One in Five American Deaths Now Associated with Obesity
December 21, 2013 | 41,316 views
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By Dr. Mercola
A new report reveals staggering statistics about the extent to which the obesity epidemic is robbing Americans of their health and longevity. Columbia University and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examined the real impact of obesity on death rates.1The study found that nearly one in five US deaths is associated with obesity, which is more than three times higher than previous estimates.The effect varies somewhat by your gender, race and age. The younger you are, the greater obesity’s influence on your mortality. And contrary to a previous study2, obesity is not protective if you’re elderly. The Columbia study found the following percentage of deaths associated with high BMI (body mass index):
- Black women: 26.8 percent of deaths were associated with a BMI of 25 or above (overweight or obesity)
- White women: 21.7 percent
- White men: 15.6 percent
- Black men: 5 percent
The authors wrote:“We believe that it is imperative for the US public and those who construct policy for that public to recognize that population health and more than a century of steady gains in life expectancy are being jeopardized by the obesity epidemic. Indeed, evidence has already implicated high rates of obesity as a significant contributor to the United States' relatively low life expectancy among high-income countries.”
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