Posted on August 19, 2008 by Joel Shpigel R.Ph.

Obesity and Diabetes Rates Increase Dramatically in Survey of States

According to an annual state-by-state survey, adult obesity rates increased in 37 states in the past year ,while Type 2 Diabetes, a weight related disease, increased in 26 states. What's more is that an additional survey showed that whereas not one state in 1991 had an obesity rate at 20%, now every state, except Colorado, has an obese population over 20%.

According to the survey, individuals with a body-mass index of 30 or above, a calculation based on height and weight, are considered obese. For instance, a person who is 5 ft. 8 in. and weighs 200 pounds has a BMI of 30.4.The steady rise in overweight Americans may be attributed  to large serving-sizes in restaurants, the high cost of nutritional food, and more time spent in front of TVs and computer screens according to some experts.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted on April 30, 2008 by Joel Shpigel R.Ph.

Caution: Eating This Food Can Lead to Obesity & Diabetes

So So there's been a study that shows that people who live in neighborhoods where there are more fast food restaurants have higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Is it me or is that a no brainer?And, what's more, this rate increase goes across all racial lines, all ethnic lines, AND all income lines! 

The study found obesity rates to be 20% higher in neighborhoods with five or more times as many fast-food outlets as produce vendors, compared with those with three or fewer and Diabetes rates were 23% higher! That's quite significant. It's been suggested that all restaurants post caloric and nutritional content for all of their food like what New York was just mandated to do. That's ok but I have a better idea. Why doesn't someone set up a MAXIMUM healthy caloric content figure per sandwich, snack, side order, etc and if a food goes over that, a CAUTION NOTICE must be posted and/or printed on wrappers or boxes of take out food saying the following:

CAUTION: THIS FOOD IS OVER THE RECOMMENDED CALORIC INTAKE LEVEL PER MEAL AND REPEATED INGESTION MAY LEAD TO OBESITY AND/OR DIABETES.

Kind of similar to a label on a package of cigarettes. Nah, it won't work.

People still smoke and that can lead to CANCER!

(Picture from http://www.obesity-experts.com/Fast-Food-Obesity.html)

 

Tags: , , , , ,