Obesity: A Weighty Issue

America is 4.6 Billion Lbs. Overweight, and Our Health Care System Is Straining From the Weight of It All

(CBS)  The obesity epidemic affects adults and kids across America. And those extra pounds that weigh us down as individuals are all adding up to a big health challenge for our country. Our Cover Story is reported now by Seth Doane:

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Temptations are everywhere, and with so much "glorious food," odds are good that if you dare to step on the scale this morning you are not going to like what you see.

It's gotten so bad that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that one-third of American adults are overweight. Another third are obese.

It's an epidemic that's causing concern at the highest levels of government. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius calls the data "alarming."

"It has an impact at every step along the way, on costs and on quality of life, on a productive workforce," she told Doane. "We are really putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage in a global economy by having a nation that is vastly overweight."

"Really? Just for being too heavy?"

"You bet, you bet,' said Sebelius.

This is not the first time the federal government has sounded this alarm. Dr. David Satcher was one of the first to say there was an obesity epidemic in America, nearly a decade ago, when he was Surgeon General.

"We have addicted ourselves, and we are now addicting our children, to sedentary lifestyles, diets that are high in fats, salts and sweets," he said.

Visit CBSNews.com's "Healthy Living" Section

"Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, dramatically. It increases the risk of heart disease, of stroke, of hypertension, increases the risk of many forms of cancer. And you think about the costs of health care and the role that chronic diseases play, obesity is a major factor in all of those chronic diseases I have just listed."

And those costs are staggering…

"About $147 billion a year are spent directly related to obesity and the underlying health conditions related to that," said Sebelius. "That compares with all the cancers that people have across America, which cost a little under $100 billion a year. So one-and-a-half times as much money is spent [on obesity]."

Obesity is determined by your body mass index, a rough calculation of body fat based on your height and weight:

18.5 - 24.9 is considered normal
25 - 29.9 is considered overweight
30 and above is obese

To determine your own body mass index visit WebMD's BMI Calculator.

So, if you're 5'10" (like Doane), and tip the scales at up to 173 pounds, your weight is considered normal. From 174 to 208 pounds, you're overweight. And 209 pounds upward qualifies as obese.

Adult obesity rates have doubled in the past thirty years. Why?

Some of the answers may be familiar.

Instead of sitting down for that home-cooked family meal, we'll grab something "on the go." Maybe we'll "super-size" it for good measure.

Whatever the reason, on average we're consuming 300 more calories a day than a quarter century ago.

And we're not burning them off. Today, we spend less time walking, more time driving, sitting in front of the computer or TV.

So, a question: Is it simply a matter of personal responsibility, or do food retailers play a role, too?

Subway, which touts a menu that includes some low-fat sandwiches, has even more U.S. locations than McDonald's.

"We're trying to respond to the need for better choices that people are demanding," said staff dietitian Lanette Kovachi.

In Subway's Milford, Conn., test kitchen, Kovachi regularly reviews calorie counts for new products.

"You talk a lot about offering healthier items, but there are some very unhealthy items on the menu, too; isn't that a contradiction?" asked Doane.

"I don't think so. You know, our whole thing is we want to offer choice," Kovachi replied.

But, how do you make healthy choices when they simply do not exist?

Lucinda Hudson and Holland Brown led a 12-year battle to bring a grocery store to this Philadelphia neighborhood.

"It was horrible, to say the least, about a community as big as this, to have no supermarket!" said Hudson.

Jeff Brown owns this Shop Rite franchise. He opened four locations in the inner city, thanks to grants and loans, all part of a Pennsylvania program designed to encourage healthier living.

Before the supermarket opened, the only options in the neighborhood, said Brown, were small bodegas. "And the bodegas did not have a lot of fresh food, and their prices were very expensive. So we have a situation that the poorest of us had to pay the most. And that's the part that just doesn't work."

Success here is tallied in the receipts. This store sells the same amount of fresh foods as its more affluent, suburban counterparts. And even if fresh costs more, Regina Brown says it's worth it:

"It's going to cost you one way or another," Regina Brown told Doane. "It's going to cost you health-wise - or it's going to cost you money-wise. Either way you pay. So I'd rather pay this way."

"Pay on the front end?" asked Doane.

"Pay on the front end, yeah," she said.

And those "back-end" health care costs may only get bigger.

