Oct. 26, 1999

More Americans are getting fat - and fat kills!

That's what researchers are saying in several alarming studies published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports from Alta View Hospital.

Pick any hospital along the Wasatch Front and you'll find patients inside with illnesses related to obesity. It's a problem the Centers for Disease Control says is killing 300,000 people per year.

One in five adults is now overweight. That's what the latest CDC study shows - a staggering change from where we were a decade ago. In 1991, only four states listed 15 percent or more of their population as obese.

Obesity is loosely defined as 30 or more pounds overweight.

Seven years later, 37 states reported obesity rates 15 percent or higher. And more states have joined the list in the past year.

JEFFREY KOPLAN, M.D., CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: "IT'S PARTICULARLY STRIKING FOR HEALTH RISK BEHAVIOR TO TAKE OFF AT THIS SPEED - AND AS SUCH WE'RE CALLING IT AN EPIDEMIC."

The most dramatic weight gain is happening in younger adults, people with some college education, and Hispanics. But a steady "weighting down," as the CDC calls it, was observed in all states, both sexes, and across age groups, races and educational levels.

The CDC says the major villain is still a sedentary lifestyle.

Researchers say many public schools have cut back on physical education programs, making it even more difficult for young people to keep the weight off.

At LDS Hospital's Fitness Institute, people work out and monitor body fat as part of a preventive program to keep the weight off.

Though the term obesity may seem harsh, Dr. Ted Adams says new guidelines now make it easier to move away from that weight range.

Dr. Ted Adams/LDS Hospital Fitness Institute: "FOR MOST PEOPLE, TO MOVE OUT OF THE OBESE RANGE, IT REPRESENTS ABOUT A TEN PERCENT WEIGHT LOSS - AND THAT'S THE NEW RECOMMENDATIONS. AND I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO LIKE THAT BECAUSE IT'S ATTAINABLE."