PREVENTING EPIDEMICS…PROTECTING PEOPLE…A Growing Problem:

■ More than two-thirds of Americans are obese or overweight.2
■ Rates of adult obesity now exceed 20 percent in 49 states and D.C and 25 percent in 40 states. In 1991, rates did not exceed 20 percent in a single state.3
■ Approximately 25 million U.S. children are obese or overweight. Rates of childhood obesity have more than tripled since 1980.4

Health Consequences:

■ Obesity and physical inactivity are risk factors in more than 20 chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.5
▲ More than 20 million American adults have type 2 diabetes, and 54 million more are pre-diabetic.6 Two million adolescents have pre-diabetes.7
▲ More than 75 percent of hypertension cases can be attributed to obesity.8
▲ Estimates show that excess body fat is linked to 49 percent of endometrial cancers, 35 percent of esophageal cancers, 28 percent of pancreatic cancers, 24 percent of kidney cancers, 21 percent of gallbladder cancers, 17 percent of breast cancers, and nine percent of colorectal cancers.9
▲ Obesity increases a child’s risk for a range of health problems and negatively impacts mental health and school performance.10, 11

High Costs:

■ Obesity-related medical costs are nearly 10 percent of all annual medical spending.12
■ Obesity is associated with lower productivity at work, costing employers $506 per obese woker per year.13
■ As an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) increases, so do the number of sick days, medical claims, and health care costs associated with that person.14

Alarming Trends:

■ Over 23 percent of American adults report that they do not engage in any physical activity.15
▲ Only 56 percent of high school students had a physical education class at least once a week, and only 33 percent of high school students had daily physical education.16
▲ Almost 33 percent of high school students watch three or more hours of TV and close to 25 percent of high school students play video or computer games or use a computer for non-school activities for three or more hours on an average school day.17
■ Approximately 75,000 new cases of diabetes, 14,000 new cases of coronary heart disease, and $1.4 billion in health care costs can be attributed to the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages.18
■ Spending in fast food restaurants has grown more than 18 times (from $6 billion to $110 billion) in the past 30 years.19

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO COMBAT THE EPIDEMIC?

■ Make Healthy Choices Easy Choices: Creating Opportunities for Physical Activity and Healthy Eating.

Individuals must be given the tools they need to engage in more physical activity, since even small amounts of activity can lead to major health improvements. Children should be given the opportunity to be more physically active throughout the day, both in and out of school. The communities we live in should allow greater opportunities for activity, including places for safe and affordable public recreation and increased availability of sidewalks.

Everyone must also be given the tools to take responsibility for their eating habits, including nutritional recommendations and information and access to supermarkets and affordable healthy foods.

ENDNOTES
1 Let’s Move Blog http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/2010/ 02/18/finding-positive-ways-to-help-children-becomehealthier-2/#more-176 (accessed July 23, 2010).
2 Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Carrol MD and LR Curtin. “Prevalence and Trends in Obesity Among US Adults, 1999-2008.” JAMA 2010;303(3):235-241. http://jama.amaassn. org/cgi/reprint/303/3/235?ijkey=ijKHq6YbJn3Oo&k eytype=ref&siteid=amajnls (accessed July 16, 2010).
3 Trust for America’s Health. F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future. Washington, D.C.: Trust for America’s Health, 2010.
4 National Center for Health Statistics. Press Release:Obesity Still a Major Problem. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, April 14, 2006. .
5 Office of the Surgeon General. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001.
6 C.C. Cowie, et al. “Prevalence of Diabetes and Imparted Fasting Glucose in Adults in the US Population: NHANES 1999-2002.” Diabetes Care 29 (2006): 1263-8.
7 American Diabetes Association. “Total Prevalence of Diabetes & Pre-diabetes.” American Diabetes Association. http://diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics/prevalence.jsp (accessed July 10 2007).
8 American Obesity Association. “Health Affects of Obesity.” American Obesity Association. http://www.obesity. org/subs/fastfacts/Health_Effects.shtml (accessed June 6, 2005).
9 American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/InYour Area/SouthAtlantic/LocalStories/do-your-patients-knowthat-being-overweight-increases-their-cancer-risk (accessed July 16, 2010).
10 W.H. Dietz. “Health Consequences of Obesity in Youth: Childhood Predictors of Adult Disease.” Pediatrics 101, no. 3 (1998): 518-525.
11 A. Datar and R. Strum. “Childhood Overweight and Elementary School Outcomes.” International Journal of Obesity 30, (2006): 1449-1460.
12 Finkelstein EA, Trogdon JG, Cohen JW, et al. “Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity: Payer- and Service-Specific Estimates.” Health Affairs, 28(5): w822- w831, 2009.
13 Gates D, Succop P, Brehm B, et al. “Obesity and Presenteeism: The Impact of Body Mass Index on Workplace Productivity.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50 (1): 39-45, 2008.
14 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Stroke Association, and the American Heart Association. A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United States, A Statistical Sourcebook. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association, 2005.
15 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009.
16 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States 2009,” MMWR Surveillance Summaries 59, no. SS05 (2010). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf (accessed July 16, 2010).
17 Ibid.
18 American Heart Association. “Drinking Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Daily Linked To Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Increased Healthcare Costs.” Press Release, March 5, 2010. http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/ index.php?s=43&item=976 (accessed March 30, 2010).
19 E. Schlosser. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal.

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