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1
in 50 Americans Morbidly Obese
Americans are not just
getting fatter, they are ballooning to extremely obese proportions
at an alarming rate.
The number of extremely obese American adults — those
who are at least 100 pounds overweight — has quadrupled
since the 1980s to about 4 million. That works out to about
1 in every 50 adults.
Extreme obesity once was thought to be a rare, distinct
condition whose prevalence remained relatively steady over
time. The new study contradicts that thinking and suggests
that it is at least partly due to the same kinds of behavior
— overeating and under-activity — that have contributed
to the epidemic number of Americans with less severe weight
problems.
In fact, the findings by a RAND Corp. researcher show that
the number of extremely obese adults has surged twice as
fast as the number of less severely obese adults.
On the scale of obesity, "as the whole population shifts
to the right, the extreme categories grow the fastest,"
said RAND economist Roland Sturm. He added: "These
people have the highest health care costs."
Sturm said health problems associated with obesity —
including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and
arthritis — probably affect the extremely obese disproportionately
and at young ages.
Sturm analyzed annual telephone surveys conducted nationwide
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His report
covers surveys from 1986 through 2000. The findings appear
in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
In 1986, 1 in 200 adults reported height and weight measurements
reflecting extreme obesity, or a body-mass index of at least
40. By 2000 that had jumped to 1 in 50, Sturm found.
The prevalence of the most extreme obesity — people
with a BMI of at least 50 — grew fivefold from 1 in
2,000 to 1 in 400, Sturm said.
By contrast, ordinary obesity — a BMI of 30 to 35 —
doubled, from about 1 in 10 to 1 in 5, based on the same
surveys.
Body-mass index is a ratio of height to weight.
Americans tend to understate their weight, and a recent
study based on actual measurements found an obesity rate
of nearly 1 in 3, or almost 59 million people. Sturm said
his findings probably understate the problem for the same
reason.
The average man with a BMI of 40 in Sturm's study was 5-foot-10
and 300 pounds, while the average woman was 5-foot-4 and
250 pounds.
Dr. Mary Vernon, a trustee of the American Society of Bariatric
Physicians, said the study reflects what doctors who specialize
in treating obesity are seeing in their offices. Vernon
said the number of her patients weighing 300 to 350 pounds
or so has doubled in the past several years.
She said thinking has evolved from a generation ago, when
many doctors believed extreme obesity was due to hormonal
abnormalities or other distinct conditions.
Now many believe it is a combination of lifestyle factors
and genetics, as well as a propensity for some people's
bodies to be hyper-efficient at storing calories. This tendency
would benefit people in societies where starvation is rampant
but is a huge problem in developed countries where food
is plentiful and lifestyles are increasingly sedentary,
Vernon said.
Vernon said the biggest challenge in treating severely obese
people, who typically have tried mightily to lose weight,
"is giving them enough hope that it's worth trying
again."
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On the Net:
Archives of Internal Medicine: http://www.archinternmed.com
American Society of Bariatric Physicians: http://www.asbp.org
Article Source: Associated Press
Article Author: N/A
Net Reference 102
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