Obesity, is it racism?

 In the United States, everything that is bad is blamed on racism.  Especially health issues.  And racism of course, is blamed on the history of African slavery and Jim Crow within the U.S.  But what about Britain? Overweight adults - GOV.UK Ethnicity facts and figures (ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk)

• in the year to November 2021, 63.5% of adults (people aged 18 and over) were overweight or living with obesity – up from 62.8% the previous year
• 72.0% of adults from black ethnic groups were overweight or living with obesity – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups
• 37.5% of adults from the Chinese ethnic group were overweight or living with obesity – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
• compared with the year ending November 2016, the percentage of adults who were overweight or living with obesity went up in the white British ethnic group (from 62.1% to 64.5%), mixed ethnic group (from 53.9% to 59.5%) and 'other' ethnic group (from 58.9% to 66.2%)
• the percentages were broadly similar to those from the year ending November 2016 for all other ethnic groups

Their ethnic census list is even more complicated than the U.S.  Our government continues to break down the country into race categories.

The UK ethnic groups for the Obesity Survey were:

Asian or Asian British

Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Chinese
Any other Asian background

Black, Black British, Caribbean or African

Caribbean
African
Any other Black, Black British, or Caribbean background

Mixed or multiple ethnic groups

White and Black Caribbean
White and Black African
White and Asian
Any other Mixed or multiple ethnic background

White

English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British
Irish
Gypsy or Irish Traveller
Roma
Any other White background

Other ethnic group

Arab
Any other ethnic group

In Wales, ‘Welsh’ is the first option in the White category. See the article for how race is recorded in Ireland.

In the USA, obesity is also a problem. 

Obesity in the United States from Statista, Obesity rates U.S. adults by race/ethnicity 2021 | Statista 

 Unless the definition of overweight/obesity is different, it looks like the Brits are fatter than the Americans! The Statista data represent adults who reported having a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25.0 kg/meters squared.

"Obesity is a present and growing problem in the United States. An astonishing 32 percent of the adult population in the U.S. is now considered obese. Obesity rates can vary substantially by state, with around 41 percent of the adult population in West Virginia reportedly obese, compared to 25 percent of adults in Hawaii. The states with the highest rates of obesity include West Virginia, Kentucky, and Alabama.

Diabetes 

Being overweight and obese can lead to a number of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Being overweight or obese is one of the most common causes of type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body does not use insulin properly, causing blood sugar levels to rise. It is estimated that just over eight percent of adults in the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is now the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for three percent of all deaths.

Obesity rate by race/ethnicity

White 31.5%

Black 43.9%

Hispanic 36.7%

Asian/Pacific Islander 13.2%

Native American/Alaskan Indian 38.6%

Other 32.9%

The CDC provides additional information on obese Americans.

• The US obesity prevalence was 41.9% in 2017 – March 2020. (NHANES, 2021)
• From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –March 2020, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 41.9%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. (NHANES, 2021)
• Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These are among the leading causes of preventable, premature death.
• The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was nearly $173 billion in 2019 dollars. Medical costs for adults who had obesity were $1,861 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.

Here's a shocking statistic from CDC:  "Over a ten-year period [1998-2008], the number of states with 40 percent or more of their young adults who were overweight or obese went from 1 to 39." MR_Too_Fat_to_Fight-1.pdf (missionreadiness.org)

Obesity not race is reflected in Covid deaths

Obesity, not race, is creating the unequal results for recovery from Covid19 and a higher death rate. Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be overweight, their illness and death rates are higher. But you'd have to go into the statistics or read the last paragraph of an article on "health disparities" to find that out. In 2017-2019

• 6 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic White adults.
• 15 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among Hispanic adults.
• 34 states and the District of Columbia had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic Black adults.

80% of Covid victims are overweight or obese, which leads to the other co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And the rate is also high for whites. My state, Ohio has 30-34% obesity rate, according to this CDC map. Very few articles report differences within a racial group and why. No way to make it all about race if the reporter/researcher reported the truth on lifestyle vs. race.

Almost 72% of Americans are overweight or obese according to USAFacts compared to about 14% in the early 1960s. Just a quick observation: we have more government involved in our food system, there are many more weight loss programs, and in the 70s more women began working outside the home causing the restaurant industry to boom and fewer meals at home.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html?

Covid: CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized were overweight or obese (cnbc.com)

https://usafacts.org/articles/obesity-rate-nearly-triples-united-states-over-last-50-years/?

