LOS ANGELES -
Obesity is a U.S. epidemic that has surged in the past decade and now
affects nearly one in five adults, killing some 300,000 a year, a
collection of new studies suggest.
The studies, which will be
published in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association,
are the latest to spread the warning that Americans are getting
fatter - and that fat kills.
"Obesity is a major cause of mortality in the united
States," concludes one of the surveys.
In 1991, four out of 45 participating states had obesity rates of 15
percent or higher, while the figure for 1998 was 37 states, according
to the study.
That data, which was to be announced today at the AMA's annual Science
Reporters Convention, was based on telephone surveys of more than
100,000 participants each year between 1991-98.
Younger adults, people with some college education and Hispanics
showed the most drastic increases, but "a steady increase was
observed in all states; in both sexes; across age groups, races,
educational levels; and occurred regardless
of smoking status," the study found.
Overall, the population of obese men and women increased from 12
percent in 1991 to 17.9 percent last year, according to the CDC
survey,. which said that figure might be conservative.
Other recent research has found that more than 50 percent of Americans
are overweight and 22 percent are obese, even though weight-loss
products and services are a $33 billion-a-year industry.
Being overweight has been strongly associated with greater risk of
certain illnesses, including heart disease, high cholesterol and
blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and some cancers.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine of more than 1
million Americans concluded that obese people run a significant risk
of dying early, even if they don't smoke and are otherwise healthy.
Another study in this week's JAMA issue on obesity - all of the
studies involved Americans at least the age of 18 - attributed an
estimated average of about 280,000 deaths a year to being overweight,
but said the figure could be more than 374,000 when the numbers are
calculated differently.
The figures were adjusted for sex, age and whether the subjects smoked
but did not factor in chronic disease or family histories that might
indicate a predisposition to an illness.
An editorial accompanying the
obesity issue of JAMA calls for developing a comprehensive national
strategy to prevent obesity.
Growth in the marketing of fast food and snack food, as well as lack
of exercise, are among the reasons Americans are taking in more
calories than they burn, the editorial concluded.