Posted April 2, 2012
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that obesity rates in the United States are leveling off, although Owensboro physician Dr. Dirck Curry isn’t seeing it locally.
The new research reflects 2009-10 data, the most recent available, from the government’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which examined 6,000 adults and 4,111 children. Body mass index was measured, as well as other areas.
Statistics showed that more than 35 percent of adults are obese, which is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or greater. The number is similar to the 2005-06 rate. BMI, a key component is assessing health trends, measures weight and height.
“Our population seems to continue to grow and get bigger,” said Curry, who practices osteopathic medicine at the Primary Care Center and at the Wound Healing Center in Owensboro. “I see obesity getting to be more of a problem, especially in our younger population.”
James O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, was quoted in USA Today saying that while the leveling off was good news, there are still too many overweight people in the country.
The report also found that gender differences appear to be fading, with percentages of overweight males catching up with or even overtaking those of females. More adult men are overweight or obese as compared with women — 73 percent to 63 percent. Severe obesity remains more common in women, however.
The report said the Let’s Move! program has raised national awareness of obesity, as well as food content labeling. Also, public service announcements have encouraged children to exercise.
“I’m very impressed when someone does turn around (his lifestyle),” Curry said. “There’s a young man I’ve seen who has lost 40 pounds. It takes work.
“There’s planning and preparing appropriate meals, staying away from processed foods, eating more fruits and vegetables, and getting 20 to 30 minutes of exercise seven days a week.”
Curry said the most-important exercise one can do is pushing away from the table.
“Buffets teach us the worst lifestyle,” he said. “We gorge ourselves on food and think, there’s always tomorrow (to start eating healthier).”
For those who say they walk while at work and that ought to count for exercise, Curry counters by saying the body gets acclimated to that.
“You need to do more and eat less,” he said. “Drink water and throw away the sugar drinks.
“We want you to be a lean, mean fat-burning machine, but we don’t have those kind of people anymore. Our kids sit at computers and don’t get involved in sports or outside activities because of computer games and movies. That’s what’s consuming their time.”
Rich Suwanski, 691-7315, or rsuwanski@messenger-inquirer.com.
©2012 the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.)