Obesity is now found to claim more lives than previously known. As waistlines expand in the U.S., so do our chances of dying from being obese. But the finding leaves a question, how did Americans get so large?
According to the newest finding that comes from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, obesity accounts for three times the number of deaths in America than previously calculated.
According to the newest finding that comes from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, obesity accounts for three times the number of deaths in America than previously calculated.
Authors for the study say obesity rates could mean a shorter life-span for many Americans.
"Obesity has dramatically worse health consequences than some recent reports have led us to believe," first author Ryan Masters, PhD said in a press release.
"We expect that obesity will be responsible for an increasing share of deaths in the United States and perhaps even lead to declines in U.S. life expectancy."
Though there have been some declines in rates of obesity, the study authors say it’s only in certain groups.
For children and adults who are already obese, things are only expected to get worse.
Bruce Link, PhD, professor of epidemiology and sociomedical sciences says it’s difficult to ‘undo’ obesity. He adds “…it stands to reason that we won't see the worst of the epidemic until the current generation of children grows old."
For five-year olds today, obesity is much more the ‘norm’, compared to generations past, Link said.
Masters explains the study, "The Impact of Obesity on U.S. Mortality Levels: The Importance of Age and Cohort Factors in Population Estimates," published online in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first to look at how obesity affects everyone differently.
Past studies have linked obese Americans together when analyzing the impact on mortality.
This study took into account differences in age, birth cohort, sex, and race. For the investigation researchers analyzed 19 segments of the National Health Interview Survey linked to individual death records for the years 1986 to 2000.In the study, African American and Caucasian women had the highest chances of dying from obesity at 27 and 21 percent greater odds respectively.
The chance of a Black man dying from being obese was just five percent, but only because they face so many other health risks that can be fatal, including smoking and socioeconomic disadvantage. The average risk for dying from obesity for all men was 15 percent.
Because of the study type, the researchers were unable to pinpoint deaths from obesity for Asians, Hispanics and other groups.
The study author’s concluded the impact of obesity is just beginning to be felt. The effects of being obese could mean Americans will die younger than previous generations.
There are many reasons Americans are becoming obese, all of which make it difficult to accept the early death sentence.
Studies show obesity contributors include, but are not limited to:
• Getting too little sleep
• Unhealthy foods promoted by manufacturers that claim otherwise
• Unhappiness from political and economic woes that can elevate stress hormone levels to make us fat
• Lack of access to fresh food for those at a socioeconomic disadvantage
• No access to affordable health care that still prevails for millions of Americans
• Inadequate care for Americans suffering from chronic pain due to lack of research funding; many of whom are veterans or injured at work pursuing the “American Dream” by providing for their families.
• A shift to computer jobs that encourages productivity and less activity
• Urbanization that has taken away our ‘green spaces’
• More food additives that continue to be staunchly defended by the manufacturers. One major contributor might be corn syrup.
Even the study authors note everything has become ‘bigger’, including soft-drinks, clothes size and our children’s peers.
We are either gluttons for punishment or our Western lifestyle is taking the ultimate toll. Maybe it is time to step away from the “American Dream” and take an objective look at what and how too much of everything is killing us.
Another suggestion if you don’t want to die young from obesity is to get smarter about making healthy lifestyle choices for ourselves and for our children by reading food labels, taking a walk every day, saying no to overtime at work and getting the entire family away from the computer and TV a whole lot more.
How did they really get so large? Most being predisposed to eat garbage and not exercise, the means to an end were drawn. Add to this, some morons living in their mother's basements playing video games told women this was cute.