"In children, obesity rates are about four times higher than they were, say, 40 years ago," said Dr. Walter Willett, who chairs the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Part of the problem is we don't see the full impact of obesity until many decades later," he said. "So the children who are now growing up obese, 20 and 30 years down the road are going to have horrendous problems that we've really not seen before."

So, what can be done?

Dr. Willett and some colleagues advocate taxing sugary drinks (like soda) to help reduce consumption and raise funds to fight obesity.

And the first family is leading by example, with the most famous gardener in America, Michelle Obama.

In spring, planting a vegetable garden at the White House, and again last week, the first lady encouraged kids to get more physical activity.

Today, one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

With ballooning health care costs and crippling disease, Secretary Sebelius says we need to act . . . soon.

"I think to me one of the most sobering statistics is the fact that we have a generation of children alive today who may live shorter life spans than their parents - first time in 200 years," Sebelius said. "And the major cause for that is obesity."


For more info:
Healthy Weight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Trust for America's Health


More Stories and Videos from the "Sunday Morning" Special Edition, "Size Matters":
At Duke, Doctors Teach Obesity Ownership
Physique Helps Mo'Nique Strike It Big
In Slim Role, Bertinelli Beats Back Bulge
Deep-Frying Is Where the Magic Happens
A Parisian Food Fight
A Body of Work: Artistic Ideals of Beauty
Slideshow: Body Art
The Axis of Food Evil: Fat, Sugar and Salt
Welcome to Thin City: Colorado's Low Rate of Obesity
Nancy Giles with Big Questions on BMI

[sandy19731]

Let's face it we are a nation of people who have very little self control.

[formrusmcsgt]

And very little pride in appearance to go with it.

[queenofclubs]

I am so fed up with this 'war on obese people' that the media is raging! There are many, many so-called "obese" people who are indeed healthy and fit. Why does the media continue to ignore or downplay this? There are SKINNY people who are not healthy, who get cancer, diabetes, heart disease and die, too! This overemphasis on obesity is NOT about concern for health. It's just another way to establish a pecking order where those who are thin can feel morally superior to those who aren't...and it encourages discrimination against those who are larger than what is considered acceptable. Sizism is the same as racism or sexism.

[formrusmcsgt]

Even if the obese don't succumb to diabetes or stroke, etc., the extra weight on their frame wears out knees and hips.

The skeleton is not designed to withstand the wear and tear of supporting the equivalent of 2 or 3 bodies.

Hips and knees for one obese individual can cost $150,000.

You think the individuals who wear out their joints from gluttony pay for this?

Of course not.

We ALL do.

[formrusmcsgt]

"Sizism is the same as racism or sexism."

People don't determine their own race or sex, but do determine their size.

Nice try....

[formrusmcsgt]

"Sizism is the same as racism or sexism."

Gluttons and bigots alike never wish to be viewed as such.....

[formrusmcsgt]

"We are really putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage in a global economy by having a nation that is vastly overweight."
---
Maybe the Surgeon General should remind the public periodically that washing down a 2,000 calorie meal with a diet soda serves no purpose.

[formrusmcsgt]

One factor regarding the obese that has always confounded me is where is their pride in personal appearance?

They must have a mirror at home........

[mswolfestock]

Their state of denial is as big as they are.

[formrusmcsgt]

We need for health insurance premiums to reflect the increased costs of the obese just like we have for smokers.

Making people pay for other's increased costs due to obesity is as unfair as non-smokers paying the same as smokers.

Watch 'em stop super-sizing their meals and their ass if they have to pay for their own increased costs.

Right now, lard-***** are getting a free ride on the backs of those of us who are NOT gluttons.

[formrusmcsgt]

Funny how CBS allows the singular "ass" yet censors the plural form.

Stupid.

[formrusmcsgt]

I readily accept that some restaurants heavily salt foods.

I have not used salt for over 30 years now.

Many times I have left a meal after a couple of bites and demanded a N/C for serving me food too salty to consume.

I stopped asking years ago why restaurants salt their food so much because I always got the same answer everywhere - "because if we don't, people complain that it has no flavor".

Watch people salt food that they haven't even tasted yet for saltiness....incredible.

For all the harm that excessive salt does, it does not make one fat.

Calories do and salt has virtually none.

