rest of the body, while fat tissue contains relatively few blood vessels.
Obesity affects more than 300 million people worldwide and is based on a measure of height versus weight that produces a body mass index above 30. An estimated 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Moon Lander Champion!
All Hell is breakin loose!!!!!
fact is I am obese and our society says that is fine. 
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