Free Republic

As many families gather for this splendid holiday feast, there are too many others who in the year suffer the American equivalent of hunger. This is more like deprivation and thankfully not the clinical malnutrition and starvation it is in the Third World. At the same time, this super-rich nation is also battling what is described as an epidemic of overweight and obesity. Obesity, according to the experts, is mushrooming faster than any other health problem. If not slowed down, it will exact $344 billion in health care costs in 2018. By that time 43 percent of Americans, or 103...

The obesity bubble is in no danger of bursting. While lawmakers like to vilify insurance and pharmaceutical companies for driving up health-care costs to make fat profits, obesity is actually a far bigger reason for ballooning costs. Call it the obesity bubble, and a study out this week shows that it's in no danger of bursting. Obesity is defined as having a body-mass-index (BMI) of 30 or greater. For example, a person who is 5'8 and weighs 200 pounds has a BMI of 30 and would be considered obese. According to the study's author and the executive director of the...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts. Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community. "We know we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic," said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation. "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout."...

Tufts University researchers have identified a gene-diet interaction that appears to influence body weight and have replicated their findings in three independent studies. Men and women carrying the CC genotype demonstrated higher body mass index (BMI) scores and a higher incidence of obesity, but only if they consumed a diet high in saturated fat. These associations were seen in the apolipoprotein A-II gene (APOA2) promoter. "We believe this is the first time a gene-diet interaction influencing BMI and obesity has been replicated in as many as three independent study populations," says corresponding and senior author Jose Ordovas, PhD, director of...

As the health care debate rages in the US, Tokyo lawmakers set a maximum waist size. Are you too fat for Japan? TOKYO, Japan — In Japan, being thin isn’t just the price you pay for fashion or social acceptance. It’s the law. So before the fat police could throw her in pudgy purgatory, Miki Yabe, 39, a manager at a major transportation corporation, went on a crash diet last month. In the week before her company’s annual health check-up, Yabe ate 21 consecutive meals of vegetable soup and hit the gym for 30 minutes a day of running and...

_ Chalk up another national-security threat _ this one looming with each excess pound, failing grade and drug bust affecting young adults. An alarming 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 would not qualify for military service today because they are physically unfit, failed to finish high school or have criminal records. So says a new report from an organization of education and military leaders calling for immediate action on the early-education front. While some experts voiced doubt that obesity and other societal ills would keep three out of four young adults out of the ranks, the report titled...

As the health care debate rages in the US, Tokyo lawmakers set a maximum waist size. Are you too fat for Japan? So before the fat police could throw her in pudgy purgatory, Miki Yabe, 39, a manager at a major transportation corporation, went on a crash diet last month. In the week before her company’s annual health check-up, Yabe ate 21 consecutive meals of vegetable soup and hit the gym for 30 minutes a day of running and swimming. “It’s scary,” said Yabe, who is 5 feet 3 inches and 133 pounds. “I gained 2 kilos [4.5 pounds] this...

You aren't what you eat. You're how much. That's the message from a two-year National Institutes of Health-funded study that assigned 811 overweight people to one of four reduced-calorie diets and found that all trimmed pounds just the same. It didn't matter what foods participants ate, but rather how many calories they consumed. An intense debate has long raged over which dieting regimen is best. Low carb? High protein? Low fat? But the federal study, one of the longest of its kind, "really goes against the idea that certain foods are the key to weight loss," says Frank Sacks, principal...

It's time fruit juice loses its wholesome image, some experts say Compared with soda, juice carries more calories and as much sugar. There's also evidence that high consumption increases the risk of obesity, especially among kids. By Karen Kaplan November 8, 2009 To many people, it's a health food. To others, it's simply soda in disguise. That virtuous glass of juice is feeling the squeeze as doctors, scientists and public health authorities step up their efforts to reduce the nation's girth. It's an awkward issue for the schools that peddle fruit juice in their cafeterias and vending machines. It's uncomfortable...