There is a good book "The end of overeating" which describes the association of fat, sugar and salt in combination, which is purposly
used in restaurants and fast food places. They cause a person to crave the food and to also overeat it. Quite an interesting and informative book. I highly recommend reading. David Kessler MD author

[msalabama]

Never once in the program was a vegan diet mentioned and only a slight reference to a vegetarian diet was offered in the sumo wrestlers diet. Vegan and vegetarian diets are the absolute best solution to the obese America problem. Too bad the media and Washington DC are owned by Agribusiness and cannot help solve the problem.

[ubrew12]

to say nothing of heart disease. The Ornish diet is 'eat all you want and lose weight and defeat your heart disease'. But it's recipe's are kinda tough. I picked up a book called 'The Vegetarian 5-ingredient gourmet' which has simple vege recipe's. I'm not a vegetarian, but am taking baby-steps in that direction, for the planet's sake as well as my own.

[displeased]

I know some overweight vegetarians. They still eat french fries, onion rings, and cookies. Most of the vegetarians I know are thin though. But I'm sure it's more from responsible eating and not from the lack of eating meat. Eating meat doesn't cause obesity, lack of self discipline does.

[ubrew12]

lock of self-discipline causes everything, including warts

[AttentionDeficit]

A vegan diet is not sexy in the eyes of corporate america. I am a vegetarian, almost entirely vegan. However, it is a lot more accepted now than when I started 30 years ago

[SunDog8259]

Something must be done about our faulty "food pyramid" -- its even shaped like the average American! It's not the meat & butter that gets us, but the bread, sugars and pasta. I noticed the Sumo wrestlers gained all their weight on a low-fat diet including lots of rice.

[TrickynWV]

BMI (Body Mass Index) is flawed. I can think of 2 distinct body types that would fit a 5'-10" 220 pound frame. One would be obese, the other would be very defined and muscular.

[helloall34]

Yes, BMI really needs to be scraped. It is worthless and hurts more then it helps. The scale is a bad measure. The tape measure is much better.

[rf35]

If you supported the tobacco tax, you support the "fat tax" that is coming on high-fat, high-calorie foods. You can't have been for one and not the other. The same exact excuses were paraded out when the tax on cigarettes kept climbing (and it's not done yet). I hope that Twinky tastes as good at $4.75 as it does at $.99!

[justsane-2009]

let's do it! you notice the anti-tax commercials are already out there, pleading with congress not to tax 'juice drinks' and soda. those 'juice drinks' are beverages like hi-c, which are made of water, sweeteners (like hfcs), artificial flavoring and colors, with a small fraction of juice added. they also add in some vitamins so they can claim that the drinks are 'healthy.'

lets quit fooling ourselves by thinking that we are doing ourselves any favors by making and consuming cheap, readily available foods that are full of fat, sugars, and chemicals. we need to start raising our kids to understand that not everything they put in their mouths needs to be either sweet or salty. if it takes putting a tax on soda, 'juice drinks', and twinkies, so be it. we'll all be better off without them.

[displeased]

I don't see why these types of food products shouldn't be added to the "sin" tax group.

[searingtruth]

"Every common human being simply wants the same protection for themselves and those they love as every uncommon human being.

Because we are all the foundation and fountain of humanity."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[formrusmcsgt]

This appears to be what you endorse from here, ST:

"OK folks, 1/3 of you watch what you eat. 2/3 don't and are fat and that will cost a bunch of extra money to deal with, so you who watch your weight will pay the same as those who weigh 400 lbs".

Now, I ask you ST, wheres the justice in that scenario?

They require extra health services, why shouldn't they pay for them?

Smokers do, and justifiably so and for the same reason - more services, higher premiums.

Why do you oppose making the obese PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE?

[searingtruth]

Fellow citizen, no one should be punished for being human.

We all incur a cost and benefit upon society,

And to debate what is and is not a legitimate weight for a free citizen of The United States of America is silly and totalitarian beyond belief.
ST


"I wanted only a freedom for all that I had coveted for myself."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[ubrew12]

To 'lowest common denominator' capitalism, a big mac and fries is 'food', a hummer is 'transportation', 57 channels and nothin's on is 'entertainment', a mortgage derivative is 'money', and Sarah Palin is 'leadership'.

We are obese in so many ways its not funny. And, in every case, its because somebody is making billions off of it. Preying on Americans without really preying on them, ya gotta love it. The American Way.

