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| Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:16 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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A study by the Trust for America’s Health has found that the rate of adult obesity in the US is increasing faster than ever before.
Obesity rates rose in 48 states in the last 12 months, with the national level increasing from 23.7 per cent to 24.5 per cent.
In 10 states, more than one in four adults are now obese, with Mississippi ranked the highest, followed by Alabama and West Virginia.
The for America’s Health said that the findings prove that current policies are failing and warned that the current proportion of the population who are overweight or obese (64.5 per cent) could rise to 73 per cent by 2008.
The cost of such a rise is projected to be in the billions of dollars as related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease would also sharply increase putting a strain on the county’s health resources.
Executive director Shelley Hearne, said: "We have reached a state of policy paralysis in regards to obesity.
"We need more and better data so we can make decisions to get out of the debate limbo in which we are stuck.
"We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the US and it's time we dealt with it."
Dr Ian Campbell, chairman of the National Obesity Forum in the UK, warned that the same was happening in other Western countries.
"We have seen this year on year rise in obesity in the US that has been mirrored in the UK," he said on the BBC News website. “We know we are only about seven years behind them.
"When will we in this country wake up and smell the coffee?
"The Americans have woken up to it before and clearly they are still in a state of policy paralysis.
"In this country, the government is working very hard to try and develop a stratgety for obesity but at the moment very little practically is being done.
"It really is time that we got our finger out and started making real changes.
"This is no cosmetic irritation, it is a serious medical problem."
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