Are airfares too expensive due to fat people?

Fat Forecast: 42% of Americans Obese by 2030



By Carrie Gann | ABC News – Mon, May 7, 2012 3:27 PM EDT



Study: Health costs now $190 billion
(Image Credit: Getty Images)
About 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030, upping obesity rates to 42 percent of the U.S. population, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report also predicts that the proportion of Americans who are severely obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, will reach 11 percent, about double the current rate.
The report's authors give a sobering price tag for these predictions: such an increase would create $550 billion of obesity-related health care costs.
Eric Finkelstein, one of the authors of the report, said the prospect of such increasing rates, particularly those of severely obese Americans, is alarming since efforts aimed at helping people lose weight have so far proven relatively ineffective.
"Their weight continues to increase. Over the last 10 years, it has gone up tremendously," he said in a press conference. "This is a group at great risk of health complications, and yet they are increasing at an even greater rate than the rate of obesity."
The report was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and was released at the CDC's Weight of the Nation conference today, a gathering focused on the impact of the obesity epidemic. The authors analyzed data collected from each state and made projections based on a number of factors influencing obesity rates, including the cost of healthy and unhealthy foods, gas prices and Internet access.
"Predicting obesity is tricky and no one variable showed up as causing obesity," Finkelstein said.
Although recent data suggest that rates of obesity have reached a plateau, current rates of obesity are still alarmingly high. About 34 percent of adults are currently obese, creating a whole host of expensive, chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The report's authors said a number of factors could lead to the predicted rise in obesity. About two-thirds of Americans are currently overweight and could continue to gain weight and move into the obese category.
Dr. William Dietz, one of the study's authors and director of the CDC's division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, also noted that children who are currently overweight or obese will likely be a major source of the increasing rates.
"We know that about 50 percent of severe obesity in adults is consequence of obesity in childhood," he said.
Currently about 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese.
Anti-obesity measures such as better urban design, access to recreational facilities, workplace health promotion and new drugs could help reign in the problem, the authors noted.

end of quote.

http://gma.yahoo.com/fat-forecast-42-americans-obese-2030-192747932--abc-news-health.html

Closing McDonalds too!

S.

It will never happen, of course, however it would be fair if passengers were charged on a per kilogram basis of the combined weight of themselves and their luggage - true and accurate "user pays".

The fit and the slim are already subsidizing the fat, the lazy and the unhealthy across the range of welfare services, especially health. I don't have precise statistics, but it seems fat people have the most check-in and carry-on luggage, adding insult to injury!

Will fat Americans increase Airline fares?

Tell me something ABC............are actually losing sleep about this or what ?

You probably fly first class - yes I did loose sleep on a full plane sitting next to a passenger in economy who should have been charged for at least two seats.

S.

Fat Chances

How accurate are obesity predictions?

By L.V. Anderson|Posted Tuesday, May 8, 2012, at 7:07 PM ET



Obese Americans on the street.

Forecasts state that obesity is still on the rise, long term, in America. How are these predictions made?

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

A new forecast by researchers at Duke University predicts that 42 percent of American adults will be obese by 2030, even though obesity rates have stayed level in women and risen only slightly in men over the past 10 years. How accurate are obesity forecasts?

They’re usually too large, but not by much. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that 40 percent of Americans would be obese by 2010. The actual 2010 adult obesity rate was 35.7 percent [PDF]. In 1999, the British Department of Health projected that 25 percent of Britons would be obese by 2010, a prediction that it updated in 2006 to 33 percent. The actual rate was closer to the more modest 1999 forecast: According to the most recent Health Survey for England, 26.1 percent of adults in England were classified as obese in 2010.

In general, it’s too soon to know how accurate obesity forecasts are. Obesity forecasting started to take off only about 10 years ago, so we have yet to reach the time periods for which most researchers have made predictions. However, different obesity projections sometimes conflict with one another, which means that at least some of them are inaccurate. The Duke study [PDF] out this week used variables such as unemployment rate, fast food prices, alcohol prices, and fuel prices to come up with its prediction of 42 percent. That contradicts a relatively simple 2008 forecast that used the change in American obesity rates between 1970 and 2004 to come up with a predicted 51 percent rate of obesity in 2030.


Researchers sometimes have to hedge their bets because they don’t trust people to be honest about how fat they are. A 2009 report [PDF] estimated that American obesity rates in 2018 could be anywhere between 38 and 47.5 percent; the study’s authors attribute that nearly 10-point margin to “the tendency of individuals to understate their weight in telephone surveys.” Some American obesity forecasters base their projections on data from the more reliable National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, a CDC program that clinically measures participants’ height and weight—but which uses a much smaller sample size than studies conducted via phone survey.

Researchers use the body-mass index, the ratio between a person’s body mass and the square of his or her height, to determine obesity rates. Beginning in 1985, the National Institute of Health defined obesity as having a body mass index above the 85th percentile, based on gender. In 1998, the NIH changed its definition of “obese” to having an absolute BMI of 30 or higher and added a new category, “overweight,” defined as having a BMI above 25.