[formrusmcsgt]

So gluttons are force fed by big corporations.....

Thanks for the enlightenment.

I always wondered how people managed to store 4 or 5 years worth of calories on their frame.

[troutfishyman]

The obese have the right to remain that way, IF it does not impair the rights of others.


Ever been stuck next to an obese person on an airline? They do not have the right to 1/2 of my seat!

[formrusmcsgt]

I had to go to Austin last week for a conference. On the flight from Vegas to Austin, I had about a 400 derfeod in the seat next to me.

Once she settled in and splayed a sunstantial portion of her lard over into my seat, I asked her "Ma'am, do you want to buy the half of my seat you're taking up? Because you're sure not man enough to take it from me."

She damn near smothered the poor guy on the other side of her for the rest of the flight.

[formrusmcsgt]

Make that "400 pound heford".....

[formrusmcsgt]

Jeez! One more time...make that "400 pound herford.

There. I think I finally got that right.

Sheesh.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Southwest Airlines charges for two seats if you are that obese.

[formrusmcsgt]

This was a Continental bird I took.

SW's policy should keep "wide bodies" off their "wide bodies".

Next time....

[lorajeantn]

Hey formrusmcsgt, your ignorance is showing...as if your comments weren't enough, the word is actually Hereford, at least if you're talking about cattle.

[formrusmcsgt]

This appears to be what you endorse from here, ST:

"OK folks, 1/3 of you watch what you eat. 2/3 don't and are fat and that will cost a bunch of extra money to deal with, so you who watch your wait will pay the same as those who weigh 400 lbs".

Now, I ask you ST, wheres the justice in that scenario?

Why do you oppose making the obese PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE?

[searingtruth]

by formrusmcsgt October 25, 2009 9:59 PM EDT
"Your justification of subsidizing the costs of other's excesses convinces me that you're a 'wide-body' yourself."


I am 6'0" and weigh 192 lbs (I just checked to be as accurate as possible).

As always, I'm simply fighting for the freedom and rights of us all, because when they are abridged none of us is free.
ST


"I would not render the well of compassion and good will to mystical forces unseen, as much as to humanities spirit unconquered."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[formrusmcsgt]

Well then, that being the case, why do you compare gluttony with driving a car?

One is a necessity, the other is not.

You arguments are usually on a much higher plane.

As for freedome, the gluttons can eat themselves to death for all I care. I just don't see any equity in asking those of us who are not gluttons to subsidixe their high health costs.

How about our rights, ST?

[ffoulkes-2009]

If driving a car was a necessity, you would be granted one at birth.

[ddoorn]

One of my biggest motivators to lose weight is fighting the "corporate ownership of my body" to borrow a friend's phrase. There are zillions of CEO's out there looking to turn over a dime at my expense. The mass-marketing of insanely unhealthy foods truly incenses me! Let's profit off of all these doofus consumers and THEN let's profit off of their MEDICAL TREATMENT! We've got a pill to take care of you! (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes management, etc) Ooops, side effects from that pill...? Here's another pill to take care of that! Ooops...surgery time? Step right this way...!

All the while profiting off of the uninformed public!

I have a burning desire not to give these corporations any more money that necessary and that starts and ends with what I put in my mouth. I rankle when at the supermarket I see shelves stretching off into the distance with a multitude of beverages in every color under the sun when ALL WE REALLY NEED IS WATER!

How did we get started down this unhealthy path of eating such garbage?

Pay attention to your media...print, audio, video...! Garbage is EVERYWHERE! And touted as the coolest stuff around!

In Australia they had an epidemic of speed-related crashes and deaths. They decided to do something about it, so they assigned an advertising company the job of creating a campaign to persuade folks not to speed.

Very inventive folks, these advertising people!

They came up with an advertising campaign which took a page out of a Quentin Tarantino movie in which young sexy babes pull up in their car next to Kurt Russell's behemoth on four wheels. They crook their pinky finger at him and say: "Woooo...big engine, little winky!" and zoom off into the sunset.

So: billboards sprung up everywhere along the same line: Drive fast and prove how un-sexy you are! Drive fast and show the world how insecure you are!

Same thing on the radio.

Same thing on TV.

Guess what?

It worked! Everybody slowed down!

So much for our "freedom of choice"...?

