US obesity epidemic halts

The report brings a respite that the obesity rates, which took an upward spiral during the 1980s and seemed irrepressible, have finally reached a plateau.

The numbers of overweight men in America have remained unchanged for the past five years and for women and children, the statistics have not seen much change in the past ten years.

The endless reports of Americans growing fatter by the day had sparked fears that obesity in America may never see an end but now those concerns have been put to rest.

However, it’s too early to shed all your apprehensions about high-calorie food as Americans still remain the fattest folks in the world. According to two studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as many as 68 percent of the Americans are obese, but the numbers have remained constant in the past decade.

Obesity epidemic halted but no celebrations still
Dr. William H. Dietz, the director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the CDC, says the report is not “a cause for complacency or celebration, but it is cause for modest optimism.”

One of the two studies involved 5,555 adult Americans, who were checked for their height and weight in 2007 and 2008. It was found that 33.8 percent of the subjects were overweight. On comparing the data to decade-old numbers, it was found that the obesity rates had largely become stable.

The second study involved examination of 3,281 children aged 2 to 19, as well as 719 infants and toddlers. The obesity rates were found to be almost constant over the last 10 years.

“Right now we’ve halted the progress of the obesity epidemic,” said Dietz. “The data are really promising.

“That said, I don’t think we have in place the kind of policy or environmental changes needed to reverse this epidemic just yet.”

The doctors insist that Americans should not relax just because the obesity rates have steadied, it is important to see them going down.

“Until we see rates improving, not just staying the same, we can’t have any confidence that our lifestyle has improved,” said Dr. David Ludwig, who is the director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at the Children’s Hospital Boston.

What caused obesity to impede?
The exact reason behind this slow down in obesity in America cannot be definitely stated, but experts believe that people might have benefited from the constant emphasis on healthy lifestyle and public health messages from various sources.

Though the reports have brought some relief, they suggest a complete collapse of the goal set by Federal health officials about a decade ago. Only up to 15 percent of people would be obese in 2010, they had determined back then.

“We aren’t near that, and we haven’t moved in that direction,” said Cynthia L. Ogden, an epidemiologist with the CDC and an author in both studies.