I am watching Huckabee on Fox and it looks like he is getting a little chubby. Does anyone else see the same growth?

Contrary to what was previously assumed, overweight is not increasing the overall death rate in the German population. The Süddeutsche Zeitung published an advance notice of the report (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/140/489526/text/), which shows that overweight does not increase death rates, although obesity does increase them by 20%. As people grow older, obesity makes less and less difference. Read the rest of the artilce here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/dai-boa101609.php

More than a third of American youth of military age are unfit for service, mainly because they are too fat or sickly, the Army Times reports, quoting the latest Pentagon figures. Most of the rest are too dumb or have used too many drugs to qualify, the study shows. The report says 35% of the 31 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified because of physical and medical issues. "The major component of this is obesity," Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions, tells the Times. "We have an obesity crisis in the country. There's no question about it."...

More than one-third of Americans ages 17-24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues, U.S. military officials said. Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions, said the United States has "an obesity crisis." "There's no question about it," Gilroy told the Navy Times. "Kids are just not able to do push-ups, and they can't do pull-ups. And they can't run." The Pentagon figures -- 35 percent of the roughly 31.2 million Americans ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service -- are drawn from data from the Centers for Disease Control. In a study scheduled to be...

Obama's surgeon general pick - a doctor who's supposed to be a health role model (if nothing else, I mean what the hell else does the Surgeon General do besides PSA's about 'do this, don't do that) and she's obese. It's more a statement about Obama than her, in reality. THis whole administration and the people working in it. Up is down. Good is bad. Left is right. 36,000 jobs saved/created for 1 trillion in stimulus tax money, but 3.3 million jobs lost since Obama took office. A tax cheat for Treasury Secretary. A huge pro-abort for Health and Human...

TRENTON, N.J. - The Republican in New Jersey's race for governor wants the incumbent to eat his words over the challenger's heft. says Gov. Jon Corzine should quit hinting at his weight with unflattering ads and "Man up and say I'm fat." Christie also told radio personality Don Imus he'll be "a big, fat winner" on Election Day. "I'm pretty fat," Christie deadpanned on Imus's New York-based radio show Thursday morning. Asked by Imus, he joked he weighed 550 pounds.

Once upon a time, health care was simple: If you had a cut or hemorrhoids, you reached for a leech. There was no medical problem that couldn't be solved, in theory, by applying leeches to the body and letting the wild bloodletting begin. Now, it seems, some public-health experts have found a modern equivalent that will drain America of all its nasty public-health problems: tax increases. Thomas Frieden, the former New York City health commissioner who's now director of the Centers for Disease Control, has hailed taxes on sugary sodas as a painless way to reduce obesity -- despite much...

American nightclubs catering specifically for fat people are proving a hit with plus-sized partygoers looking for acceptance. Venues like Club Bounce and The Butterfly Lounge in California are aimed at people who may be made to feel unwelcome at certain fashionable nightspots because of their size. Such clubs are a relatively new development, with a handful scattered across California, mainly in coastal cities such as San Diego and San Francisco. Lisa Marie Garbo, who opened Club Bounce five years ago, said she did it for herself and others who were tired of being "the only fat girl at the local...

GOP choice Crist can't control his appetite for food. Is this an indicator?

The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn't sturdy enough to hold him. The crew offered an idea to Keller, who was then an investigator with the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. Could they use a forklift to load the man - bed and all - onto a flatbed truck? Keller agreed: There was no other choice. "I'm sure it was terribly embarrassing to be in his own bed, riding on the back...

Krispy Kreme had been a popular doughnut chain in the South since 1937, but remained unknown to the rest of us until about 1996. That's when the first Krispy Kreme popped up in New York City, on West 23rd Street. ..." Krispy Kreme stock hit a high of about $49 in 2003. Then it started on a long downward spiral, losing about 90% of its value. This company had problems that had nothing to do with its doughnut recipe. It over-expanded and took on crushing debt. There were allegations of management misconduct. Some franchises went bankrupt. Competition was fierce in...

Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby. But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.

Frustrated parents of a big infant who is being denied insurance view the system as "absurd." Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old. But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That's why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that's why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate. Insurance companies can turn down people with pre-existing conditions who aren't covered in a group health care plan. Alex's pre-existing condition — "obesity" — makes him a financial risk. Health insurance reform measures are...

Americans need more exercise, not another tax. Obesity is a complex issue, and addressing it is important for all Americans. We at the Coca-Cola company are committed to working with government and health organizations to implement effective solutions to address this problem. But a number of public-health advocates have already come up with what they think is the solution: heavy taxes on some routine foods and beverages that they have decided are high in calories. The taxes, the advocates acknowledge, are intended to limit consumption of targeted foods and help you to accept the diet that they have determined is...

Sitcom queen Kirste Alley makes like human zeppelin, docks at fat farm for quick fix. Alarmed as her weight skyrocketed toward 300 pounds, a desperate Kirstie checked into a fat farm and began grueling six-days-a-week workout sessions. The distraught actress collapsed and broke down in tears when her weight soared to a record 250 pounds, as The ENQUIRER reported in late June. But she was unable to put the brakes on her out-of-control bingeing. Racing to avert disaster, Kirstie started a new diet and exercise routine, but ended up adding another 15 pounds - and hit the 265-pound mark in...

The Senate Finance Committee approved an amendment to the healthcare bill Wednesday that would allow employers to charge workers with unhealthy lifestyles more for their insurance coverage. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., permits employers to adjust premiums as much as 50 percent according to the level of workers’ health habits, up from 20 percent currently. “Weight gain and unhealthy lifestyles that focus on smoking and lack of exercise have sky-rocketed our healthcare costs," Ensign said in a statement cited by Politico news service. "These costs could be lowered by focusing on what...

A couple soon expecting their seventh child has had their fifth and sixth taken by social workers after warnings that the family needed to slim down their overweight kids or risk losing custody. The unnamed 39-year-old mother from Dundee, Scotland, told the United Kingdom's The Sun newspaper, "This is every family's worst nightmare." Scotland's television station STV reports the family was warned last year that they risk losing all of their kids, ages 3 to 13, unless the children lost weight. At the time, the youngest, a girl, weighed 56 pounds. The oldest, a boy, has since grown to over...

Health care experts, including two former U.S. Surgeons General, said on Wednesday said that obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is a threat to security in the United States and abroad. “Obesity is not just a health issue,” said Richard Carmona, who served as surgeon general in the George W. Bush administration. Carmona is now with the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance (STOP), a coalition of consumer, government, labor, business, and health insurers that advocate “innovative and practical strategies” to combat obesity. Obesity “affects our national and global security,” said Carmona. He said the U.S. has reached a...

Delia, in response to your question, how much can Americans stomach? The answer is, a LOT! Way too much, in fact. Like you, I am chagrined by the dominance of the fast-food industry in America, and not just because their ubiquitous presence every few feet along urban highways is an architectural eyesore. Like you, I happily eat some of it, and for cost, consistency and speed (in this era where a wait of five minutes seems a gross imposition), it can hardly be beat. But when I really look at what I'm eating, I know it's wrong. And when I...

Despite the efforts restaurant chains from fast food to fine dining have made to add more-healthful items to the menu, consumers still aren’t buying. In a poll on chainleader.com, 82 percent of respondents say their better-for-you items are selling “lousy.” Recent research shows that customers cite economic factors as a reason for not purchasing healthful food—or as an excuse. Too Great a Cost Chicago-based foodservice consulting firm Technomic says its research shows the recession is hindering consumers’ healthy-eating behavior. Although more than half of consumers say they are more concerned about their eating habits than they were a year ago,...

Juice extracted from North American lowbush blueberries, biotransformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, holds great promise as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, was conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université de Moncton who tested the effects of biotransformed juices compared to regular blueberry drinks on mice. "Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential," says senior author Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine. "Biotransformed blueberry...

Lizzie Miller is considered too large to model plus-size clothes. Is the reaction that followed the publication of this picture going to change that? 'It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches," gushes Cindi Leive, editor of US Glamour in a post on the magazine's blog, "but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands." The picture in question, illustrating a story about body confidence, has generated more than 700 comments on the site, and featured on the US Today morning TV programme. What does it show? A beautiful, creamy-skinned...

PARK FOREST, Ill. (CBS) ― They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But one south suburban couple found themselves forced to stay in Vegas a lot longer they wanted. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports that their trip out West went South when a man claimed he was picked on because of his size. The man flew from Midway Airport to Las Vegas without incident. But when he tried to fly home to Midway several days later, he says he was prevented from doing so because of his girth. Emery Orto has a canceled ticket from Southwest Airlines, which...

Gov. Paterson's proposal to tax soda in New York fizzled, but President Obama believes it may be time to pop a similar sin tax on the nation. The President, in an interview with Men's Health magazine released yesterday, said he thought taxing soda and other sugary drinks is worth putting on the table as Congress debates health care reform. "It's an idea that we should be exploring," the president said. "There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that's been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda...

* Soaring obesity rates make changes imperative * Taxes could reduce soft drink consumption * Changing public transport routes could encourage grocers By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A strongly worded report on child obesity released on Tuesday recommends that state and local governments tax junk food and soft drinks, give tax breaks to grocery stores that open in blighted neighborhoods and build bike trails. The report from the independent Institute of Medicine and National Research Council also suggests that governments limit television and video games in after-school programs, require restaurants to list calorie...

All signs now point to the United States being entrenched in a deep recession. It may be some time before things turn around, and because of that Americans will likely suffer serious side effects from the extended recession. Financial effects of recession are fairly well known and include things such as job losses, and increases in foreclosures and bankruptcies. But not all of the side effects of recession involve finances.Food Budgets Tightening One of the first places families look to cut their budgets is food. After all, some could argue that food and categories such as utilities, both budget categories...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – There is an epidemic in an old gold mining town in western Arizona: The wild burros that roam the town's single street are overweight, with rolls of fat on their necks and big, full bellies. But don't blame them. They'll eat anything. It's the half million tourists who visit tiny Oatman each year. They're the ones who have been feeding these critters carrots, hay or anything else, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says.

Researchers searching for a cure for obesity said on Thursday they have developed a drug that not only makes mice lose weight, but reverses diabetes and lowers their cholesterol, too. The drug, which they have dubbed fatostatin, stops the body from making fat, instead releasing the energy from food. They hope it may lead to a pill that would fight obesity, diabetes and cholesterol, all at once. Writing in the journal Chemistry and Biology, Salih Wakil of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Motonari Uesugi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues said the drug interferes with a suite of...

A small molecule earlier found to have both anti-fat and anti-cancer abilities works as a literal turnoff for fat-making genes, according to a new report in the August 28th issue of the journal Chemistry and Biology, a Cell Press journal. The chemical blocks a well known master controller of fat synthesis, a transcription factor known as SREBP. That action in mice that are genetically prone to obesity causes the animals to become leaner. It also lowers the amount of fat in their livers, along with their blood sugar and cholesterol levels. "We are frankly very excited about it," said Salih...

By now many are used to the ongoing manipulation of facts perpetrated within the health care debate, but as the President attempts to regain control of his own message his claims and statistical manipulation have crossed beyond the borders of absurd. In a conference call for his campaign organization, Organizing for America (formerly the Organizing for Obama), the president backed up his claims of how he intends to fulfill the promise of cost savings within Medicare without cutting benefits. The President's solution is simply to put America on a weight loss plan. According to the President, "If we went back...

A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today. Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years. The results, based on brain scans of 94 people in their 70s, represent "severe brain degeneration," said Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of neurology. "That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of...

A surcharge on cigarettes has helped curb smoking, but will the same tactic work to fight obesity? "Sin taxes" on cigarettes have turned out to be the most effective weapon in the campaign to reduce smoking. Why not try it on Flamin' Hot Cheetos, vanilla Coke and Twinkies? With increasing vigor, public health experts and think tanks are calling for extra taxes on foods and drinks that are heavy in calories and light on nutrition. New York Gov. David Paterson proposed an 18% soda tax last year as a budget-balancing measure, only to abandon it three months later in the...

According to the CDC, 66% of adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. That is approximately 140 million adults. Somewhere between 15 and 20 million Americans can be classified as alcoholics. As many as 50% of those on welfare are alcoholics. There are 225 million people over 18 years old and 32 million of them do not have a high school degree. There are 32 million adults or 14% who are illiterate (23% in California, 22% in New York, 20% in Florida, 17% in New Jersey). The United States’ spending per pupil in public schools at $9,266...

Obamacare Pays 'Community Organizations' to Monitor Your Weight The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) would provide federal grants to state and local governments and a “national network of community-based organizations” to "promote healthy living and reduce disparities" and to monitor people's weight, eating, exercise habits and other individual behaviors that affect health at the community level. The language instituting the program, entitled "Community Transformation Grants,"

A new study says the average age of video-game players in the United States is 35, and oh, by the way: They're overweight and tend to be depressed. Investigators from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Andrews University analyzed survey data from 552 adults in the Seattle-Tacoma area. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 90, according to the study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The hypothesis was that video-game players have a higher body mass index — the measure of a person's weight in relation to...

Ladies, will you be happy when ACORN activists track your weight? Weigh in here! "Community Transformation Grants," on pages 382-387 "a--(A) State government agency; (B) local government agency; or (C) national network of community-based organizations." "In carrying out subparagraph (A), the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure-- "(i) decreases in weight;

Since it will be a few months before Michael Vick takes the field, PETA has decided to target someone else in preparation - fat people. A new ad campaign, which recently launched in Jacksonville, takes aim at overweight people in about as direct a way as you can. A huge billboard in the city reads, "Save the Whales. Lose The Blubber. Go Vegetarian." Next to the words is a pretty large woman, who looks to be about a biscuit away from becoming a whale dressed in a polka-dot bikini. Now, that's a low blow. "Our goal is help overweight...

Obesity is the elephant in the room of health care reform, a public health catastrophe that kills more than 100,000 Americans a year, cost the nation $147 billion last year and threatens to shorten U.S. life expectancy for the first time since the Civil War.....

PARKLAND, Wash. - Overweight and overwhelmed, a 22-year-old student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma is afraid that without intervention, he'll die. But his mother's health insurance won't cover gastric bypass surgery - a pricey procedure that the family can't afford on its own. And now he's hoping that the generosity of the community will help where insurance won't. Jake Paikai weighs more than 600 pounds - but since he doesn't own a scale big enough to handle his weight, he doesn't know how much more. His best guess is 650 pounds. His mom, Mimi Sprinkle, says he's always been...

<p>PENSACOLA, Fla. (Aug. 14) -- Dr. Jason Newsom railed against burgers, french fries, fried chicken and sweet tea in his campaign to promote better eating in a part of the country known as the Redneck Riviera. He might still be leading the charge if he had only left the doughnuts alone.</p>

If you ask Dr. Steven Spady, there are two important words missing from the nation’s conversation about health reform: “personal responsibility.” But Spady, a 54-year-old emergency physician in rural Kentucky, can’t talk about the topic right now. He’s too busy caring for people who he says don’t take care of themselves. “I just had to go take care of man that left our hospital this morning and now has gone and got drunk and will suck up more health care dollars,” Spady wrote in a hurried e-mail late on a recent weeknight. That same day, he cared for a 358-pound...