Don't you KNOW that the SAME type of success could be accomplished in persuading all of us about the benefits of healthy eating, healthy activity?

My RAGE centers around WHY ISN'T THIS HAPPENING!?!?

Why? Where would the PROFIT be?

Sorry to grab the podium folks, but this is something that really makes me crazy AND something I use to motivate myself: I look at my healthy lifestyle as a means of FIGHTING CORPORATE CONTROL OF MY BODY!

One of the greatest things I've EVER found for dealing with my obesity:

www.SparkPeople.com!

You owe it to yourselves to check it out!

[craftycandi]

www.sparkpeople.com does not accept diabetics without doctor approval.

[goneagain09]

I am a 46, female, slightly overweight. Due to eating habits and not active enough. Need to lose about 25lb. Am working on it. Glad I work in a factory or I would be even bigger. The other day I saw a women in the store. She was so big her upper arms were bigger than my waist. It was sad. Im not real smart but even I know you have to use up more calories than you put in your body.

I totally agree with doing everything you need to to be healthy and keep a healthy,not overweight weight. However,many people have problems losing or maintaining. I am one of them. At 5'4", my HS weight was 118. After having 3 children I got down to 135 on Atkins. After that I was unable to keep my weight down with ANY diet. Over the years I climbed to a high of 208 lbs. All the while trying to keep my weight down. Yes I did eat unhealthy at times. This past two years I decided to do whatever it took to lose. I could lose a few pounds then put it back on. My doc thought I was cheating. I began to write every bite down, weighed and measured to 1700 calories a day. No results.
I bought a GoWearFit arm band similar to the one on Biggest Loser. After calculating input and output for over a month I hadn't lost any weight. I ate around 1700 calories every day, and according to the machine I was burning 350 to 700 more calories a day than I ate. When I showed the info to my doc he realized I was telling the truth. He had mentioned Metformin to me several months before, that was being used off label for weight loss as people on it for diabetes tended to lose more weight and also for polycyctic ovary syndrome lost weight. I had the latter in my early years and thought maybe it would work for me, and also I had hypoglycemia since early teens. Well YEA it worked. I began to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. I have begun to stabalize around 175 pounds now so I will increase exercise to see if that will help.
The machine also measures sleep time, (the BL armband doesn't) which has improved with CPAP for sleep apnea and by weight loss.
I hope someone else can use this information.

[searingtruth]

Indeed.

Excess.

Humanity is prone to it.

From mountain climbers, race care drivers, football players, and people who drive cars, we all engage in activities that could be avoided and are potentially of less than optimal benefit to our health, or economic value to the state.

But that's what being American is about.

Freedom.
ST


"Freedom isn't always pretty, convenient, or without complication and consequence.

Which is why it is so rarely practiced."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[formrusmcsgt]

Accidents and intentional behavior are no where similar, ST.

You know better.

[formrusmcsgt]

In addition, we don't have 2/3 of the polulace driving race cars and climbing mountains, so your examples are statistically irrelevant to the discussion.

[formrusmcsgt]

Your justification of subsidizing the costs of other's excesses convinces me that you're a "wide-body" yourself.

[searingtruth]

People who climb mountains, drive race cars, play football, and drive conventional cars, do so intentionally.

There is no defense for prejudice or injustice.
ST


"Never be ashamed to be a human being. Even more importantly, never pretend you're not one."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[justsane-2009]

people who drive cars pay car insurance; people who don't get to keep that money. race car drivers and football players pay higher insurance premiums, due to their increased risks of serious injury. i don't know this for a fact, but i believe that mountaineers also pay increased premiums, again due to increased risk of injury or death.

instead of increasing health and life insurance costs for the obese, let's tax them up front for the foods that have negative health benefits. we can give tax credits for activities that increase good health. that seems like it would be fair to everyone. we would all pay taxes on junk food, and we would all get credit for going to the local gym, or enrolling in a legitimate weight-loss program. fair is fair, right?

[formrusmcsgt]

What we are talking about here is excess - plain and simple.

If they want to be gluttons and be treated for all the conditions their obesity precipitates, let 'em pay for it.

Worn out knees and hips from carrying around a three-year supply of calories on the fram, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, on and on and on.

Let 'em eat thmselves into an early grave if they wish, but the rest of us should not have to pay for the ramifications of their gluttony.