[LindaT]

Survey of body measurements reveals skyrocketing obesity rates in kids and adults


MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

Oct. 8 — Americans are even fatter than they think they are, with nearly a third of all adults — almost 59 million people — rated obese in a disturbing new government survey based on actual body measurements.

ONE IN FIVE Americans, or 19.8 percent, had considered themselves obese in a 2000 survey based on people’s own assessments of their girth.
The new 1999-2000 survey puts the real number at 31 percent — a doubling over the past two decades. The new number is considered more reliable since people consistently underestimate their weight. The number of those considered overweight but not yet obese increased during the past 20 years from 56 percent to 65 percent. An accompanying survey found the number of overweight children has tripled over the same period.
“The problem keeps getting worse,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. “This has profound health implications.”
Cynthia Ogden, one of the authors of the studies from the National Center for Health Statistics, said increases in portion sizes, eating out more frequently and an inactive population were all to blame for the problem.

EVEN TODDLERS AFFECTED
The measurement-based survey of young people found that 15 percent of youngsters ages 6 to 19 were seriously overweight. That is nearly 9 million youths and triple the number in a similar assessment from 1980. Even toddlers were affected, with more than 10 percent of children ages 2 through 5 seriously overweight, compared with 7.2 percent in 1994.
“One of the most significant concerns from a public health perspective is that we know a lot of children who are overweight grow up to be overweight or obese adults, and thus at greater risk for some major health problems such as heart disease and diabetes,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The studies published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association found that the biggest weight gains have been seen in people over the age of 60, black and Mexican-American teens and black women.
Ogden said the increase among black women has occurred among all ages, though half of that group age 40 and above are obese. So are one-fourth of black and Mexican-American teens, a 10 percent increase over the last decade.
The studies surveyed 4,115 adults and 4,722 children and teens in 1999 and 2000.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys have been conducted periodically for several years. Twenty-three percent of adults were obese in 1994 and 15 percent in 1980.
Obesity increases the risk for a number of serious ailments, including diabetes, heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure and some types of cancer.
Obesity is defined as having a body-mass index of 30 or above. The index is a formula in which a person’s body weight is divided by height squared. A BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight.




‘REAL POLICY’ NEEDED
“The numbers are pretty shocking,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

She said talk from the Bush administration about encouraging Americans to eat more healthfully and be more active is “too low a dose of treatment to try and cure this health problem.”
“They need to put into place real policy,” such as offering more healthful foods in government meal programs and requiring fast-food restaurants to list calories on menus, she said.
The trend has paradoxically occurred while health clubs, home exercise equipment and heavily promoted diet plans have proliferated.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Phil Fontanarosa, JAMA’s executive deputy director, questioned whether dietary guidelines are adequate and whether doctors have been ineffective in counseling overweight patients.