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Good News In The Obesity Epidemic

By Peter Liu

[Weight Loss]

Have obesity rates hit a plateau? Peter Liu sees hope in the face of change.

Since a decade ago, knowledge about the importance of obesity prevention, weight loss, trans fats avoidance and eating healthy have been steadily disseminated to people in Canada and America in attempts to contain the spread of obesity as a health issue. But because so much of the food industry has chosen to focus on selling unhealthy food to the average consumer, at least two-thirds of each national population is now overweight. Since the early 2000s, however, knowledge on healthy eating has been more widely distributed and now many people are aware of the consequences of not watching what you eat. Some may choose not to follow health advice, but at least changes in the way we view food have made an impact and people are forced to review the information about what they’re about to eat before they do it.

The Self-Encouragement Study

A recent study published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has stated that the obesity trend in America has stopped climbing and is beginning to level out. The findings come as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), taken as a cross-section cut from the cloth of the American population. NHANES follows trends in American obesity by keeping tabs on height and weight measurements. The recent data from 2007 to 2008 compared with the information from 1999 to 2006 showed that obesity trends are finally stabilizing. Included with this survey was a study of height and weight measurements from 5,555 adult men and women, all 20 years and older. A second survey was conducted on 3,281 children and teens from 2 to 19 years of age and 719 infants and toddlers.

It was found that 68 per cent of adults were overweight or obese, 32 per cent for women and 35.5 per cent for men. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of toddlers and infants were overweight or obese, and the children and teens weighed in at 18 per cent, both groups showing similar to no change in obesity trends over the last decade. Despite this, boys from 6 to 19 years of age showed an average increase in weight gain, however, and 17 per cent of school age children are still obese by child standards. Of teens, 12.6 per cent aged 12 to 19 are considered obese by adult standards, while the overall predominance for obesity is still over 30 per cent for most genders and age groups.

Effective Measures

The study’s authors claim that the reasons behind this leveling out of obesity rates in America is due to the continued spread of knowledge concerning health, nutrition, exercise and eating well. The constant hammering of nutritional information everywhere has at the very least influenced people to evaluate their decisions when ordering food, unconsciously counting calories and weighing the consequences of ordering too much. Through things like product advertising and the constant marketing of new weight loss products, health and nutritional supplements, along with listing calories on menu boards and in restaurants, people are forced to pay attention to what they’re eating. At schools, the reduction of junk food, implementation of healthier lunches and additional physical education programs all help to keep children and teens exercising while eating better food.

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