According to a study published by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Obesity (Oct. 2008), if current trends continue, almost all American adults may become overweight or obese 40 years from now.

BMI Basics
Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated by using the weight and height of an adult to determine their percentage of body fat. Any result in the 25.0-29.9 range is considered overweight. Obese people score more than 30.

If your family physician has not already told you what your BMI is, you can easily calculate it by using charts on the Internet (BMI results are not very accurate for body builders and athletes). For children, growth charts plotted at periodic physical exams provide information regarding weight status.

Healthy People 2010
Healthy People 2010, a program sponsored by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, features "Nutrition and Overweight" as one of its 28 focus areas. The goal was to reduce obesity prevalence in adults to 15 percent and in children to 5 percent by the year 2010. Funding to local Public Health Departments was provided in an effort to reach this goal. So, how is that working for Americans?

The research done at the Johns Hopkins Public Health School was based on national survey data collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the last 30 years. It indicates that we aren't doing so well at reversing the trend toward overweight and obesity.

Overweight America
Results indicated that if we don't come up with effective prevention, approximately 90 percent of all American adults, and 30 percent of children, will be overweight or obese by the year 2030. At highest risk are black women and Mexican-American men. The trend toward excess fat is progressing faster in adults than in children and in women than in men.

If the trend continues, the result will be substantially higher health care costs due to illnesses (i.e., diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, breast cancer, and certain other types of cancer) caused or exacerbated by excess weight. It will also decrease the life expectancy of future generations.

American weight statistics are continuing to move away from the Healthy People 2010 goals.

Bottom line: the research authors advise a need for "timely, dramatic, effective development and implementation of corrective programs/policies" to avoid consequences of this trend towards obesity.

For further information, refer to: "Will all Americans Become Overweight or Obese? Estimating the Progression and Cost of the U.S. Obesity Epidemic"; Wang, Y MD PhD; Beydoun, M; Liang, L PhD; Caballero, B; Kumanyika, S; Obesity, Vol. 16, Issue 7.

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