The latest report from the US Center for Disease Prevention (CDC) has just fallen: it shows that one in 3 Americans suffers from obesity. A scourge that affects both women and men. If one is naturally optimistic, one can say to oneself, like Dr. Cynthia Ogden, epidemiologist at the CDC and co-author of the study, that “this percentage of obese people among the adult population is high but it has tend to stagnate and it has not increased since last year ”.
But if we are naturally pessimistic, we can also say that the various prevention campaigns hardly seem to bear fruit. According to this CDC report, more than 78 million American adults (34.9%) were obese in 2011-2012: this rate represents the percentage of people with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30. The category d he age most affected is that of 40-59 years, both for men (39.5%) and women (39.5%). “What is worrying is that these baby boomers will age and be affected by pathologies linked to obesity: cholesterol, cardiovascular disease…” underlines the CDC.
Obesity is a major health issue in the United States where it costs $ 190 billion a year in medical costs, according to a study from Cornell University. A health issue all the more important as the rates of “extreme” obesity have increased dramatically. The rate of adult Americans with body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more fell from 1.4 percent to 6.3%.
In an attempt to bend this curve, the CDC brings his suggestions to fight obesity:
– Open school playgrounds and gymnasiums outside school hours to encourage children to move.
– Provide access to drinking water in all public places such as parks so that soda cans are no longer the only solution to quench one’s thirst.
– Promote breastfeeding among young mothers.
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