Facing America's Obesity Crisis
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-05-10/facing-americas-obesity-crisis
More than one-third of adults in the U.S. and nearly 17 percent of the nation’s children are obese. Obesity’s human toll includes diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers. Relative medical costs of the obese are estimated to be up to 100 percent higher than for Americans of healthy weight. A new report by the Institute of Medicine warns these social and economic costs will increase in the coming years unless we do more to prevent people from becoming overweight -- especially young people. And researchers say a real solution will require leadership from educators to employers to the president. Diane and her guests discuss America’s obesity epidemic.
Guests
Barbara Linder
Senior Advisor for Childhood Diabetes Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Christina Economos
Director of Child Obesity 180 at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. Committee member for Institute of Medicine report, "Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation"
Ross Hammond
Director, Center on Social Dynamics and Policy and
Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
J. Justin Wilson
senior research analyst, Center for Consumer Freedom.
Sylvisha Perry
Subject in Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University, site of NIH TODAY Study (Treatment Options for type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth).
Comments
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This has been a hot button issue for me for a long time. When I was growing up we would head outside after breakfast and not be home again till Dinner, okay sometimes lunch. All of those aforementioned meals were actually cooked by one of the neighborhood mothers and no one was overweight. Now kids stay inside all day and eat out of bags, boxes, and cans. Not a hard one to figure out.
A glance into other people's grocery cart, or watching them chow down at a restaurant it's clear some people understand what causes obesity and others don't have a clue.
It's baffling why this is so. How come so many people can miss such a basic understanding of the relationship between diet, exercise and a healthy weight ? Or, is there more to it than that I'm clueless about?
I some respect I can forgive an obese parent, buy why they can't draw the line with their children is beyond me.
Lethargic brains = obese bodies.
When Clinton left office ground beef was 99 cents a pound.Today ground beef is $2.29 a pound on sale.
Our shopping cart selections are more often than not out of our control.
Pack of generic hot dogs $1. Generic buns $1. Generic soda 89 cents. Generic mac & cheese 50 cents. Generic pork & beans 60 cents or generic potato chips $1.39......A meal for 3 or 4,for under $5. Fills up the family,sucks nutritionally......
Please describe how BMI is or is not necessarily a measure of healthiness for athletes who may have greater body mass and excellent health condition. I think that BMI has a reputation among athletes as something to disregard because there are athletes, bodybuilders and others who appear to have great fitness attributes but would be considered obese by this index. Its hard to imagine a 6'1" football player at 189lbs, for example, and considered obese if over 200lbs.
Please comment on the public's perception of the BMI chart.
Can we tax unhealthy fast food? Also, if there were a grocery store chain without processed foods, I'd go there. I go to a so called healthy grocery store but there is just as much sugar and fat laden food there. As with your messaging idea, out of sight at home and at the store, out of mind.
Diane, two points:
The BMI calculation is flawed in that it classifies moderately muscular, healthy people as overweight. I am 5' 9" and 175lbs, giving me a BMI of 25.8, which puts me in the category of 2/3rds of Americans who are overweight. However I am muscular and even have a "six pack." This measure is too coarse in my opinion.
I think the idea that cheap food is bad for you and that healthy food is expensive is a fallacy. For example, beans are highly nutritious and very cheap. Kale is basically the most nutritious thing you can eat, and I can fill up a large bag at the grocery store for less than a dollar.
While I agree that obesity is a problem, I have a problem with using the body mass index as a guide. I am 6'6" and weigh 220. Most of the BMI calculators I have checked indicate I am over weight which is ridiculous.
Truth in advertising. Companies market low fat yet HIGH sugar products as healthful. Notwithstanding, WE CONSUMERS have the power to NOT choose these products.
The food we can buy to eat is not good for us - it is filled with crap our bodies do not know how to process so it is stored as fat.
In addition to the lack of quality food there is a problem nobody wants to talk about. Many medications have the side effect of weight gain. Especially "mental health" drugs.
The medicos drugged me for depression and I gained over a hundred pounds.
I threw away those awful drugs and started using some good vitamins, minerals and supplements, lost 130 pounds and got my life back.
The FDA has failed us. THey allow the food producers to fill our grocery stores with crap to eat and our medicines with crap to take health away.
How do we address this issue when you have people and news stations attack the first lady for embracing this issue, corporations that continue to promote unhealthy foods and eating habits to ensure higher profits, and a congress that insists on keeping unhealthy food programs in the schools?
The corn subsidies in the farm bill are on a collision course with healthcare.
For more information, look up Michael Pollen's columns at NY Times and his books.
