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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – In the 1960’s, according to the first National Health Survey, 24% of Americans were overweight with a BMI (body mass index) of more than 27. Today, only one state, Colorado, has an obesity rate of less than 20%. Obesity is defined as a BMI over 30, yet more than 12 million Americans have a BMI over 40. Americans are no longer just overweight, more and more of us are becoming obese.
BMI is calculated from a person’s height and weight and provides a reasonable estimate of body fatness. BMI is not a fool-proof way to measure overweight. A person with a very muscular, dense body build and a low percentage of body fat could end up with the same BMI as someone who truly is overweight and has a high percentage of body fat. One way to sort out the difference is to measure waistlines. Experts say that those with a BMI of 25 to 35, and with waistlines of 40 inches or more for men and 35 inches or more for women, are considered overweight. They face increased health risks because they are carrying around too many pounds.
Let’s look at what BMI means to a real person in terms of their height and weight. A 5 foot 9 inch person with a healthy BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 should weigh between 125 to 169 pounds. This same person would be classified as overweight when his BMI is 25 to 29.9. Now he will weigh between 170 to 202 pounds. Tip into the plus 30 BMI range and this same 5 foot 9 inch person weighs well over 200 pounds. If he joins the millions of Americans with a BMI of 40 or over, he’ll weigh more than 270 pounds.
As long as you don’t weigh this much, why should you care about these numbers? If you are a tax paying American these numbers have a direct impact on the cost of your private health insurance, your state government’s solvency, and the potential cost of mandated federal health care now being considered by Congress. When a population is overweight everyone pays a price.
Research has shown that as a person’s weight creeps up to levels that are classified as overweight and obese the risks for all of the following increases: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers (especially endometrial, breast, and colon), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, stroke, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and infertility. All of these conditions require increased medical attention and possible drug intervention.
Medical costs for overweight and obesity significantly impact the US health care system. Direct costs include preventive care, diagnostic tests, treatment services, and medication costs. Indirect costs impact on families and employers through limited mobility, decreased productivity, and increased sick days.
From 1994 to 2004, Americans gained more than a billion pounds, resulting in over $75 billion in medical costs. Over half of these medical costs, $39 billion, are paid by Medicaid and Medicare with individual states carrying most of the burden of this expense. It is an unsustainable expenditure that is crippling many state budgets. State costs vary depending on population density and the percentage of the population that weigh too much. They range from $8.7 million for Colorado, the slimmest state in the nation, to $1.3 billion for Alabama, the chubbiest state. Other states with dense populations, like New York ($6.1 billion) and California ($7.7 billion), have larger medical cost burdens. But even states with smaller populations, like Maine ($3.6 million), Idaho ($2.3 million) and Montana ($1.8 million), face significant state budget costs due to weight related medical care.
As of 2007 no state had met the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce the state obesity rate for adults to 15% or less. In contrast, in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in 6 states more than 30% of the population had BMIs over 30, classifying one-third of the state’s population as obese. In 25 additional states more than one-quarter of the state’s adult population were obese. The incidence of obesity in the US has more than doubled in the past three decades with no slimming trend in sight.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 7 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
The Calorie Counter, 4th Ed., 2007
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to The Nutrition Experts/
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