As America’s population grows, so does the average waistline of its citizens.
It seems Americans can’t pick up a newspaper or watch a nightly broadcast without hearing about some new study dealing with obesity. From statistics on obese children to reports on how much food is too much and which foods are the “right” foods, all reports point in one direction: that Americans are becoming fat and only getting fatter.
Wisconsin falls right in with these alarming statistics. A study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded Wisconsin has one of the highest obesity rates in the country — and, as in the rest of the country, the rate is rising.
According to the American Obesity Association, the obesity rate of men age 20 to 34 years has rose from 1988 to 2000 by 10 percent. In women of the same age and during the same time, the rate has risen by 7.3 percent.
An unhealthy and inactive lifestyle is partly to blame for the rise in Wisconsin’s weight averages. Foods like cheese curds, bratwursts, and cream puffs are almost a staple to the “Dairy State.” Any visit to the State Fair in Milwaukee will confirm this. Furthermore, Wisconsin leads the nation in the alcohol consumption rate with consumed drinks per capita at 70.4. According to the Beer, Wines, and Spirits Council of New Zealand, alcohol, especially beer with its high-energy content, is a risk factor for severe obesity and diabetes.
The nation as a whole can relate to Wisconsin’s obesity trends. This year, the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics showed 15 percent of people between ages six and 19 as obese. This number represented a rise since the last report the AHA released in 1998, which found 10 percent of youth in this age range were obese. The AOA reports that half of all age groups are overweight, and at least 20 percent of each age range is obese.
Research pours out daily, linking obesity to other health problems such as cancer, diabetes and lifespan reduction. The AHA found people who are inactive, a known cause of obesity, are 2.4 times more likely to develop heart disease. In fact, obesity is the second most common cause of preventable death in the United States. Obesity also is thought to increase the risk of illness from about 30 different medical conditions, the diabetes death rate of teens and adolescents, and the risk of impaired mobility or paralysis.
Similarly, Dutch researchers concluded that females who were obese by age 40 are at risk of losing 7.1 years of their lives and that obese men of the same age lose 5.8 years on average.
Causes considered
So why are Americans so overweight?
University of Wisconsin nutritional science professor Dale Schoeller says obesity is a complex issue without one sole source to blame.
“As a scientist, we have a lot of suggestions but no proof,” Schoeller said. “People become obese [because of] a genetic link, family history and wrong environments.” Physiological, metabolic, and psychologic components can also be to blame.
He said physical inactivity influences weight gain. In the last 100 years, the amount of energy adults expend has dramatically decreased, Schoeller said. He said advancements in workplace technology decrease a body’s exertion throughout the day. Picture the office worker in his cubicle typing away as he sits in his chair all day.
Simple devices such as escalators and computers allow people to remain stationary when in the past, people had to physically move to get a job done. People climbed stairs and walked to work before innovations like the automobile. The country has also slowly moved from an agrarian-based economy to a business-based one since the Industrial Revolution. Farmers working plows in the fields become a rarer sight as more and more Americans move to cities and suburbs.
Ironically, it seems society is becoming physically lazier just as it is becoming busier. Various studies show that Americans are working more hours at the office but exercising less.
“Any exercise helps,” Schoeller said. “It’s good if you can sweat for 20 minutes a day three times a week.” Simple exercises you can do at home or in the office can be found at www.shelterpub.com. The pages’ examples include doing pushups off a desk and arm lifts from a chair.
Apart from being less physically active, individuals are consuming more food and more processed products. On average, people are eating 60 percent more food than they were 30 years ago, said Schoeller. He speculated that one reason for this increase in eating could be that Americans are moving out of their kitchens and into fast-food restaurants.
“We have a plentiful amount of food, the portions are larger and we clean our plates,” Schoeller said. Buffets like Country Buffet and the Ponderosa are also notorious for their all-you-can-eat dinner selections — along with a dessert buffet.
Also with eating out comes a sharp increase in consumers’ calorie intake, Schoeller said. Franchises such as McDonald’s and Burger King tend to have food with higher calorie density. With recent additions of “super-sized” and “biggie-sized” portions, Americans are getting even more of the foods they should be eating less often.
Although some obesity-causing factors are within an individual’s control, Schoeller says others are not.
“There’s a strong genetic link, and if there is a family history, there’s a 40-50 percent chance for obesity to continue for future generations,” Schoeller said.
The genetic contributor Schoeller refers to is a protein gene called ghrellin. This protein is theoretically linked to a person’s desire to eat. Ghrellin levels usually rise before an individual eats and then fall afterwards. However, tests done by various medical teams have been inconclusive. Schoeller agreed that more research needed to be done before scientists can say they have found a “fat gene.”
Campus life
Lori Devine, the UW fitness director, has noted a recent increase in membership and use of UW recreational centers.
“We are seeing an increase in the fitness area because of the health aspects, [and] our facilities are really user-friendly,” Devine said. “I think Madison in general promotes a healthy lifestyle.”
UW junior Tony Cook is a regular at the SERF.
“I go running about three times a week and do weight training the other three,” he said.
Cook also believes Madison’s student body is very active and health-conscious. Many of his friends either use the facilities like the SERF and NAT or are part of some other physical-fitness program.
Intramural and club sports are another way students can remain active and physically fit.
Matt Horst, UW’s assistant program director of club sports and intramurals, said there is high activity in both areas.
It should be noted, however, that these observations could be construed as misleading. Madison indeed has a thriving health and fitness injury, but not necessarily a lower climb in obesity. The area’s obesity rate has climbed by approximately 10 percentage points in the last 10 years.
Experts in the health field agree that increased physical activity decreases health problems. Health-care providers are offering discounts on gym memberships because they say it lessens the cost of health care in the long run.
“It’s our way to help our customers get active, fit and healthy. It’s just a good idea — it lowers the health-care costs that can accumulate from problems that stem from obesity,” said Rebekka Hefty, a Dean Health Plan customer service associate.
Hefty said Dean Health Plan offers its clients discounts on memberships to several Madison-area workout facilities, including Curves for Women, Capitol Fitness and Gold’s Gym. Such discounts can be substantial, such as offering customers a $110 savings on a Curves initiation fee.
However, a percentage of society cannot better itself through regular exercise and healthier meals.
Dr. Michael Garren, assistant professor of surgery at UW’s medical school, deals surgically with individuals categorized as morbidly obese. This means that the patient is “more than 100 pounds over one’s ideal body weight.”
“Obesity is a very misunderstood disease,” Garren said. “The medical community is coming around.”
Garren, with his colleagues at UW and Meriter Hospital, offers a way to surgically help those with extreme weight problems. The operation, called gastric-bypass surgery, allows a surgeon to actually decrease the size of a patient’s stomach in hopes of reducing weight.
“[It] involves creating a very small upper portion of a stomach and bypassing it to the small intestines,” Garren said.
The surgery, practiced for the last 40 years, has a promising success rate. Garren further explained how eating must immediately change for the patient after the surgery. A common meal size is reduced to only half a cup, and the patient must take many vitamin supplements.
Though this may seem like a drastic choice, Garren performs these operations three to five times per week. However, the eligibility qualifications are strict.
“We don’t do it for someone trying to lose just 20 or 30 pounds,” Garren said.
“Obesity percentage gain spans across age, sex, education levels and regions,” said Dr. Peter Weller of the AMA. “Clearly, everyone has a lot to learn.”