Percent of body fat

And I quote: "There’s a reason why females have a harder time losing those extra pounds. Nature gave a woman more enzymes to store fat and less to burn it in case she needs to support a developing baby. As a result, women have about 5 percent more body fat than men. A healthy body fat percentage for an 18-year-old girl is between 17 and 30 percent, while a 19-year-old should fall between 19 and 31 percent. Adult females 20 to 39 years should strive for a body fat percentage between 21 and 32 percent. Forty to 59-year-old women should fall within the 23 to 33 percent range, while those 60 years and older should be between 24 and 35 percent." That's sounds better than what I heard at the gym today. My percentage body fat is 32.2 according to that little machine that said I was over the recommended for my age. If I lost what the machine recommended, I'd be receiving"get well" cards in the mail.

 http://livehealthy.chron.com/healthy-body-fat-levels-based-age-3473.html

Calculate your BMI and physical activity

I tried three different BMI calculators, and got three different answers (all within normal). But I like this one best because it took my sex and age into consideration and eliminated Asian Americans from the race category (they are smaller than European Americans). Also the site added some advice. https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/?ru=2 So if you're going to do the usual New Year's resolution, try this one.

I was surprised when reading this article on physical activity and its relationship to the deadliest killers, to see that 54% of American adults actually do get the recommended 150 minutes a week (about five 30 minute workouts).  There are at least six fitness/gyms within 2-3 miles of my residence, so someone in suburbia is working out.  I am registered at two of them, but I'm not very regular, except on my exercycle in my office. I prefer walking outside, but a slight hill bothers my bursitis.

https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=gyms&find_loc=Upper+Arlington%2C+OH

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5327681/

"Adults who met the PA guidelines were significantly more likely not to report high cholesterol, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, asthma, depression, or overweight. Furthermore, adults meeting the PA guidelines were significantly more likely to report having health insurance, consuming fruits daily, consuming vegetables daily, and not being a current cigarette smoker."

BMI calculator from Mayo Clinic

Adult BMI calculator based on 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society. BMI classification. World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro_3.html.
 http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938

In addition to healthy eating, the site recommends 

• Exercise. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense activity daily.


• Set action goals focused on specific healthy activities such as improving muscle tone through strength training or starting a daily food and activity diary.

Stand up for good health

If you are sedentary, just exercising after work won’t help much.

“The fight against sedentary behavior cannot be won based only on the promotion of regular exercise," he wrote. "A person walking while at work for 2 hours, standing for another 4 hours, and performing some daily chores at home for another hour will burn more calories than jogging or running for 60 minutes."

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/ExerciseFitness/52877

“Researchers attached a monitor to nearly 700 participants over 7 days and found that each additional 2 hours per day spent sitting was significantly associated with higher body mass index (risk ratio 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05; P<0.001), waist circumference (Beta=2.12, 95% CI 0.83-3.41, or around 2 centimeters; P<0.001), fasting plasma glucose (about 1%), total/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio (5%), triglycerides (12%), 2-hour plasma glucose (4%), and with lower HDL cholesterol (0.07 mmol/L).”

The BMI doesn’t tell the whole story, but . . .

I took the test. Much better than last summer at this time.

“Congratulations! Your healthy weight is well worth the effort. It reduces your risk of serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. To maintain a healthy weight:

•Embrace healthy eating by choosing a variety of nutrient-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables and whole grains and small amounts of energy-dense foods like olive oil, nuts and dried fruits.

•Exercise. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense activity daily.

•Set action goals focused on specific healthy activities such as improving muscle tone through strength training or starting a daily food and activity diary.”

http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938

A high amount of body fat can lead to weight-related diseases and other health issues and being underweight can also put one at risk for health issues. BMI and waist circumference are two measures that can be used as screening tools to estimate weight status in relation to potential disease risk. However, BMI and waist circumference are not diagnostic tools for disease risks. A trained healthcare provider should perform other health assessments in order to evaluate disease risk and diagnose disease status.