Metformin is a very dangerous drug. People on metformin who are scheduled for surgery need to be off the metformin for at least a week before having surgery. THis drug causes strokes as well as weight gain.
Dangerous, dangerous drugs.
A lot of the handwringing sounds like blaming the victim. A very hard look has to be made into the content and kind of food fed not only to our children, but to all of us. But I despair of any actual corrective regulation, given that the number one culprit (high fructose corn syrup) is encouraged by government corn subsidies, the same government that still permits smoking and bails out industries they fail to regulate.
Is the decline in the concept of "housewife" a factor in the increasing rate of obesity? I am a housewife who spends most of the school day planning, shopping, and cooking healthy food for my family. I don't know how families with two working partners manage.
Not disputing that there is a weight crisis in the country, but why are we still using the BMI score to determine if an individual is overweight? It was developed as a statistical tool for tracing the relationship of weight and illness in populations. The relationship of height and weight is too simplistic to apply to an individual, and due to me nature of the equation, taller people are considered overweight at a lower percentage of body fat than shorter people. We should be using other techniques to measure actual body fat composition. Even if the obesity rates stay the same, we should base that on more relevant data.
Diane,
I am a Health and Physical Educator, obviously this hits home in my classrooms all the time. Actually we are listening to the show right now. :)
One of my students ask:
"Diane, do you or your guests think that, teaching children how to cook healthy foods within a mandatory nutrition class sometime in the schools. The reason I ask, is I wonder how many of us teens and children know what healthy choices there are but how to prepare them and how easy it is. Rather then just go to a fast food place. Thank you for your time"
Thank You,
Mr. B
I think it is important to focus not just on fast food and all-you-can eat buffets, but the prevalence of kids snacking on foods that parents might consider healthy but are actually full of sugar, such as fruit juices, fruit snacks, yogurts. The calories in those foods really can add up.
The fact is, our school system is under control of a fascist government where big business dictates the eating habits of children through mandated regulated cafeterias.
Nothing will change until people realize they are being controlled through big business.
A word on the BMI calculator; it doesn't take body type into account. I'm a 30 year old male, 5ft 10, 213lbs, very muscular, and a size 34 waist. I am by anyones definition, extreamly fit, yet according to the BMI, I'm slightly obese.
On marketing....My weight has not changed much in 40 years but I find I used to wear a size 12 in the 1950's and now am wearing size 8 or even size 6. A false sense of image I would say.
HOSTESS going bankrupt is an example of people changing their diets, isn't it?
As a follow up to this question, how does this discrepancy affect our youth who look to these athletes as role models and are making choices about how they take care of their bodies?
Also, health insurance companies will adjust their rates according to your BMI. If you're an athlete, is this really a fair measure to one's health?
Why isn't body fat % used instead of BMI?
Thank you!
Forget this insane conversation
Read Michael Pollan's, "In Defense of Food" to simplfy your life and recapture your control over your health.
The government is doing all it can do to alleviate this problem by promoting GMO vegetables....before too long, we'll all be dead and won't have to worry about obesity.
As usual, MSM won't touch this hot button issue.
If parents dont understand how to feed families balanced meals and how to understand what food choices are healthy, then lets educate the children.
It worked to educate children against smoking and reduce the number of those beginning smoking.
Educate that if the food looks like it did when it was growing that is the best form for consuming it. I mean the less processing and additives the better. Snacks in packs dont grow in nature. Fruits and Veggies are healthy snacks.
Reaching for unhealthy foods is a personal choice, teach the children what they should avoid. Let them pressure the parents into learning.
Shouldn't we use the same approach as we have with tobacco?
It is a similar issue of personal responsibility, with widespread health impacts that affect the nation as a whole.
None of the guest is hitting on the most important issue of all, in my opinion. It's not as much about eating as it is about the lack of physical activity. Kids are NOT getting outside anymore. Video gaming has stifled our youth. We now allow our kids to just stay inside and play video games all day long.
This really isn't a government issue. This is about parents making better choices for their kids. Kids need to get off the couch and out of the house. They need physical activity!!
What about the role of government in subsidizing agriculture? Doesn't that skew the ultimate pricing of processed foods? How is it that a fast food hamburger with all of its input costs is cheaper than locally grown veggies?
One of the guests mentioned that the appearance of Type 2 Diabetes in younger people began to increase in the 90's. Could this be related to the move in the 1970's by Nixon to keep food costs stable by the development and inclusion of high fructose corn syrup in the food supply. To me it seems no coincidence that a mere +/- 15 years after its arrival HFCS began destroying our health. Comments?