Battling Obesity

During the final week in July, the U.S. government announced a campaign directed at combating the nation's weight epidemic. As part of the economic stimulus package presented by the Obama administration, funds will be allocated to states and local governments in order to control obesity and encourage better eating habits.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared, "A significant amount of the money will go to help states and communities attack obesity and other public health challenges. The American Cancer Society estimates that all cancers combined cost our healthcare system $93 billion a year. So, ending obesity would save our healthcare system 50% more dollars than curing cancer."

Congress has recently allocated $1 billion from the stimulus package to help with disease prevention and will go to a CDC-planned project to battle obesity, heart disease and other chronic circumstances.

In a recent study, U.S. researchers proclaimed that nearly 10% of all medical spending in the U.S. is associated with obesity-related diseases. Total costs related to the disease amounts to more than $147 billion a year. That equates to patients spending more than 40%, or $1,429 more per year, on healthcare costs, compared to those that are of average weight. In 1998, obesity accounted for only 6.5% of all medical spending.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirmed, "It is critical that we take effective steps to contain and reduce the enormous burden of obesity on our nation. Reversing obesity is not going to be done successfully with individual effort. It will be done successfully as a society."

In a study conducted between 1998 and 2006, Eric Finkelstein of the non-profit RTI International and researchers at the CDC and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that more than 26% of Americans are obese. During their study, researchers concluded that the U.S. obesity rate surged more than 37% between 1998 and 2006. The unprecedented increase propelled spending on treatments, such as diabetes, arthritis and heart disease, nearly 90% for obesity-related behavior.

According to their research, obesity-related spending could account for $1 of every $6 spent on healthcare by 2030.

An individual deemed to be obese usually has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. The BMI is calculated by a person's weight, in kilograms, divided by height, measured in meters, squared. Therefore, a person standing 5 feet 5 inches tall would become obese if their weight surpassed 180 lbs. (82kg).

An even greater concern facing the nation is childhood obesity. Former President Bill Clinton, who spoke at the "Weight of the Nation" conference, stated that childhood obesity "is the number one public health problem in the country, putting the younger generation at risk of being the first in the history of our country to have a shorter lifespan than their parents."

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. "Childhood weight problems can lead to complications such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, joint problems, type 2 diabetes, gallbladder disease, asthma, depression and anxiety."

As it stands, nearly two-thirds of adults and almost one-fifth of American children are now overweight or obese. The average American adult is 23 lbs. overweight, and collectively as a nation, we are 4.6 billion lbs. overweight.