Another way to estimate your potential disease risk is to measure your waist circumference. Excessive abdominal fat may be serious because it places you at greater risk for developing obesity-related conditions, such as Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. Your waistline may be telling you that you have a higher risk of developing obesity-related conditions if you are¹:

• A man whose waist circumference is more than 40 inches
• A non-pregnant woman whose waist circumference is more than 35 inches

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/index.html

Mayo Clinic BMI calculator

Just barely squeak into the normal zone. I’ve lost 18 lbs since Christmas. http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938

Yes, it’s the old tried and true ELMM method—eat less, move more. Works every time, but it does take longer as we age. I’m “embracing” healthy eating with no crazy changes or diet books. Just more fruits and vegetables, more salads with a variety of greens, eating all the colors, steaming, no sandwiches, making a lot of soup from home made broth, avoiding all my triggers—potato chips, crackers, cheddar cheese, processed foods in general and no glass of red wine with dinner.

Yesterday I made baked meatballs out of canned salmon—got them nice and brown, really delicious.  It’s easy to warm them up for a meal.  Even my husband liked them. Also I make up a mess of black beans, brown rice and grilled onions with a smidgen of either bacon or hamburger, divide into 4 packages, and then use that warm on my salad greens with some pieces of fat free feta cheese. I could waste away to nothing before I’d develop a taste for feta, so I think it is pretty safe. If made in Greece, it’s a brined white cheese made from sheep or goat milk, or if U.S. made, may be from cow’s milk.  I can’t tell from this label.

Also more exercise—4-6 miles on the exercyle, spread over 4-5 times a day on the bike so I don’t reinjure my bursa. I’m also using my husband’s finger strengthener for his guitar while I cycle, trying to improve my grip which had become so weak I needed help to open jars.

My leg pain of the last 3+ years was gone after the first 10 lbs., but I’m still being careful.

The obesity challenge

Today I was watching a very interesting program on the cable channel Biography about George Lucas. A lot of it was old footage of the development of his early films like American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977). Lots of fun to watch. However, the old clips of 37 years ago showed how thin he was in his 20s, a beanpole really . . . and how heavy he is now. Not obese by Columbus standards, but certain chunky. Plump. Chubby. I wonder what the government can do about this. Michelle, the CDC, hundreds of foundations and non-profits, all sorts of government grant money are being thrown at this problem. And he's not poor. Not a minority. He's rich, got health care. Gosh. Won't that skew the stats? JAMA is reporting that the government is so impressed by what it's been able to do with taxing cigarettes (although since it's been taxing tobacco for 360 years I'm not sure it's all that successful and hurts primarily the poor), that it wants to use the same methods for fighting obesity that it has used for fighting nicotine. I guess you won't be able to eat with anyone else in the room. Second hand calories, you know.

First Lady criticized for discussing her children’s weight in public

Bloggers and talkers left and right (Glenn Beck mentioned it, and he seems overly concerned about his own weight, IMO) are saying she did a bad thing, using her own children as an example of poor eating. Well, I don’t think it was any worse than complaining to blue collar workers in Ohio (during the campaign) about paying back her college loans and the cost of her kids’ piano lessons. That was a 21st century "let them eat cake" speech.

"We went to our pediatrician all the time," Obama said. "I thought my kids were perfect -- they are and always will be -- but he [the doctor] warned that he was concerned that something was getting off balance."

"I didn't see the changes. And that's also part of the problem, or part of the challenge. It's often hard to see changes in your own kids when you're living with them day in and day out," she added. "But we often simply don't realize that those kids are our kids, and our kids could be in danger of becoming obese. We always think that only happens to someone else's kid -- and I was in that position."

Obama said the doctor suggested she first look at her daughters' body mass index (BMI). The minor changes she subsequently made in their daily habits, Obama said, made all the difference.

What is important about childhood obesity is ignored in this story.

1) No one knows what the “right” BMI is for children--those studies haven‘t been done. It's age, it's ethnicity, it's genes, it's gender, it's growth spurts. I was almost my adult height and weight by the end of 7th grade. One girl in the class got her growth spurt after high school graduation. At our 20th reunion I didn't recognize "Pee Wee" because he was over 6' and quite filled out. If Obama's pediatrician mentioned BMI, then it was observational, not research;

2) studies don't show any change in obesity (except upward) with government intervention--and believe me it has been tried many times with the CDC and foundations throwing billions at it, and not just our country;

3) it‘s frequent dieting that seems to be dangerous;

4) older people who carry extra weight live longer than thin people with terrific fitness scores or obese people;

5) studies do show that low-fat diets for children are bad for brain development, especially in infancy.

CDC in 2004 announced that obesity was the nation’s number two killer (cigarettes were #1) causing 400,000 deaths a year. It's own data can't find an association between BMI and cancer. But oops. Their own data indicated the true average is 112,000 per year. But never you mind--it’s a fabulous draw for tax money.

