The Big Picture

Weight loss market in 2004 was worth $46.3 billion, among diets, weight loss programs, medicines to lose weight and surgeries. In 2008, it is forecasted to hit $61 billion. Unfortunately, there is no reason to be happy, except for the businesses that sell medicine, programs and other weight loss products. In fact, this market growth simply means something: there are a lot of fat people in America, and that is the reason of their title: The fattest country in the world. But there is also good news, the increasing market size also means more people is becoming concerned about being fat, and want a change. Young people in America don’t want to reach the age of 35, only to find there is 70% of probability to catch diabetes. This also means more and more people want to live beyond 57 years, which is the life expectancy of an overweight man with diabetes.

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Facts

There is a health crisis in the fattest country in the world. Diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, all are problems caused by being overweight. If we look at the obesity trends we find that in 1993, less than 12% of people were obese in America, in 2003, that percentage rose to 24%. What is most worrying is that this problem is not related to age, ethnicity or socio-economic class. The problem has spread to all branches of society and to every family.

Approximately 30 percent of adult obesity begins with children obesity. In 1963, 4% of American children suffered from overweight, in 1990, 11% of children had this problem, in 2007, 18%. The problem is not diminishing, it is alarmingly getting bigger. The possible complications of paediatric obesity are scary: Insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver disease, symptoms of depression, eating disorders, stroke, cardiovascular disease and possible increased risk of cancer, only to name a few.

Direct health care costs for obesity refer to physician visits, medication, hospital fees and nursing. Indirect costs are related to the value lost by people unable to work due to obesity problems. The cost burden of obesity and related illnesses to the fattest country in the world are approximately $8.8 billions for heart disease, $21.2 billions for osteoarthritis, $3.4 billions for gallbladder disease, $98 billions for type 2 diabetes and $4.1 billions for high blood pressure.

Behind the facts

Nobody could know for sure which are the reasons for America to be the fattest country in the world but experts have some general ideas. Availability of fatty foods is a concern when you find a fast-food restaurant at every corner, with chemically engineered food to taste great but high in fat content. Lack of muscular movement required in daily life is a concern too, because most of the hard work is nowadays performed by machines, humans tend to do the thinking process sit down for hours in front of a computer. In 1996, the Surgeon General's Report stated that Americans burn some 800 calories less than their parents did. That is a 1 hour race, every day, and just to be at the same level as 50 years ago. And just to make the picture darker, less than 25% of Americans exercises 3 times a week or more.

Conclusions

What can be concluded is that the fattest country in the world needs the best solution in the world to counter obesity issues, and need it at the fastest possible way. Recommendation for overweight people is to change diet and do some exercise. There are plenty of diet programs around and many exercises people can do at home, without even going to a fancy gym. Eating tasty food does not mean eating fatty food that will harm our body. And this is not for aesthetics only, don’t forget that obesity is an illness.

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