Obesity: Americans Just Keep Getting Fatter

Note from Connie: Americans are continuing to grow fatter, but of course, that’s no surprise to you. But now we have some frightening conclusions in the fourth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2007 report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). Indeed, this exhaustive study shows that Americans are continuing to bulge in unbecoming ways — this despite the fact that 85 percent of us believe obesity is an epidemic. What gives, folks? Karen James updates us.

You can find out the scoop from numerous sources including ScienceDaily, the Los Angeles Times and MedPage Today like we did, but

Here are some of the key findings from the F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2007 report, which you also can learn about in ScienceDaily, the Los Angeles Times and MedPage Today like we did:

Obesity: Adults Keep Widening

• Adult obesity rates rose in 31 states last year — the second year in a row for 22 of them.

• Mississippi not only topped the list, but it had the distinction of being the first state to reach an adult obesity rate of more than 30 percent (30.6 to be exact).

• Colorado, where adult obesity runs at 17.6 percent, get kudos for coming in as the leanest state. Nevertheless, that figure is still higher than 16.9 percent the previous year.

Obesity: Children Growing Bigger

• Washington, D.C., where 22.8 percent of kids ages 10 to 17 are overweight, leads the country in rates of childhood obesity

• Utah has the fewest overweight kids at 8.5 percent.

While these findings are quite dire, there is some hopeful news.

Hopeful News

• Nine states enacted laws in 2006-2007 that set nutritional
  standards for food sold in vending machines, school stores and bake
  sales. With those, 22 states now have guidelines for these products.

• Most Americans strongly
  support governmental-backed education programs that promote healthy living, provide low-cost access to exercise programs and
  reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods.

• The majority of Americans strongly approved of proposals to
  establish better nutrition in school lunches and to increase physical
  education in schools.

TFAH is a non-profit, non-partisan health advocacy organization working
toward disease prevention and is headed by executive director Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D., who led his colleagues in producing the report.

Karen James for the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog