Extreme Obesity Ballooning In U.S. Adults

WCCO TV ^ | October 13, 2003 | not provided

[Paloma_55]

CHICAGO (AP) Americans are not just getting fatter, they are ballooning to extremely obese proportions at an alarming rate.

The number of extremely obese American adults - those who are at least 100 pounds overweight - has quadrupled since the 1980s to about 4 million. That works out to about 1 in every 50 adults.

Extreme obesity once was thought to be a rare, distinct condition whose prevalence remained relatively steady over time. The new study contradicts that thinking and suggests that it is at least partly due to the same kinds of behavior - overeating and under-activity - that have contributed to the epidemic number of Americans with less severe weight problems.

In fact, the findings by a RAND Corp. researcher show that the number of extremely obese adults has surged twice as fast as the number of less severely obese adults.

On the scale of obesity, "as the whole population shifts to the right, the extreme categories grow the fastest," said RAND economist Roland Sturm. He added: "These people have the highest health care costs."

Sturm said health problems associated with obesity - including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and arthritis - probably affect the extremely obese disproportionately and at young ages.

Sturm analyzed annual telephone surveys conducted nationwide by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His report covers surveys from 1986 through 2000. The findings appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

In 1986, 1 in 200 adults reported height and weight measurements reflecting extreme obesity, or a body-mass index of at least 40. By 2000 that had jumped to 1 in 50, Sturm found.

The prevalence of the most extreme obesity - people with a BMI of at least 50 - grew fivefold from 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 400, Sturm said.

By contrast, ordinary obesity - a BMI of 30 to 35 - doubled, from about 1 in 10 to 1 in 5, based on the same surveys.

Body-mass index is a ratio of height to weight.

Americans tend to understate their weight, and a recent study based on actual measurements found an obesity rate of nearly 1 in 3, or almost 59 million people. Sturm said his findings probably understate the problem for the same reason.

The average man with a BMI of 40 in Sturm's study was 5-foot-10 and 300 pounds, while the average woman was 5-foot-4 and 250 pounds.

Dr. Mary Vernon, a trustee of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, said the study reflects what doctors who specialize in treating obesity are seeing in their offices. Vernon said the number of her patients weighing 300 to 350 pounds or so has doubled in the past several years.

She said thinking has evolved from a generation ago, when many doctors believed extreme obesity was due to hormonal abnormalities or other distinct conditions.

Now many believe it is a combination of lifestyle factors and genetics, as well as a propensity for some people's bodies to be hyper-efficient at storing calories. This tendency would benefit people in societies where starvation is rampant but is a huge problem in developed countries where food is plentiful and lifestyles are increasingly sedentary, Vernon said.

Vernon said the biggest challenge in treating severely obese people, who typically have tried mightily to lose weight, "is giving them enough hope that it's worth trying again."

[Paloma_55]

1/50 adults are now extremely obese... hmmm...

From what I have read, this puts the extremely obese on a par with homosexuals as far as percentage of the population.

I wonder if this foretells of "Jolly Rights" (you know, jolly people are extremely fat.. St Nick?) and the term Jolly is less stigmatized than fat.

Soon, our children will be told that being fat is OK. Lots of people are fat. In fact, look at history... some of the greatest contributors to society were huge and obese...

One thing that is indisputable, being fat is DEFINITELY genetic. Sure, some people eat too much and don't exercise, but there is undoubtably a fat gene. Much easier to prove than a gay gene.

Next, we will have anti-discrimination laws that force beauty contests to allow extremely obese women wear the bathingsuit and compete with skinny women. They will force employers to put extra-heavy duty stairs on buildings to withstand the weight of these poor, poor, people who can not choose to live the way they do... but wait, they are not poor poor people, they are PROUD to be obese...er jolly.

We should have "Jolly Pride" parades in San Francisco and Boston.. yea.. that's it.

Did this little stab at humor dig up a few morsels of truth???

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[Skip Ripley]

I know there's a fat Gene.

He lives three houses down...

[AngrySpud]

I was camping over the long weekend, and was alarmed ... more than half the kids I saw were overweight -- that doesn't bode well for future adults.

[TheCrusader]

Why are they keeping track of fat people? And who are "they"?

[arasina]

Watch out! Here come The Fat Police with lots of new legislation on how to live our lives. (This study is just the start of their planned indoctrination.)

[DB]

I'm 6' 2-1/2", 215 lbs and my resulting BMI is 27.2.

Supposedly my ideal BMI would be 21.7.

I would have to weight 171 lbs to achieve this.

I’d also be severely anorexic if not dead…

[Paloma_55]

The article refers to people with a BMI of 50. 5'10" and 300lbs which is pretty danged hefty.

I think there is a point between 50 and 21.5 that is reasonable. For each person it will likely vary. Some folks just carry weight, some don't.

But a BMI of 50 means that there is either a severe medical condition, or the inability to hold food away from the lips and exercise at all.