From Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article from PBS Newshour that I had to promote called How U.S. Obesity Compares With Other Countries written by Franco Sassi. We know that obesity is on the rise in many parts of the world, as well as obesity related illnesses such as heart disease, asthma, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and weak joints. Sedentary lifestyle, along with less physical activity and more technology is creating a planet of overweight humans. But, how does the United States compare to other countries with regards to obesity. New data is stating that in the U.S., Canada and Ireland, obesity is still on the rise, but the pace is slowing. Childhood obesity rates are slowing in the U.S., as well as in England, France and Korea. Obesity has become one of the biggest threats to public health in developed countries and increasingly so in emerging economies, especially in urban areas. Please visit the PBS Newshour web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. It was well written and very informative.”
From the article…..
New data is providing a gleam of hope in an otherwise fairly dark picture. After decades of rapid growth, adult obesity is stabilizing in many developed countries.
In the U.S., Canada and Ireland, obesity is still on the rise, but the pace is slowing. Childhood obesity rates are slowing in the U.S., as well as in England, France and Korea.
Despite these encouraging trends, obesity has become one of the biggest threats to public health in developed countries and increasingly so in emerging economies, especially in urban areas. At least one in two people are now overweight or obese in more than half of the 34 OECD countries — and numbers are set to rise further.
In most countries, obesity is strongly linked to gender and socioeconomic standing, with poorly educated women two to three times more likely to be overweight than those with more schooling. For men, disparities are less prominent and almost non-existent in many countries.
In the U.S., however, obesity is more likely to be linked to race than to income, with African-Americans and Hispanics more likely to be overweight than non-Hispanic whites or Asian-Americans.
Hover over the bars on the graphic below to see how U.S. obesity rates compare with other OECD countries. Click ‘Next story’ to see how self-reported obesity figures compare with measured rates in each country.
Why do we need to halt the epidemic? Obesity and the chronic diseases associated with it are killers, with severely obese people dying eight to 10 years earlier than their peers.
There is also a financial loss. In Sweden, for example, obese people earn some 18 percent less than others.
But the financial impact itself is mixed. During their life-span, an obese person costs the health care system 25 percent more than a person of normal weight, or up to 3 percent of total health expenditure in most OECD countries (5 to 10 percent in the U. S.). However, due to a shorter life expectancy, overall heath care costs for obese people are not higher than for a non-obese person.
To read the full article…..Click here