Study: Obesity as Bad as Smoking

But growth in obesity rate has slowed down significantly

(NEWSER) - The once-explosive growth in the proportion of Americans who are obese has slowed, but it's still expected to grow to 42% by 2030, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control study. The study found that if the obesity rate stays at the current level—34%—then some $550 billion in health care costs would be saved, reports the Washington Post . Earlier studies predicted that 51% of Americans would be obese by 2030, but no matter which is correct, "we still have a very serious problem," the head of the CDC's obesity program says. More»

US must get a handle on public health crisis

(NEWSER) - A widespread vice has a negative effect on Americans' health, and it's up to the government to do something about it. That approach worked for tobacco, David Lazarus writes for the LA Times , and it can work for obesity, too. "The answer seems obvious," he argues. "If we want to protect ourselves from a deadly epidemic of heart disease, diabetes and other ailments, just as we've taken steps to protect ourselves from an epidemic of lung cancer, we need to act." More»

(NEWSER) - Being a touch on the heavy side could help you live an extra few years, Japanese researchers say. People who were a little overweight at 40 lived 6 to 7 years longer than those who were very thin at that age, AFP reports. The very thin had a life expectancy 5 years shorter than that of obese subjects. More»

David Lazarus: It's time to stop the obesity epidemic

(NEWSER) - The obesity news just keeps getting worse, the latest example being the study warning that 4 in 10 American adults could be obese in less than 20 years. "Americans eat too damn much," writes David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times . And though it may be distasteful to get government involved in our dinners, it's become necessary: It's clear that "millions of Americans can't be trusted to look after their own well-being," while everybody else gets stuck with their health bills. More»

Frank Bruni says we're not appreciating the gravity of our weight problem

(NEWSER) - It's time to stop sneering at the morbidly obese as "the undisciplined miscreants of modern American life," writes Frank Bruni in the New York Times ; they're just doing what comes naturally. Bruni, riffing off the upcoming book and HBO documentary The Weight of the Nation, argues that obesity "is less a lurking danger than a likely destiny," a product of our agricultural superiority, economic security, and evolutionary imperatives. More»