From The New York Times - 9 April 2007
Severely Obese Fastest - Growing U.S. Overweight Group
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more overweight are the fastest-growing group of overweight people in the United States, researchers reported on Monday.
They found the proportion of the severely obese was 50 percent higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000 -- a startling rate of growth.
"The proportion of people at the high end of the weight scale continues to increase at a brisk rate despite increased public attention on the risks of obesity and the increased use of drastic weight loss strategies such as bariatric surgery,'' said Roland Sturm, an economist at Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research institute.
"The explosion in the use of bariatric surgery has made no noticeable dent in the trend of morbid obesity,'' Sturm added in a statement.
The researchers found that based on self-reported height and weight, which tends to underestimate the weight part, 3 percent of Americans are already severely obese -- defined as having a body mass index of 40 or higher.
Body mass index is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of a person's height in meters.
The researchers, whose report will be published later this year in the journal Public Health, found that the proportion of Americans with a BMI of 30 or more increased by 24 percent between 2000 and 2005.
The proportion of people with a BMI of 40 or more increased by 50 percent and the proportion of Americans with a BMI of 50 or more increased by 75 percent.
The number of bariatric procedures, which include stomach stapling and stomach bypass surgery, rose to an estimated 200,000 in 2006 from 13,000 in 1998.
More than 30 percent of Americans are overweight, with a BMI between 25 and 29, and another 30 percent on top of that are obese, defined as having a BMI of 30 or above.
Overweight people have higher risks of heart disease, diabetes and some cancer, and obesity makes the risks much more imminent.
From Medical News Today - 21 August 2007
Scientists Say Common Virus Could Cause Obesity
Scientists at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, Massachusetts this week presented the results of a study that suggests a common virus could be partly responsible for the obesity epidemic that is sweeping across America and other nations. They hope their findings will develop antiviral medication to treat "viral obesity".
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), some 97 million adult Americans are obese. Obesity increases risk of many illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and osteoarthritis.
So far scientists have shown that genetic predisposition increases risk of obesity, as do other contributory factors including over-eating, eating foods high in fat, lack of physical exercise, genetics, and some medications.
In this latest study, researchers used lab experiments to show that infection with a common virus that causes respiratory and eye infections in humans, called human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36) turns adult stem cells retrieved from fat tissue into fat cells. But stem cells that were not exposed to Ad-36 did not turn into fat cells.
The scientists have also discovered that a specific gene in the virus causes the transformation from stem cells into fat cells.
Presenting the results of the study was Dr Magdalena Pasarica, obesity researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, part of Louisiana State University:
"We're not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections."
Pasarica explained that:
"Not all infected people will develop obesity. We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it."
From the Guardian Unlimited - July 2005
Fat Fortune for Diet Town, USA
At first, the Structure House clinic looks like any boutique spa. The landscaped grounds host a swimming pool and a gym. Tinkling piped music seeps into the rooms of an elegant mansion house at its heart.
But one thing stands out: the size of the guests. People coming here are not on holiday. They are coming to lose weight - lots of weight.
They have picked the right town. Durham has become the weight-loss capital of America, hailed in one newspaper article as a 'Lourdes for the obese'.
As Americans' waistlines have expanded remorselessly, so have the treatments aimed at fighting the flab - and nowhere has benefited as much as Durham. The former down-at-heel North Carolina tobacco town attracts 4,000 to 8,000 people each year from all over the US to the residential weight-loss clinics that dot the city and its suburbs.
It brings in tens of millions of dollars to a local economy hit hard by the decline in the tobacco industry. 'Durham has become a mecca for weight loss,' said Dr Gerard Musante, founder of Structure House 'Nothing else exists like this. All roads lead to Durham.'
It not a cheap road, though. Structure House charges thousands of dollars for a four-week residential stay. The nearby Duke Diet and Fitness Centre asks up to $7,000 a month. But many Americans are willing to pay, some patients even taking out loans or selling their cars to afford the trip. Structure House alone has so far treated 30,000 people from all 50 American states and 35 foreign countries.
There is no surprise that Durham has been able to recreate itself as Diet Town, USA. America's obesity statistics are shocking. Studies have shown that 60 per cent of adult Americans are overweight and a quarter clinically obese. This weight gain has been fuelled by a fast food industry which has made cheap, mass-produced but unhealthy meals the nation's staple food. As a result, about 300,000 Americans die prematurely each year from causes linked to obesity.
Many who come to Durham believe it is their last chance to save their lives. Certainly that is true for Teresa Khirallah, a 31-year-old schoolteacher from Irving, Texas. She took out a bank loan to fund her stay after a doctor warned that her ballooning size meant she could end up dead or in a wheelchair. A close friend had also begged her at her 30th birthday party to lose weight. At the time, Khirallah weighed 28 stone. 'I could not even shop in plus-size clothing stores any more. I had gotten totally out of control,' she said.
A year and several trips to Durham's Structure House later, Khirallah is a changed woman. She is also much smaller, having lost about 14 stones. Her lifestyle has changed radically, too. She exercises every day, has run a half-marathon and is entered for a full marathon in Dallas in December. She intends to keep coming back to Durham, though, ever mindful that a slip in the Structure House's strict regimen of exercise and nutrition could see her start to put weight back on.
Though America has never been fatter, it has probably never spent so much money on dieting. Statistics show that Americans pay $33 billion a year for weight-loss products and services.
But Musante believes that America's problem with obesity may at last be reaching a peak. He points to the huge interest in dieting as a sign that obesity is finally being seen as a serious health problem which needs to be solved. He cites a growing awareness of health issues which has even seen fast food firms such as McDonald's try to market their food more healthily, scrapping 'supersize' portions and advertising salad options.
There are signs of increasing government involvement too. Last week New York announced plans to track diabetes patients in a similar way to the monitoring of infectious diseases. Diabetes is often linked to obesity and the condition has become commonplace as America has grown fatter. In Arkansas the state government requires local schools to measure their pupils' body mass index and send the reports back to the children's parents.
