Geekbabe
Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Majority of adults overweight in Mass., Boston Globe,
By Stephen Smith
9/24/2003 -- More than half of Massachusetts adults are overweight, an epidemic that soared by 35 percent from 1990 to 2001, according to a statewide study of health that showed dramatic disparities between the poor and wealthy.
A telephone survey of more than 7,000 adults conducted by the Department of Public Health in 2000 and 2001 found that 54 percent can be medically classified as overweight, compared with just 40 percent in 1990.
It is powerful evidence of a national health crisis, specialists said yesterday, with Americans eating more and exercising less. Obesity is now close to eclipsing cigarette smoking as the leading cause of preventable death.
''We've all succumbed to the super-sizing of America,'' said Dr. Caroline Apovian, director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.
Even in Massachusetts, which has the second-lowest rate of overweight adults in the nation, physicians and health agencies regard the condition as one of the prime barriers to a healthy society.
The state study highlighted some groups as particularly vulnerable.
For instance, about 32 percent of African-American women are dangerously overweight. By comparison, 19 percent of African-American men are obese.
To help them shed pounds, the Boston Public Health Commission will use part of a new $9.2 million federal grant to work with initiatives such as Slim Down Sister, which uses group approaches to encourage exercise and healthier eating, said Barbara Ferrer, deputy director of the Health Commission.
More broadly, those efforts will address the differences between income groups when it comes to some of the leading killers of Americans.
The state survey discovered that diabetes and heart disease were three times more common among the poorest adults than among the wealthiest.
That, specialists said, is a reflection of difficulty gaining access to care and healthy food by the poor, as well as the stresses imposed by poverty.
While successes have been few in reversing the problem, health authorities pledged to battle on. ''I don't think we can give up,'' said Sally Fogerty, director of the state's Bureau of Family and Community Health.
''We have to continue to shape messages that are going to help all of us change how we eat and what we eat.''
By Stephen Smith
9/24/2003 -- More than half of Massachusetts adults are overweight, an epidemic that soared by 35 percent from 1990 to 2001, according to a statewide study of health that showed dramatic disparities between the poor and wealthy.
A telephone survey of more than 7,000 adults conducted by the Department of Public Health in 2000 and 2001 found that 54 percent can be medically classified as overweight, compared with just 40 percent in 1990.
It is powerful evidence of a national health crisis, specialists said yesterday, with Americans eating more and exercising less. Obesity is now close to eclipsing cigarette smoking as the leading cause of preventable death.
''We've all succumbed to the super-sizing of America,'' said Dr. Caroline Apovian, director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.
Even in Massachusetts, which has the second-lowest rate of overweight adults in the nation, physicians and health agencies regard the condition as one of the prime barriers to a healthy society.
The state study highlighted some groups as particularly vulnerable.
For instance, about 32 percent of African-American women are dangerously overweight. By comparison, 19 percent of African-American men are obese.
To help them shed pounds, the Boston Public Health Commission will use part of a new $9.2 million federal grant to work with initiatives such as Slim Down Sister, which uses group approaches to encourage exercise and healthier eating, said Barbara Ferrer, deputy director of the Health Commission.
More broadly, those efforts will address the differences between income groups when it comes to some of the leading killers of Americans.
The state survey discovered that diabetes and heart disease were three times more common among the poorest adults than among the wealthiest.
That, specialists said, is a reflection of difficulty gaining access to care and healthy food by the poor, as well as the stresses imposed by poverty.
While successes have been few in reversing the problem, health authorities pledged to battle on. ''I don't think we can give up,'' said Sally Fogerty, director of the state's Bureau of Family and Community Health.
''We have to continue to shape messages that are going to help all of us change how we eat and what we eat.''
