The situation in US has become ridiculous. The practice of blaming the government and society for personal problems have reached an all-time high... C.D.C. Team Investigates an Outbreak of Obesity By GINA KOLATA Published: June 3, 2005 For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent a team of specialists into a state, West Virginia, to study an outbreak of obesity in the same way it studies an outbreak of an infectious disease. Kerri Kennedy, the program manager at the West Virginia Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, said the state had requested the agency's investigation. "We were looking at our data," Ms. Kennedy said, and saw that "we are facing a severe health crisis." The state ranked third in the nation for obesity - 27.6 percent of its adults were obese, compared with 20.4 percent in the country as a whole. And, Ms. Kennedy said, "our rate of obesity appears to be increasing faster than the rest of the nation." Going along with the obesity was a high prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure, which are associated with extra pounds. West Virginia ranks fourth in the nation for diabetes, with 10.2 percent of the population affected, compared with 6.4 percent nationwide. And it is No. 1 in its prevalence of high blood pressure, with 33.1 percent having the condition, compared with 25.8 percent of people nationwide. So the state asked the agency's disease detectives to tackle its obesity problem, and a three-week investigation began on April 25. It focused, Ms. Kennedy said, on two places that represented towns and cities in the state - Gilmer County, with 7,160 residents, and Clarksburg, a city with 16,743 residents. The investigative teams spent a week and a half in each place, going to schools and asking about physical education programs and about what sort of food was provided. They asked, for example, whether students "were offered at least one or two appealing fruits and vegetables every day," Ms. Kennedy said. And "would you replace regular sour cream with low-fat sour cream?" They went to workplaces, asking whether there were policies to encourage physical activity. For example, Ms. Kennedy said, "if you choose to walk, could you have an extra 15 or 20 minutes added to your lunch break?" And, were there items like 100-percent fruit juices and bottled water in vending machines? They went to random grocery stores and restaurants, asking whether they offered fruits and vegetables and skim or 1 percent milk. And they asked whether it was safe to walk along the roads, whether there were sidewalks and whether they were in good repair, whether there was good lighting for walking at night. "The C.D.C. came up with the questions for us," Ms. Kennedy said. But, she noted, many of the questions, like the ones about sidewalks, were designed for urban areas. She said she was not sure how well they would work in rural West Virginia, and some statisticians said they did not think the study would work at all. Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the disease centers, said in a press conference yesterday that this type of investigation was a first for the agency. "This has never happened in the history of the C.D.C," she said. The centers held the news conference to clarify its position on weight and obesity. Agency scientists recently published a study concluding that overweight people had a lower risk of death than normal-weight people and that even obese people did not have much of a risk of early death unless they were extremely obese. A year earlier, different researchers at the agency published a study saying that obesity and extra weight were markedly raising death rates in this country. Obese people were defined as having a body mass index, a measurement of weight in relation to height, of 30 to 34.9; the extremely obese had an index of 35 or higher. Dr. Gerberding said that there were still questions about the best ways to estimate death risks from extra weight but that there was no question about the health impacts of being obese or overweight, which can increase the risk of diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and some cancers. Being obese or overweight, Dr. Gerberding emphasized, are "critically important health threats" and the agency is increasing efforts to understand the causes of the obesity epidemic and how to help people lose weight and keep it off. The West Virginia data are now at the agency, being analyzed. Some preliminary information may be available in August, Ms. Kennedy said. Rudy Philips, a 27-year-old clinical nursing assistant who lives in Clarksburg, said that he was unaware of the study, but that he knew something of the dietary problems in the state. He himself had a good diet, he said, and while "I could stand to lose 5 or 10 pounds, I am not obese." But obesity is a problem in the state, he observed. "We tend to eat a lot of fried foods, we're meat-and potatoes type people," Mr. Philips said. "Most restaurants don't have healthy choices." But some statisticians said it was hard to see what could be learned from the agency's investigations. Daniel McGee, a professor of statistics at Florida State University who has analyzed obesity data, burst out laughing when he heard about it. "My God, what a strange thing to do," he said. "They'll find out what we all know - that the country is no longer set up for physical exercise," Dr. McGee said. And that schoolchildren "don't get a nutritious diet." And that "there is a lot of high-fat food on the shelves of every supermarket." But, he said, "that doesn't tell you much." "I'm sure skinny people go to those same restaurants," Dr. McGee said. "Skinny kids go to those same schools." David DeMets, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Wisconsin, was also extremely skeptical. "We get a lot of false positives from that kind of investigation," Dr. DeMets said. "We get people worried," but there is no way to know whether what is found - a lack of fruits and vegetables in the schools, for example - has anything to do with the obesity epidemic. "Perhaps it is true, perhaps it is not," Dr. De Mets said.
Eating has nothing to do with self control or weakness. Even a skinny person gets hungry. It could very well be a disease.
Obseitity is due to the fact that people, especially in the south and west U.S. don't freaking walk and eat horrible stuff. It's b.s. if they are gonna start regulating it, here's another thought excercise some freaking self control.
Skinny person gets hungry, but people get fat cuz they eat out of enjoyment. They enjoy food too much that they get to a point where they spend money on food that's 1) not neccessary and 2) don't work it off. I don't think the government should have any reguations or try to get people skinny by regulation. It's your right to enjoy your self and get fat, but don't let the government come in and force your diet on you for you.
It is weakness and lack of self control, when they refuse to go to the gym. It is weakness, when you eat till you are full.
It is mainly due to laziness, but not to the point that it's a "disease". You can lose weight/gain weight at anytime, but it is not some "disease" that is due to some virus or illness. May be they should start with shutting down every major fast food chain in the country, that would do the trick!
In boxing these guys lose 30 lb and become sculpted in 6-12 weeks of intense training. It's possible to lose weight and be in shape if one just puts in the effort.
But the same could be said for heart disease, ephysmia, type II diabetes and several cancers. Where do we draw the line and say that the CDC and other agencies have nothing to do with those? I agree that we're on a slippery slope in regard to regulation and am against the idea of suing fast food or regulating resturants for the health content of their food but at the same time something needs to be done about rampant obesity. Even if you're not fat there is a costs to our society from obesity related health problems from raising the cost of health care, lost productivity and even environmental damage from more dependence on energy for transportation since morbidly obese people have to rely on powered help.
I once lost 7 pounds in two days to make weight for a tournament. I was 22 at the time and its not something I would try now. That's an extreme case but rapid weight loss from intense training is beyond most people because of the demands it puts on even the body of healthy people.
Point is, Obesity is EASILY controlled by self-control. Several of those 'diseases' you listed are problems that cannot be controlled as easily even if the person begins living the 'ideal' fitness lifestyle. For example, if you just eat less you'll lose weight and many people recover from diabetes. Everyone can do it. However, cancer cannot be reversed.
With boxers, that is their job. They have trainers and other folks who work with them to aid in the "effort". How should the man or woman with 3 kids and a 9-5 job be expected to put in the same effort as these boxers you use as an example?
A Better Nutritional and Physical Health System in schools could definately 'train' people for long term Healthy Life Styles Rocket River
simple, let's outlaw all privately produced and prepared food. people will now eat a daily allotment of government gruel. maybe the US should hire Kim Jong Ill to head this project.
Fast food and commuting Fruits and vegetables probably reduces cancer, but the least it does for obesity is that it reduces the proportion of fatty processed foods you eat during a sitting.
