By More precise intervention is required to combat this ever-growing epidemic
Although I will focus on the US for this post, obesity is huge worldwide.
Perhaps the only areas which aren’t affected would be our most prized ‘blue zones’, which are not that vast.
The extent of obesity can be observed everywhere — from the local supermarket to your workplace.
Each year the statistics are revealed; they keep climbing higher and higher.
To change these levels of obesity, there must be a huge amount of education, self-analysis and doctor intervention.
Self-education is important, as a level of responsibility must be exercised on every individual.
Unfortunately, people only seem to take action when they have terminal illnesses. An illness forces you to stop and start paying attention again.
What research has uncovered
Researchers uncovered these findings in the Journal of Obesity through randomly selected participants.
It was part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination annual Survey. Studies began as early as the 1960s and became a continually running program from 1999.
Using this data, NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) found a staggering ten-year weight gain was significantly higher in women than men.
On average, women seemed to have gained twice as much weight (about 12 pounds) compared to men, who gained only 6 pounds.
Weight gain also differed between races, showing that black women experienced the greatest average gain (19.4 pounds) and Asian men experienced the least weight gain (only 2.9).
It was revealed the greatest weight gain occurs during middle-aged. As age increases, less weight is gained.
Here are the averages according to the age groups:
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In your 20’s and ’30s, weight gain was, on average, 17.6 pounds.
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In your 30’s and ’40s, weight gain was on average 14.3 pounds.
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In your 40’s and ’50s, weight gain was on average 9.5 pounds.
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In your 50’s and ’70s, weight gain was on average 4.6 pounds.
If adults were to gain weight every decade, that would entail an average of more than 45 pounds, pushing one towards the obesity category.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, this is the harsh reality of obesity:
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42 per cent of adults are now obese.
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30.5 per cent more than from 2000.
These are some staggering figures.
If doctors and health practitioners have this data on hand, they may be more likely to pinpoint patients that are likely to become obese and provide the necessary advice and care to help them.
Perhaps this is lacking today in our health system — continuous health checks every year to determine how much weight a person is gaining and putting a dent in that with the proper advice.
What do you think would help assist this ever-growing obesity epidemic?
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