Here’s some cost figures for “fighting” obesity from the 2010 budget as broken out by program at JunkFoodScience.blogspot.com even though there is no evidence these programs and partnerships work, prevent disease, or reduce mortality.

● The budget for obesity programs under the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity department totals $44.4 million; which includes “developing innovative partnerships,” such as with the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership and with the Produce for Better Health Foundation (where the CDC co-chairs the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance). PBH was honored at the Weight of Nation conference, by the way, with an award for its work “advancing policies and environmental strategies to prevent and control obesity.”

● The $62.47 million budget for REACH, which targets minority communities for intervention, is part of its Healthy Communities Program which, it says, is an integral part of CDC’s response to the epidemics of obesity and chronic disease.”

● $7.3 million is for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

● $12.3 million for Genomics is described as “opportunities for public health and preventive medicine, which support the President‘s Healthier U.S. Initiative and the Secretary‘s Personalized Health Care Initiative.”

● $65.99 million is budgeted for diabetes surveillance, prevention and education (such as its Diabetes Primary Prevention Initiative which is “focused on approaches that identify people with pre-diabetes... to adapt lifestyle behaviors aimed at reducing modiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes” – i.e. obesity).

● $341 million is for cancer prevention and control programs, such as WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation, which targets low-income women “to improve diet, physical activity, and other lifestyle behaviors to prevent, delay, and control cardiovascular and other chronic diseases”) and NCCCP (National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, which “provide a blueprint to encourage healthy lifestyles, promote recommended cancer screening guidelines and tests,…[and] education programs about cancers or their associated risk factors”).

● The $62.78 million budget for School Health is focused on physical activity, nutrition and tobacco use prevention and other priority health risk behaviors, most notably obesity and type 2 diabetes (which it says “has become increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents as rates of overweight and obesity rise”) and funds 22 state agencies “to focus on reducing chronic disease risk factors such as tobacco use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity” and funds 29 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to “promote healthy behaviors for the nation’s youth.”

● $22.8 million is for its Healthy Communities program for “community leaders and public health professionals to equip these entities to effectively confront the urgent realities of the growing national crisis in obesity and other chronic diseases in their communities.”

Go to her page and check the links. The scientific evidence she writes, "often from CDC statistics itself, fails to support any of these programs. That’s why it’s never been more important for us to remember those fallacies of logic and to think and look deeper than the headlines."

This is my favorite "anti-anti-fast food" photo. Peasant women in a Romanian village which doesn't have running water let alone processed food or a McDonald's!

All this talk about food has made me hungry. Time out for Ritz and cheese. Also, did you know that Gerberding, Bush's head of the CDC, is now head of vaccines for Merck? What do you bet they'll develop a vaccine to fight obesity. She certainly laid the ground work during her years at CDC.

The government and obesity

Here's what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has written about our expanding girth in this country:

"American society has become 'obesogenic,' characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, nonhealthful foods, and physical inactivity. Policy and environmental change initiatives that make healthy choices in nutrition and physical activity available, affordable, and easy will likely prove most effective in combating obesity."

Notice which comes first; not our choices, not our habits, not our genes, but policy and environmental changes. In other words, inviting more government bureaucrats and regulations into our restaurants, our schools, and our dining rooms and kitchens. This is not new to the current administration. You can go back into the early 90s and read things from the CDC on this fact. And it was always alarming.

If there were a model community for losing weight and being fit, I'm here and blogging about it. Lakeside, Ohio. I'm here most of the summer this year, and even if I only lost one pound a week of the weight I've picked up in my interesting travels since September 2007 [Ireland (3 lbs.), Italy (3 lbs.), Greece, Israel, and Egypt, 3 lbs.], I'd be thrilled. But this morning I weighed exactly what I weighed six weeks ago. I buy at the local farmers' market and small grocery store in town; I walk 4-6 miles a day; I ride my bicycle; if we eat out (rare) there are no "fast food" restaurants; I eat 5-6 servings a day of freshly prepared fruits and vegetables--mostly raw; I eat nuts and yogurt; my brain is engaged everyday in interesting seminars, classes, art instruction and music programs. There's not a reason in the world why I shouldn't be able to get into the size 6-8 slacks I wore two years ago. Except my age, my metabolism, and my genes. My desires, my tastes, and my lack of will power. My delicious rhubarb pies, my crackers layered with butter, peanut butter and cheddar cheese, my glass of red wine with dinner, my pancake with real syrup at the Patio Restaurant on Sunday after church.

