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War on Obesity?

fluff

Monkey Turbo
Sep 8, 2001
5,673
2
Feeling the lag
Looks like it's time for a new bad guy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

The United States may be the land of the free, but it is also the land of the fat.

In the spiritual home of the super-sized meal, more than 119 million adults - or 64.5% of the adult population - are either overweight or obese.

Obesity in the US is linked to 300,000 deaths a year and said to add billions to the country's medical bills.

And the problem is growing.

By the time of the next Olympics, doctors predict that three out of four people in the country will have a body mass index of more than 25, the benchmark of corpulence.

The problem of obesity in schools is described by the US surgeon general as "every bit as threatening to us as is the terrorist threat we face today".
 

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
fluff said:
Looks like it's time for a new bad guy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

The United States may be the land of the free, but it is also the land of the fat.

In the spiritual home of the super-sized meal, more than 119 million adults - or 64.5% of the adult population - are either overweight or obese.

Obesity in the US is linked to 300,000 deaths a year and said to add billions to the country's medical bills.

And the problem is growing.

By the time of the next Olympics, doctors predict that three out of four people in the country will have a body mass index of more than 25, the benchmark of corpulence.

The problem of obesity in schools is described by the US surgeon general as "every bit as threatening to us as is the terrorist threat we face today".
The UK is right behind us...
 

MudGrrl

AAAAH! Monkeys stole my math!
Mar 4, 2004
3,123
0
Boston....outside of it....
reflux said:
Rumor has it that terrorists are skinny people. So by continuing the trend of obesity, we are fighting terrorism.
'cause terrorists stick out like a sore thumb on an overcrowded air plane when they are surrounded by the people who have to buy two seats.


Marshall: Hey, you, the skinny guy......put yer hands up, you know you can't get anywhere surrounded by the McDonald twins.
 

Pau11y

Turbo Monkey
fluff said:
I've never understood why any man feels the need to give his dick a persona...
Because as every woman needs to point out that we men often think w/ the other head, it does have a personality all of its own despite being attached! But I think it's partly Opie taking it to a new level, as well as you being a bit uptight about some anatomical comedy :D

Edit: anyone check out Supersize Me and his comment about ribbing smoker vs fat ppl? I think we should stop w/ the PC crap and start ripping on fat ppl just as we do w/ smokers. I mean smokers affect the rest of us via 2nd hand smoke and their drain on the health system resources, the same can be said for fat ppl w/ respect to those resources.
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
Hey fatty fatty Mcfat fat! On your way to Arby's for a second brunch? I'll pre-order the lard burger for you. Oh, BTW, you wife called, she's stuck in one of your folds.
 

ohio

The Fresno Kid
Nov 26, 2001
6,649
23
SF, CA
rooftest said:
But if 67% of the US is obese, why are only 10 states over 25%? There aren't that many people in D.C....
67% is overweight. Overweight=/=obese.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
reflux said:

Obesity is definitely a serious problem, and it’s pretty sad that there are states where obesity is more than ¼ of the population.

All kidding aside, I would love to know who this dude takes a leak…
 

Ciaran

Fear my banana
Apr 5, 2004
9,839
15
So Cal
i have a fat friend who has a hanging gut like that dude. One of the grossest things I ever saw was him walking around on a hot day, then lift up the belly flab with one hand and then with the other hand wipe away the sweat that had accumulated in there and then flick it off. :eek:
 

rooftest

Monkey
Jul 10, 2005
611
0
OC, CA
Their "Body Mass index over 25" = obesity doesn't take enough into consideration. For example- this year's Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush, is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. This gives him a BMI of 27.1, and I wouldn't call him obese.
 

reflux

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2002
4,617
2
G14 Classified
blt2ride said:
Obesity is definitely a serious problem, and it’s pretty sad that there are states where obesity is more than ¼ of the population.

All kidding aside, I would love to know who this dude takes a leak…
Children are only getting bigger and bigger. The disturbing thing about it is that lower income communities typically have higher than average obesity rates. How can a family, that's barely making a living, find enough time and money to take care of their health?
 

ohio

The Fresno Kid
Nov 26, 2001
6,649
23
SF, CA
rooftest said:
Their "Body Mass index over 25" = obesity doesn't take enough into consideration. For example- this year's Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush, is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. This gives him a BMI of 27.1, and I wouldn't call him obese.
It is highly simplistic, but when you consider that 99% of the population doesn't work out as much as Reggie, I think it's pretty safe to say there's a problem.

It's a good VERY easy way to gauge the overall health of a population, and can be compared country to country, as it will have the same bias against people with a lot of muscle mass anywhere you use it.