Explainer thanks Karen Hunter of the Centers for Disease Control and Christopher J. Ruhm of the University of Virginia.

I am sorry to hear that, next time take a tranquilizer and knock yourself out for the entire flight. You will wake up feeling llke a baby.

Inside Story Americas
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/05/201251072829602369.html


Who is to blame for the US obesity epidemic?

As billions are spent treating obesity related diseases, we take a look at the US food industry lobby.
Inside Story Americas Last Modified: 10 May 2012 10:13


It costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year and leads to deadly chronic diseases. But who is to blame for the US' obesity epidemic?

In the next 18 years the number of obese people in the US is expected to rise to 42 per cent of the adult population.

"By focusing on obesity we're blaming fat people for a food environment that is not their fault, it is the fault of corporate control of the food supply, of government policies … we really need to stop this blaming and shaming and making fat people up as the victims...."

- Michele Simon, the author of Appetite for Profit

That means about 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030 compared to current levels.

The latest projection released this week by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention also says that 11 per cent will be severely obese - that is 45 kilogrammes overweight.

It is a public health epidemic that is costing nearly $150bn in healthcare every year.

According to the National Institute of Health, being overweight and obese is the second leading cause of preventable death in the US.

On Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine (IoM) released a report that rejects the idea that obesity is largely the result of a lack of willpower and personal responsibility.

The report recommends a pivotal role for schools in obesity prevention. It wants schools to ensure quality physical activity and awareness of nutritional standards among children.

The IoM panel says taxing sugar-sweetened beverages should be an option, noting that their link to obesity is stronger than that of any other food or beverage.

Institute of Medicine proposals:

Obesity is not a result of lack of willpower
Dramatic measures are needed for change
Lawmakers and food industry to blame for obesity epidemic, also US farm policy
US has an 'obesity-promoting environment', an 'average person' cannot maintain a healthy weight
Recommends schools be the focus for anti-obesity efforts
Employers and insurers should do more to combat obesity

"We live in an affluent society where parents give their kids money … it's their decision to give kids money. Parents are responsible for sheltering their kids, feeding them, housing them, loving them and advising them."

- Baylen Linnekin, the executive director of Keep Food Legal

The report also calls for doctors to play a more aggressive role. And employers have been urged to promote healthy eating and offer obesity-related health coverage.

So who is to blame for the problem? Do the IoM's recommendations go far enough? And is it time to re-examine the framework when dealing with the issue of obesity?

To discuss this on Inside Story Americas with presenter Shihab Rattansi are guests: Michele Simon, the author of Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back; Baylen Linnekin, the executive director of Keep Food Legal, an organisation that advocates against government food regulation; and Barbara Moore, the president of Shape UP America!, a national campaign to raise awareness about obesity as a health issue.

Click here to watch Fault Lines: Fast food, fat profits - an investigation into obesity in the US and those who are fighting back.

"Obesity is caused by a perfect storm of a multiplicity of factors and no one factor is going to be entirely responsible for this problem … personal choice and responsibility does play a part but a part of many other factors."

Barbara Moore, the president of Shape UP America!

THE STATE OF OBESITY IN THE US:

Over 42 per cent of adult Americans will be obese in 2030

About 35.7 per cent of the adult American population suffers from obesity now

Percentage of severely obese to double between 2010 and 2030, growing from five per cent to 11 per cent by 2030

Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest obesity rates at 44.1 per cent

Treating additional obese people to cost $550bn over 20 years

Medical-related costs of obesity estimated at $147bn a year

Obesity costs account for about nine per cent of annual medical costs

At least 30 per cent of the populace is obese in most US southern states - Mississippi has the highest rate at 34 per cent

The western US has the lowest obesity rates, with Colorado at 21 per cent

US FOOD INDUSTRY LOBBY:

The industry is worth about $1.5 trillion annually

About $175m has been spent on lobbying since 2009, including an effort to defeat proposed sugary-drinks tax that was led by Coca-Cola and Pepsi

Lobbyists spent more than $40m to defeat the sugary-drink tax - they defeated the soda tax initiatives in 23 US states

The industry spent close to $1m fighting school menu changes

In US schools, tomato sauce on pizza is counted as a vegetable

In 2011 McDonald's Corp spent over $1.5m on lobbying efforts, Nestle spent close to $4m

There may be a market in the US tourists to the DR for healthy eco-vacations , 1- 3 months, taking exercise and eating healthy local food. Slimming down. Walks on the beach, gentle gym, swimming, medical checks etc. etc. Perhaps off - season.


S.

Don't know about you, but I see ever more obesity in the DR too

Too much cheap bad foods around.

Let's get Roy to whip the crowd into taking long walks

abc200 lives in lala land

atabey,
Romo y mas romo!!! Fritura y mas fritura!!! There are alot of huge belly people in DR! Abc200 would have a huge belly if the people next door would give hime more left overs