Personal Injury Law

Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials

By Hurley, McKenna & Mertz

According to a recent report released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we are in an obesity crisis. With obesity rates reaching 30 percent in nine states last year, in stark contrast to only three states in 2007, it appears as though America is getting fatter and fatter. (D. Grady, NY Times, 8/3). Sadly, between 2007 and 2009, ?2.4 million more people became obese?bringing the total to 72.5million or 26.7 percent of the population.? Even more worrying is the fact that these rates came from an anonymous phone survey in which 400,000 participants were asked their height and weight.

In recent decades, obesity rates have doubled in adults and tripled in children, establishing a consistent and ominous trend that is increasing faster than anyone could have predicted. What people do not readily understand is that obesity has serious health consequences including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Increasing obesity rates only means increasing deaths due to obesity-related health problems.

Not only is obesity deadly, it is costly as estimates of the medical costs of obesity are as high as $147 billion a year. Conscious food and exercise choices are low cost solutions for many, but old habits die hard. As a medical malpractice and personal injury attorney, my best advice is to make health conscious decisions and develop good habits. However, I think we will be facing the consequences of the obesity crisis for decades.

Full post as published by Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog on August 04, 2010 (boomark / email).