Is obesity the number one health problem in America today?

Researchers cite the dilemma; obesity is not just about the numbers, but the linkage to other chronic diseases that affects the overall quality of life. Overweight and obese persons have been shown to be at a greater risk for chronic and fatal diseases such as Type II diabetes, congestive heart failure, eating disorders, stroke, and other mental disorders.

Childhood obesity will affect over 1/3 of children if current trends continue.

Adult obesity has increased by 50% per decade during the 1980s and 1990s. Today, 2/3 of adults are overweight or obese, and the morbidly obese population has increased at the fastest rate.

Life expectancy has also declined as a result of obesity, and public health officials believe it could exceed levels of ischemic heart disease and cancer. Unfortunately, the medical treatment for obesity has been unsuccessful, despite the funding and attention given to this public health dilemma.

Childhood obesity

According to Professor Olshansky from the University of Illinois’s School of Public Health,

the biggest threat to life expectancy will come from America’s most vulnerable group: children.

And, according to Olshansky,

when obese children reach early and late adulthood, they face a higher risk of death, and with the published dangers that childhood obesity represents, there is still much public apathy; diet and exercise do not seem as important. This is especially apparent in schools.

Grave risks to being overweight such as poverty, poor nutrition, and an “eat more” culture were largely ignored until Let’s Move! (First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to lower the incidence of childhood obesity in a generation) became a movement that redefined wellness in America.

However, despite all the research on obesity, researchers still do not know how to reverse fatness.

Inflated and unscientific claims

According to Professor William Reveille,

the unscientific claims about overweight and obesity derive from scientists and doctors largely funded by the weight-loss industry. Instead of addressing the complications regarding fatness, this group has inflated claims about the consequences of the obesity epidemic.

Reville notes,

adult obesity has doubled, and tripled in children, but the predicted deaths from ischemic heart disease and stroke have not occurred; in fact, the underweight category have been shown to be more at risk for premature death.

And, according to Reville,

weight gain is complicated by the increased use of diabetic drugs, and that more attention should be paid to recommending people exercise more as a preventive measure for becoming overweight.

Authors’ Conclusion

As a former fitness trainer, communication scholar, and certified nutritionist, I believe that it is in the interest of the weight loss industry to espouse outrageous claims based upon shoddy science.

I also believe many experts have their own fear and loathing of overweight people and food which “Shapes” their argument. As I began to study food, I learned of the problems that existed in mainstream nutrition and the habit of viewing food in its macro- and micro-nutrient parts.

I see three overarching problems in our weight-obsessed culture:

1. The speculation and ambiguous studies that became gospel after the publication of Senator McGovern’s 1977 Dietary Goals

2. Medicalization of obesity

3. Diet gurus

Senator McGovern’s 1977 Dietary Goals linked the consumption of meat, dairy, and poultry to heart disease using ambiguous studies. It was unprecedented and was expected to have the same health-changing benefits like that of the 1964 report from the Surgeon General about smoking.

The medicalization of obesity has led to bariatric surgery becoming a large, growing market that “cashes in” on Americans’ fear of fat. In the history of dieting, physicians have done great harm by recommending amphetamines, starvation diets, and liquid protein fasts, all in the name of helping people to lose weight.

Finally, the media’s obsession with weight aptly contributes to the $35 billion weight loss industry. Witness the enormous success of shows like Biggest Loser and the Celebrity Fit Challenge; shows who have turned trainers like Jillian Michaels (marketing employee) and Tony Horton (struggling comedian) into overnight fitness and diet gurus who demand multi-million dollar sponsorship offers and product endorsements.

The weight loss industry bets on failure by marketing the same starvation diets and intense, unnecessary workout programs for an underserved population: overweight adults who fail an average of two diets a year. Clearly, the “Experts” are doing something wrong.

Resources
Campos, P. (2005 October 7). The obesity myth: The “war on fat” is a witch-hunt masquerading as a public health initiative. Spiked Essays. Retrieved from http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CADA2.htm

Fraser, L. (1997). Losing it: America’s obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it. NY: Dutton

Kalb, C. (2010, March 22). Culture of corpulence. Newsweek, vol unknown, 42-48.

Life Insurance International (2006). Medical insurance: Obesity, a rampant silent killer. Life insurance international ProQuest (2006, February 4).

McDougall, J. (Retrieved November 14, 2012). George McGovern’s legacy: The dietary goals for the United States. Retrieved from http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl/oct/mcgovern.htm

McNamara, M. (Retrieved Oct 26, 2012). Diet industry is big business. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-2222867.html

Morrill, A. C. & Chinn, C. D. (2004). The obesity epidemic in the United States. Journal of public health, 25(3/4), 353-366.

Olshansky, S. J., Passaro, D. J., Hershow, R. C., Layden, J. (2005). A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States. New England journal of medicine, 352(11), 1138-1145.

Reville, W. (2006). Being a little overweight should not exercise us too much. Irish times, 172-177.

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