According to a recent study, 119 million adult Americans, or approximately 64 percent of us, are overweight or obese.
The report was issued by Trust for America’s Health, a national “health advocacy organization,” and is problematic – as in irrelevant and far-fetched.
Are a majority of us dangerously overweight? And what do experts mean when they say “overweight”?
The Body Mass Index calculator, provided by the helpful folks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is supposed to be a trouble-free way to find out if you should hit the treadmill.
George W. Bush, at 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, for instance, would be considered overweight using BMI. Apparently, 3 trillion miles riding a top-of-the-line mountain bike can’t save you.
Who else is overweight? How about Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer? So are the Nuggets’ Kenyon Martin and the Avalanche’s Milan Hejduk. Actors Johnny Depp and George Clooney are also in need of intervention.
“It is true that the BMI is an imperfect measurement of obesity. There are better ways. For instance, you can actually measure people’s body fat,” explained Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “Then again, when you think about BMI, it helps you see where you are, and it should prompt you to talk to your health-care provider and ask them: ‘Do you think this is a problem for me?”‘
Don’t fool yourself if you happen to weigh in at an “acceptable” number. Who’s healthier – a sinewy panhandler, weighing 135 pounds, who smokes, drinks and lives a grueling lifestyle, or “overweight” Jake Plummer?
“There are clearly people who are underweight or average weight whose health is bad because of other issues,” Calonge said. “In fact, some people may be of average weight or underweight because of health issues.”
The obesity plague – as if eating junk food and splaying on the sofa were a contagious disease – is more than just a concern; it is a new way for do-gooders to hit us over the head about the amount of steak we’re eating.
The CDC, a government agency, had already been caught overstating obesity numbers, recently claiming physical inactivity and obesity caused 400,000 deaths in 2000. After widespread skepticism from the scientific community (and anyone in possession of common sense), the National Institutes of Health finally concluded that the actual death toll was somewhere around 25,000.
Yet, even with these sorts of skewed numbers, you’ll be thrilled to learn that Colorado saw little growth in obesity (Oregon is the only state that showed none) in the new report.
“One: We are a younger state; our average age is less,” Calonge said. “Two, we do have a higher average per-capita income rate. So we think those are contributory. But I think a lot of it has to do with who resides in Colorado. We attract people because of our outdoor lifestyle.”
It is clear that many folks simply won’t eat right or exercise enough. Obesity is a crisis. But it’s a personal crisis.
Conversely, Americans, in substantial numbers, are getting healthier and better informed about what they eat. Not all of society lines up to head through the drive-through lane.
Admittedly, Calonge believes that as a nation we have witnessed too many people getting heavier. But he doesn’t consider bureaucratic involvement or meddling in the personal decisions of diners an effective solution.
“When you’re talking about intervention into a behavior that is necessary for life, the role of government becomes less important,” Calonge said. “I do worry about crossing that line, where the real answer is personal responsibility. Be active and make smart choices about what you eat and how much you eat.”
(Are you overweight? Check your BMI at the following website, but take it with a grain of salt – not too much salt, though, as it may cause high blood pressure: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/ calc-bmi.htm.)
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at dharsanyi@denverpost.com or 303-820- 1255.
