July 25, 2000

A new study from the National Institutes of Health shows America is in the middle of an obesity epidemic.

Fifty-five percent of American adults, that's 97-million of us, are considered overweight or obese.

This epidemic of obesity costs nearly $100-billion annually. That includes costs for weight loss treatment and treatment of many seriouos health problems caused by obesity.

The N.I.H. says overweight people are at increased risk of illness from:

• high blood pressure and other heart disease
• adult-onset diabetes
• stroke
• gallbladder disease
• osteoarthritis
• certain cancers
• lipid disorders
• respiratory problems
• sleep apnea, a disorder that primarily strikes overweight men, causing them to repeatedly stop breathing while sleeping. Besides causing fatigue, it decreases the amount of oxygen and increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood and brain.

NIH says all those risks apply to people with excessive abdominal fat-- meaning a waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women, and people with a body mass index of 25 or more.