- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Obesity
is quickly catching up to smoking as the No. 1 cause of death in the United
States, government researchers said on Tuesday, and a concerned federal
government launched an advertising campaign aimed at getting Americans
to eat better and exercise more.
-
- A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
showed tobacco use was still the leading cause of death in 2000, killing
435,000 people, or 18.1 percent of everyone who died.
-
- But poor diet and physical inactivity caused 400,000
deaths, or 16.6 percent of the total, the report showed -- up from 300,000,
or 14 percent of deaths, in 1990.
-
- An estimated 129.6 million of adult Americans, or 64
percent of the population, are overweight or obese, putting them at higher
risk of heart disease, diabetes, some types of cancer and various forms
of disability.
-
- If Americans continue to get fatter at current rates,
by 2020 about one in five health care dollars spent on people aged 50 to
69 could be due to obesity -- 50 percent more than now -- according to
a separate study by the Rand Corporation.
-
- "Americans need to understand that overweight and
obesity are literally killing us," Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson told a news conference.
-
- "We consider this a major threat," added National
Institutes of Health Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni.
-
- More than 30 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according
to the CDC. That translates to about 59 million people.
-
- Zerhouni called for more research on obesity.
-
- "There is no single cause of all human obesity,
so we must explore prevention and treatment approaches that encompass many
aspects, such as behavioral, sociocultural, socioeconomic, environmental,
physiologic and genetic factors," he said.
-
- This year, NIH funding for obesity research is $400.1
million. The budget request for fiscal year 2005 is $440.3 million, 10
percent more.
-
- STRESSING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
-
- HHS launched a public relations campaign on Tuesday stressing
that people do not need to shake up their lives to lose weight, but can
take small steps such as walking to work sometimes or taking the stairs
instead of the elevator.
-
- "We don't need to go out and run a marathon or join
a health club," Thompson said.
-
- It calls on Americans to snack on fruits and vegetables
instead of high-fat foods, to ride a bike on occasion and to replace the
Sunday drive with a Sunday stroll.
-
- Peggy Conlon of the Ad Council, the leading producer
of public service announcements, said advertising giant McCann-Erickson
produced the ads for free.
-
- She called them "memorable, highly relevant and
motivational" and said they would be aired by major networks, on radio,
in print ads and placed on billboards.
-
- "We will transform the United States from a country
that embraces treatment to a country that embraces prevention," said
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona.
-
- But consumer groups criticized the campaign as offering
too little.
-
- "The Bush administration's response is more talk
and no real help for the millions of Americans who would like to eat better
and watch their weight," said Margo Wootan of the Center for Science
in the Public Interest.
-
- "The Bush administration should instead get junk
food out of schools, ask Congress to require calorie labeling in fast-food
and other chain restaurants, strengthen CDC's nutrition and physical activity
division, and fully fund the CDC's VERB campaign, which promotes physical
activity to youth."
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
-
- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=4532109
-
|