It would be much more accurate to say the following:
"67% of adults have a BMI of over 25, and are likely to be obese"
"Two-thirds of American adults are probably obese."
Saying 67% is obese gives it a false precision.
 

ohio

The Fresno Kid
Nov 26, 2001
6,649
23
SF, CA
reflux said:
Children are only getting bigger and bigger. The disturbing thing about it is that lower income communities typically have higher than average obesity rates. How can a family, that's barely making a living, find enough time and money to take care of their health?
Only in the US is obesity a sign of poverty and only in the US does it take time and money to be skinny.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
ohio said:
It is highly simplistic, but when you consider that 99% of the population doesn't work out as much as Reggie, I think it's pretty safe to say there's a problem.

It's a good VERY easy way to gauge the overall health of a population, and can be compared country to country, as it will have the same bias against people with a lot of muscle mass anywhere you use it.

It would be much more accurate to say the following:
"67% of adults have a BMI of over 25, and are likely to be obese"
"Two-thirds of American adults are probably obese."
Saying 67% is obese gives it a false precision.
you yourself made this distinction above, but obesity technically is BMI > 30. replace "obese" with "overweight" in your above statements and you're spot on.
 

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
rooftest said:
Their "Body Mass index over 25" = obesity doesn't take enough into consideration. For example- this year's Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush, is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. This gives him a BMI of 27.1, and I wouldn't call him obese.
You know, BMI doesn't work well for athletes. It's a quick and dirty way to let the sedentary masses know that they need to get off their asses. Nothing more.

Your complaint is that the calculation isn't doing something it wasn't designed to do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm writing Honda to bitch that my Element won't hit 200mph.
 

ohio

The Fresno Kid
Nov 26, 2001
6,649
23
SF, CA
Toshi said:
you yourself made this distinction above, but obesity technically is BMI > 30. replace "obese" with "overweight" in your above statements and you're spot on.
Whoops. Yup. You got me.
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
More:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-12-20-unfit-kids_x.htm

1 in 3 kids not in physical shape

One out of three U.S. adolescents is physically unfit, putting them at increased risk of heart disease when they get older, new research shows.

In a study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers asked kids to walk or run on a treadmill, then measured their heart rate and blood pressure.

About 34% of 3,110 adolescents fell into the bottom fitness level.

Unfit kids tended to have other health problems, too.

They were more than twice as likely to be overweight, according to the study. They were two to three times as likely to have high cholesterol than kids with higher fitness scores.

Black girls and Mexican-American boys were the least likely to be fit, according to the study.

Based on the study's results, researchers estimate 7.5 million adolescents between ages 12 and 19 nationwide are unfit, says Mercedes Carnethon, lead author and assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Researchers evaluated kids using the FITNESSGRAM program, a commonly used and highly regarded health assessment based on a child's age and sex that was developed by the Dallas-based Cooper Institute.

Participants were drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly 14% of adults 20 to 49 who took the treadmill test also were physically unfit. Those over 50 and people with serious health problems were excluded from the treadmill test for safety reasons, so the true number of out-of-shape adults is probably much higher, Carnethon notes.

For years, health experts have been concerned about kids eating more and exercising less than previous generations. About 31% of U.S. children are overweight or at risk of becoming so, according to the CDC.

The new study may be more precise than older surveys about physical activity, says James Hill, who directs the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Many earlier surveys relied on children to accurately remember how often they exercised, says Hill, who did not contribute to the paper.

Carnethon says her study is the first to measure fitness objectively in a large population of adolescents and adults.

Richard Milani, a preventive cardiologist at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, says he is "very concerned" about this generation of children. "These are the future heart patients of tomorrow," he says.

Hill says the study should serve as a "wake-up call," telling parents to improve their children's health.

"It doesn't work to lie there on the couch and tell them to go out and be more active," Hill says. "If kids see their parents as being active, they get the message."
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,669
1,713
chez moi
The best thing about the war on obesity is that it's almost impossible to miss 'em.

MD
 
Not much of a political debate...everyone agrees fat people are fat. Probably not too many fat people on a biking website.

No wonder kids are fat. I see 4 year olds driving motorized cars around and 8-12 year olds riding scooter around. People need to push their fat kids out the door and tell them to go play kick ball or ride their bikes around.
 

laura

DH_Laura
Jul 16, 2002
6,259
15
Glitter Gulch
Reactor said:
Looks like the bible belt need to push away from the table......

you try saying no to seconds of my biscuits and gravy, cornbread, fried green tomatoes or chicken and dumplings. seriously though, the memphis/mississippi area i s gross with overweight and obese people. up until recently there was nothing here supporting any kind of healthy lifestyle. after being named one of the most unhealthy cities something like 5 years in a row, we have started implementing programs to target education towards the prevention of obesity. its hard to convince people that being active is more fun than stuffing their face. :angry:
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,382
9,287
MTB New England
I don't get this thread....we've known for years that obesity is a major health problem in the US, and the BBC is just picking up the story now?

:confused:

This ain't news to me.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
but weight, there's more: Obese Americans now outweigh the merely overweight
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government.

Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are "extremely" obese.

"More than one-third of adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006, the NCHS said in its report.
are they shut-ins? i just don't see them in my daily travails