In the US adult obesity hits an all time high, and in the UK the number of people with obesity has more than trebled in the last 25 years. No pun intended! But it does seem to be a growing, and concerning problem, and Doctors now say that the condition is reaching 'epidemic' proportions. Why are they so concerned?
Dr Andreas Eenfeldt MD writes:
"There’s no end in sight to the increasing obesity epidemic, even among children where it previously seemed to have come to a halt. A new depressing cross-sectional survey finds that 39.6% of the adult American population now falls into the obese category.
This increases the population risk of all kinds of metabolic diseases, like high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, diabetes type 2 and cancer.
JAMA Network: Trends in obesity and severe obesity prevalence in US youth and adults by sex and age, 2007-2008 to 2015-2016
The New York Times: American adults just keep getting fatter
The culprit?
A poor diet, mostly.
While the latest survey data doesn’t explain why Americans continue to get heavier, nutritionists and other experts cite lifestyle, genetics, and, most importantly, a poor diet as factors. Fast food sales in the United States rose 22.7 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Euromonitor, while packaged food sales rose 8.8 percent.
While fast food deserve some of the blame, it certainly does not help that official dietary guidelines are ineffective or worse, when it comes to controlling weight. Counting calories and exercising are very ineffective methods, while the fear of natural fats in real food is directly harmful.
Bad advice that makes people hungry, and sugary processed foods everywhere. It’s a perfect storm. How high will obesity rates go, before we manage to change one or both?"
11 comments:
...it's not surprising!
So sad, Jan. When I was a little girl, it was unusual to see an overweight adult. Now, it is unusual to see a thin adult.
I think diet is everything - not calorie restriction, but processed, sugary junk restriction. And the incorporation of good, healthy fats is so important. Great post.
There are too many highly palpable foods around, I fear. We like food way too much and our tastebuds forgot that an orange tastes better than ice cream.
Unfortunately not a surprise.
I am pretty sure the same applies here.
Convenience has a lot to answer for...
This does not surprise me. You just have to look around to see that it is true.
It is a problem for sure. Keeping our weight down MIGHT not increase our lives, but it certainly helps with the quality of it.
Good article, Jan.
Oh dear! I wonder if there is some other factor at work here besides diet. I don't eat junk food but I have been unable to lose weight. I suspect it's due to an imbalance of gut bacteria (I have SIBO), but it could be something else, like plasticizers in food and water.
That's a sad statistic! :(
~Jess
I think another problem at least for me is good exercise, in the winter especially, when it is so cold out it is so hard for me to motivate myself to get outside and go for a walk.
It doesn't surprise me, sadly!
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