Despite well-publicized reports that obesity shortens lives, American adults are still piling on the pounds. In Utah and 30 other states last year, obesity rates climbed.
So says the 2007 "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America" report released Monday by the Trust for America's Health, which said no state lost weight. It also said nearly one in four American adults is physically inactive.
Utah fares well in the report, by rank, but "the current rates in even the best states are unacceptable," said Dr. James Marks, senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which helped fund the report.
Utahns should be concerned. Since 1989, the state's obesity rate has more than doubled, said Lynda Blades of the state health department's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program. That has led to "health implications, an increased chance of other complications or diseases related to it, like heart disease and stroke, depression, disability, arthritis, diabetes — not to mention lowered quality of life and energy levels," she said.
The report says Utah adults are No. 44 in obesity (21.1 percent, compared with 20.8 percent last year), the most seriously overweight category, which includes anyone with a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher. "Overweight" includes anyone with a BMI of 25 to 29.9. The report says 55.8 percent of Utah adults are either overweight or obese.
The report also looks at weight trends for youths, using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Relatively good rankings don't change what Steve Lindsay has seen in nearly 40 years as an educator. The principal of Bountiful Junior High said his school implemented healthy-choice changes because the idea that the current crop of children may be the first generation to live sicker and die younger than their parents is appalling. Soda and candy have been banished, even from vending machines. After-school clubs have to skip the punch and doughnuts in favor of healthier snacks.
"We're not going to make it easy for them if they want to continue to eat those (unhealthy) foods," said Lindsay, who the Utah Office of Education honored with its Healthy Lifestyles Principal of the Year award.
"My children are not as active as I was as a child. My grandchildren are even less active," he said.
He blames too much TV, too many video games and too little outdoor playtime for children.
"Their thumbs are in great shape" from text messaging and playing video games. "I'm not sure about the rest of the body. ... And it's the only one you've got. Although the future for them is two or three days from now, the choices they make now affect their health and well-being for the rest of their lives."
The report says Mississippi has the highest percentage of obese adults and the least reported physical activity. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate among adults, while Minnesota's residents are the most active.
In Utah during 2005, 5.6 percent of high school students were overweight, while 11.1 percent were at risk. But nearly two-thirds of Utah high school students (64 percent) failed to meet recommended physical activity levels.
The 2003-04 National Survey of Children's Health said that 8.5 percent of children 10-17 were overweight in Utah, the best rate in the nation. Blades said that's an undercount. Washington, D.C., was the worst, at 22.8 percent. More than 71 percent of Utah children that age participate in physical activity at least 30 minutes three days a week.
The report, which is available online at www.healthyamericans.org, includes a survey about perceptions — 85 percent of adults said they believe obesity's an "epidemic," and 81 percent believe the government should help address it — and offers recommendations.
Blades said her department has worked for almost a decade with schools and businesses to promote health.
The report is not without detractors. Following its release Monday, J. Justin Wilson of the Center for Consumer Freedom said, "Comparing America's burgeoning waistlines to a flu pandemic and calling for sweeping policy changes at all levels of government is both inaccurate and grossly irresponsible." And he challenged the report's conclusion that no states had seen lower obesity rates.
While some argue whether obesity is an epidemic, Blades said that "from a public health perspective, it's solid."
E-mail: lois@desnews.com