Study: We're Eating Ourselves to Death

Culture & Society Forum

Inactive Americans are eating themselves to death at an alarming rate, their unhealthy habits fast approaching tobacco as the top underlying preventable cause of death, a government study found.

In 2000, poor diet including obesity and physical inactivity caused 400,000 U.S. deaths - more than 16 percent of all deaths and the No. 2 killer. That compares with 435,000 for tobacco, or 18 percent, as the top underlying killer.

The gap between the two is substantially narrower than in 1990, when poor diet and inactivity caused 300,000 deaths, 14 percent, compared with 400,000 for tobacco, or 19 percent, says a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is tragic," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC's director and an author of the study. "Our worst fears were confirmed."

"It's going to overtake tobacco" if the trend continues, Gerberding said. "At CDC, we're going to do everything we can to prevent it," she said. "Obesity has got to be job No. 1 for us in terms of chronic diseases."

The researchers analyzed data from 2000 for the leading causes of death and for those preventable factors known to contribute to them. Like tobacco, obesity and inactivity increase the risks for the top three killers: heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular ailments including strokes. Obesity and inactivity also strongly increase the risk of diabetes, the sixth leading cause of death.

The results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials discussed the findings Tuesday at a Washington news briefing where they announced a public service ad campaign using humor to get Americans to pay attention to the dangers of inactivity and obesity.

"I am working very hard at CDC to walk the talk," Gerberding said in a telephone interview, noting efforts the agency has made at CDC offices to improve the health of its 9,000-plus employees.

They include putting music, lights and fresh paint jobs in stairwells to encourage employees to use the stairs for exercise. Also, besides the current indoor smoking ban, CDC will ban smoking from outside all of its buildings starting later this year.

In order, the leading causes of death in 2000 were: Heart disease, cancer, strokes and other cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, and septicemia.

The underlying preventable causes of death were, in order: tobacco, poor diet and physical inactivity, alcohol, microbial agents, toxic agents, motor vehicles, firearms, sexual behavior and illegal drug use. Together, these accounted for about half of all 2.4 million U.S. deaths in 2000.

An editorial accompanying the study in JAMA says national leadership and policy changes are needed to help curb preventable causes of death.

"After all, wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is doing it," said editorial authors Drs. J. Michael McGinnis and William Foege. McGinnis is with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Foege is with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: AP

I eat and eat and eat, but doin't gain a pound. So many people don't have that problem :/

I am the same as you, I have been eating and eating and eating (and I NEVER EVER excercise) and I have been losing weight. Wierd.

Although this fits in with the thing about McDonalds having to scrap supersize meals. We don't have super size meals here, is it really 1.1 L of Coke? How many fries do you get with a super size?

1.1L of coke? You've gotta be kidding me...

I remember Australia has Up size (as does Taiwan - "add big"), but it was only like... 600ml at the most... and most of that was ice.

man...... all this talk about eating ourselves to death is starting to make me hungry

I am the same, my mum is thin, my dad is stick-thick so I am thin. Obesity is generally genetic and not from over eating, although over eating generally makes it worse than it would be if they ate properly, but that is obvious.

If your genetics make you prone to being overweight, don't over-eat. Simple.

In most cases it does not matter how much you eat as long as you exercize. I'm 30 years old, I eat a lot but I walk daily and do pushups. I am in the best shape I have ever been in my life.

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmwst/2004/tmwst040310.gif

Excellent Advance.

Americans do tend to be the fattest in the world. It is #1 the quality/additives in the food given here and #2 the fact that Americans are generally lazy. I should know, after all I live in America so this study is not surprising to me at all. Reason why I monitor what we eat at home and why I make sure my kids are active and not just the kind of kids who sit at home watching tv, playing videos or on the computer all day long.................... maybe this will motivate people here to do something else besides being a couch-potato??!!!

Erika

You would think those kids get bored.... But there are a lot of fat people. :=/