New reports reveal what anyone walking around in much of this country can already see for themselves: The obesity crisis in America is getting worse. The figures (no pun intended) are mortifying, and the consequences are as somber as a graveyard. “Excess weight or obesity boosts risk of death by anywhere from 22% to 91% – significantly more than previously believed,” a Feb. 23 University of Colorado summary of a new report reads, “while the mortality risk of being slightly underweight has likely been overestimated.”
‘Substantially Worse’
“Existing studies have likely underestimated the mortality consequences of living in a country where cheap, unhealthy food has grown increasingly accessible, and sedentary lifestyles have become the norm,” study author Ryan Masters, an associate professor of sociology at the university, is quoted as saying.
The research is interesting in that it maintains using body mass index as the sole indicator of obesity is a flawed approach:
“[Masters] noted that BMI, which doctors and scientists often use as a health measure, is based on weight and height only and doesn’t account for differences in body composition or how long a person has been overweight …
“To see what happened when those nuances were considered, Masters mined the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1988 to 2015, looking at data from 17,784 people, including 4,468 deaths. He discovered that a full 20% of the sample characterized as ‘healthy’ weight had been in the overweight or obese category in the decade prior. When set apart, this group had a substantially worse health profile than those in the category whose weight had been stable.”
The gist of all this: Masters concludes that the mortality rate from obesity in America is being severely underreported. His thesis becomes all the more troubling when you factor in one of the fastest-growing segments of this bulging population.
57% of Youth: America’s Obesity Future?
“In the early 1960s around 5 percent of U.S. children and teens were obese. By 2019, that total rose to 19 percent,” The Hill detailed on Feb. 24. “Should current trends continue, some reports estimate 57 percent of children between the ages 2 and 19 will be obese as adults in 2050.”
Leaving aside ridiculous politically correct references to “structural racism” as one possible cause of the spike, the establishment news site accurately homes in on likely sources of the catastrophe. “Even high levels of physical activity do not offset obesity risk among youth who spend eight or more hours a day looking at screens, research shows,” The Hill notes. “The rise in screen use could have also exposed children to more food advertising, ‘which we know is associated with extra weight gain in kids and consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks,’” Erica Kenney, assistant professor of public health nutrition at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, stated.”
“It’s estimated four in every 10 child-influencer videos on YouTube contain branded food or beverages, with candy brands appearing the most often,” the article continued.
It would seem only logical that kids who spend an inordinate amount of time transfixed by the artificial world of the internet and cable TV would have a hard time understanding natural concepts such as healthy eating and physical fitness. Throw in bad habits ingrained in families over multiple generations (the 1960s were the heyday of artificial additives in food; the children of that decade are grandparents today), and you have patterns that are excruciatingly difficult to overcome.
“It’s not what you do once in a while, but what you do every day that matters,” WW Wellness Coach Janet Sherrill told Liberty Nation’s Leesa Donner in January. “The reality is, it starts with parents being good examples. We see overweight parents day in and day out with overweight children. We need to work on behaviors that focus on good nutrition and an active lifestyle.”
This cogent argument is backed up by other health advisors.
“Children who understand what food does to their bodies – and the problems with many of the foods marketed to them – can develop a lifelong habit of healthy eating,” The Epoch Times’ Amy Denney related on Feb. 18. “Experts say involving children in growing, shopping, preparing, and cooking food provides invaluable insight that can combat childhood obesity.”
“If they develop bad habits, it’s very hard to change those when their culture reinforces them. These children are the victims of the situation,” Dr. Nadia Ali, board certified in internal and integrative medicine, told Denney. “We have to understand the root cause of obesity so we can treat, reverse, and prevent it.” It’s that simple. Kids need to understand what real food really is, and why moving around outdoors will make them happier and healthier than staring at pixels on a screen.
The alternative is horrifying. While BMI may be deceiving in some ways due to fluctuations in individuals’ weight, this “reflection of stature at [one] point in time,” as the University of Colorado’s Masters describes it, is still telling a woeful tale in America today. An unsettling “9% of the U.S. population has severe obesity with a BMI of over 40, which is a 5-foot-9-inch tall person who weighs more than 271 pounds,” WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported in September. As active lifestyle choices are denigrated and the “body positivity” industry becomes ever-more powerful, the nation’s youth are facing a health dilemma. You don’t need a university study to tell you where those numbers will end.