Yes, it's all becoming clear to me. No matter what the federal, state and local governments do at the policy and environmental level to make my life easy, active and low calorie, they will still have to deal with me.

So I'm wearing size 10 this summer, the CDC be damned.

If you would prefer the CDC telling you all this instead of me, go here to hear.

Are you government approved?

Check out this website and see! I am approved--my BMI was 22.46. But all these folks the government says are overweight:

OVERWEIGHT:
Barry Bonds: 6'2": 228 lbs: 29
David Boreanaz: 6'2": 218 lbs: 28
Tom Brady: 6'4": 225 lbs: 27
President Bush: 5'11": 191 lbs: 26
Nic Cage: 6'1": 210 lbs: 28
George Clooney: 5'11": 211 lbs: 29
Tom Cruise: 5'7": 170 lbs: 26
Matt Damon: 5'11": 187 lbs: 26
Johnny Depp: 5'7": 190 lbs: 27
David Duchovny: 6'0": 212 lbs: 29
Vin Diesel: 6'2": 200 lbs: 26
Cheryl Ford: 6'3": 215 lbs:27
Harrison Ford: 6'1": 218 lbs: 29
Brendan Fraser: 6'3": 234 lbs: 29
Richard Gere: 5'11": 187 lbs: 26
Ethan Hawke: 5'9": 172 lbs: 25
Hugh Jackman: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27
Lebron James: 6'8": 240 lbs: 26
Dale Jarrett: 6'2": 200 lbs: 26
Bobby Labonte: 5'9": 170 lbs: 25
Nick Lachey: 5'10": 180 lbs: 26
Karl Malone: 6'9": 259 lbs: 28
Dr. Phil McGraw: 6'4": 240 lbs: 29
Mark McGuire (playing weight): 6'5": 250 lbs: 30
Donovan McNabb: 6'3": 240 lbs: 30
Yao Ming: 7'6": 310 lbs: 27
Brad Pitt: 6'0": 203 lbs: 28
Keanu Reeves: 6'1": 223 lbs: 29
Cal Ripken: 6'4": 210 lbs: 27
Andy Roddick: 6'2": 197 lbs: 25
Will Smith: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27
Sammy Sosa: 6'0": 220 lbs: 30
Denzel Washington: 6'0": 199 lbs: 27
Bruce Willis: 6'0": 200 lbs: 29
Billy Zane: 6'2": 210 lbs: 27

4400

Using a pedometer to improve your health

The other day I walked 5 miles. I know that because I was wearing a step pedometer (similar to the photo), and only one mile was "exercise" done outside. The rest was my activities at home, and going out twice to shop. Recently I read, "Using pedometers to increase physical activity and improve health" (a review article) in the Nov 21, 2007 issue of JAMA, pp 2296-2304 (many public libraries have a subscription). The researchers had reviewed 26 published studies that reported on pedometers among outpatients, 8 randomized controlled trials, and 18 observational. The conclusion was that use of a pedometer is associated with significant increases in physical activity and significant decreases in body mass index and blood pressure. This was across all ages, races, gender, and state of health.

Some guidelines specifically recommend 10,000 steps a day, although I don't know that this goal would change the outcome. So, if you're like me and exercise isn't your thing, clip on that pedometer. I'm not sure why it works, but people, me included, seem to increase their activity level when using a pedometer. When I'm wearing it, I'm more likely to walk upstairs to the bathroom rather than use the one 2 ft. from my desk; I might take the laundry from the basement to the bedroom in three trips instead of one; I'll walk into a room on a different floor to ask my husband something, rather than holler; I'll pace while reheating my coffee rather than stand and stare at the microwave. It's not brain surgery. Here's some other ideas from the Walking Site.

Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend
Walk the dog
Use the stairs instead of the elevator
Park farther from the store
Better yet, walk to the store
Get up to change the channel
Window shop
Plan a walking meeting
Walk over to visit a neighbor
Get outside to walk around

So during this high calorie Christmas season when it is cold and drippy outside, I'm setting a goal of 5,000 steps a day through January 5, 2008. If I can do more, I will, but if I set it too high, I'll get discouraged. One good walking place is the Giant Eagle store. I can never find anything I want in that store and spend a lot of time walking around.