Here is a fascinating statistic courtesy of The Atlantic. Thanks to the startling rise in obesity, every year Americans consume at least a billion gallons more gas today than they would have if people were as trim as they were in 1960.åÊ For every additional pound of passenger weight, the...
Tag: boomer obesity
Putting Obesity in Perspective
The world’s population is 16.5 million tons overweight. If everyone on the planet had the same average weight as Americans, it would be equivalent to having 935 million additional people on earth.åÊ Happy 5th of July! Source: BBC
States Let Kids Opt Out of Gym – No Wonder We Have a Problem
The habits we start young can have a nasty way of sticking around if we’re not careful. That is why this USA Today article on students being able to opt out of gym is so distressing. According to the article, the number of states that allow students to waive or...
Obesity Accounts for 17% of Medical Costs
A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that obesity actually accounts for 17 percent of all medical costs annually, well up from a previous estimate. Researchers at Cornell University and Lehigh University concluded medical costs are close to $170 billion per year. Understated self-reporting and overly cautious research gathering...
75% Will Be Obese According to First-Ever Obesity Forecast
According to the first-ever obesity forecast citizens of the world’s richest countries are getting fatter and fatter and the U.S. is leading the charge. Three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese by 2020, and disease rates and health care spending will balloon, unless governments, individuals and industry...
Empathetic Physicians Can Motivate Overweight Patients
Researchers studied the conversations between 40 primary care physicians and 461 of their overweight or obese patients to see if weight was mentioned by the doctor and, if so, in what manner. Overall, doctors talked about weight in 69% of appointments, and that conversation took up an average 3.5 minutes....
Denial is not Just a River in Egypt – Fat is Fat so Face Up To It
I just read a study that said that 30% of Americans classified as overweight say they are a normal weight. And 70% of the obese say they are simply overweight. People are in DENIAL! In a Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey, respondents were asked to provide their height and weight, from which...
Obese Older Adults More Likely To Use Mobility Devices at Younger Age
Obese older adults are more likely to use walkers, canes, and other mobility devices at a younger age, and may run the risk of using them incorrectly, according to new research from Purdue University. äóìBaby Boomers are coming of age and obesity is an epidemic for this population as well,äó...