The Obesity Epidemic
By Dr. Les Griffith, Naturopathic Doctor
We’ve seen a dramatic increase in obesity over the past 20 years in the United States, reports the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). And a high rate of obesity raises concern because it increases the risk for developing many diseases and health conditions. As higher percentages of our population continue to fall into this category, this epidemic is being taken more and more seriously.
Some state legislators begin to hear the wake-up call.
- Physical-fitness advocate Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger supports a measure that will ban trans fats state-wide in California.
- New York City issued this same trans-fats ban in year 2007.
- In April 2008 NYC became the first US city to require restaurant chains to post calorie counts on menus.
- If these bills are successful, it’s expected that other states may soon follow suit, with Seattle and some California cities already slated for similar menu labeling bills within the year.
- In July 2008 the Los Angeles City Council voted to put South Los Angeles – a lower-income region of the city with above-average rates of obesity – on a “diet,” issuing a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants there.
Whether one agrees with government regulation of such issues or not, these efforts illustrate the impact obesity is having on the public at large (no pun intended).
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In 1990:
- Not one state had a prevalence of obesity greater than 15%.
In contrast, by 2007:
- Only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%
- Thirty states had a prevalence higher than 25%!
We have never had an epidemic like this that we have been able to track so thoroughly.
About 60 million adults, or 30 percent of the adult population, are now obese, which represents a doubling of the rate since 1980.
SOURCE: U.S. Obesity Trends 1985–2007, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), (July 24, 2008).
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The truth is in the numbers
The prevalence of obesity (BMI=30) continues to be a health concern for adults, children and adolescents in the US. Data from a 2006 survey shows that among adult men, the prevalence of obesity was 33.3 percent; among adult women, 35.3 percent; and among children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, 16.3 percent.
So how did we get here?
So many of us are overweight or obese, despite heroic efforts. The struggle and disappointment surrounding weight management has been a part of our society for so long, that now the odds of losing and keeping weight off seem nearly synonymous with winning the lottery. "Someone" has to win…but for many of us it’s not you or even anyone you know. People hesitate to mention they're on a diet anymore for fear of the eye roll they'll get from anyone within earshot. And unfortunately, continued failure inspires some pretty desperate attempts at weight loss, which in turn increase the chance for more failure.
Couple the challenges and stereotypes of ‘dieting’ with the impact of an aggressive marketing influence from a very young age, and the problem expands. In the US alone, the nation's largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion marketing their products to children in 2006, with carbonated drinks being among the top products, according to a Federal Trade Commission report.
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A high rate of obesity raises concern because it increases the risk for developing many diseases and health conditions, such as:
- Asthma and respiratory illness (e.g., sleep apnea)
- Cancer (e.g., endometrial, breast, and colon)
- Cardiovascular/coronary heart disease (e.g., stroke, heart attack)
- Diabetes (Type 2/adult onset)
- Dyslipidemia (e.g., high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
- Gallbladder and digestive issues
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Osteoarthritis (degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
SOURCE:"Overweight and Obesity," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), (July 28, 2008). |
Weight loss is simple, right?
The basic equation for losing weight appears to be incredibly simple: Just burn more calories than you consume. Do this and it literally doesn't matter what you eat or how much you exercise, you'll be sure to lose weight.
Eat 1,000 calories worth of donuts, then burn 1,200 calories daily and the pounds will fly off.
Right?
We’ve all been there – well maybe not all of us with the donuts – but certainly we’ve tried restricting calories this way without increasing exercise. Yet long-term, and even short-term, success has eluded most of us.
Perhaps it’s not that simple.
Genetic design
What few of us take into consideration is how our body wants to work due to its genetic design (in terms of managing calories, appetite and weight). It is this very absence of the basic facts about how the body functions which nearly always trips us up when we diet. This lack of knowledge spells doom for us in the weight management department, for example:
- Most of us know we feel hungry when we diet, but then what is the body’s physiological response when it requests food and doesn't get it? And what causes this response?
- Why does eating certain kinds of foods make you hungrier than others?
- Is there a difference between being full and not being hungry?
- What is it about our history and culture as human beings that influences our appetite and relationship with food today?
Understanding the answers to these and similar questions can help you make better choices about how to diet, exercise and maintain your weight in a way that won't feel like torture. Moreover, understanding the answers will allow you to keep the weight off, permanently.
To answer more of these questions, read The Naturopathic Perspective on Weight Management. » more
Footnote Source Information
1. "Schwarzenegger signs law banning trans fats in restaurants," Los Angeles Times (July 26, 2008).
"http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-transfat26-2008jul26,0,2161554.story,"
2. "New York City calories-on-menus law upheld," Staten Island Advance (April 16, 2008).
"http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/new_york_city_caloriesonmenus.html,"
3. "New Yorkers try to swallow calorie sticker shock," MSNBC (July 16, 2008).
"http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464987/wid/11915773?GT1=31037,"
4. "LA blocks new fast-food outlets from poor areas," Associated Press (July 30, 2008).
"http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewContent.act?tag=3.5721%3Ficx_id=D9280BN81
5. "National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES)," National Center for Health Statistics (2007).
6. "US companies spent $1.6 billion in food, drink ads aimed at kids," MSNBC (July 29, 2008).
"http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25892567/
