US Obesity Rates Leveling Off

Posted By elissa on Jan 17, 2010 | 2 comments

As the LA Times puts it:

Americans may not be collectively doomed to die in their recliners after all, one hand in the chips bag, the other stretching for the remote. Obesity levels seem to be leveling off or slowing across most of the population, according to two new comprehensive studies of the nation’s heft.

The assessments, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are a welcome respite from the seemingly endless reports of Americans getting fatter and fatter. The latest of several to find an obesity plateau, they suggest that those earlier findings were not aberrations but that Americans may truly have turned a corner.

…Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist for the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the children’s report, said the findings track with other reports, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which saw a plateau among students in grades nine through 12 from 2005 to 2007.

“We’re continuing to see slowing,” Ogden said, “although the prevalence of obesity remains very high.”

It’s good news, although there’s still a long way to go.  Personally, I think this guy is spot on…

Dr. Howard Eisenson, program director of the Duke Diet & Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., sees glimmers of hope in the studies but says the real challenge is to get people to exercise. “The survey only looks at BMI; it doesn’t look at physical fitness, which doesn’t get enough attention,” he said. “Poor physical fitness is a matter of big concern.”

Bingo. Studies have already shown that physical fitness plays an important role in determining the health risks associated with being overweight. While exercise alone won’t win the battle of the bulge, it’s an important first step that could do a LOT to improve health and well-being.  There’s a lot more to the “obesity crisis” than BMI.