More than 60% of us today are suffering from unnecessary
accumulation of body fat which we commonly call Obesity
or Overweight.
On a standard height-weight table, all non-muscular
people who weigh 20 per cent or more over the mid
point of their weight range are considered as Obese
or Fat. This fact is exemplified more by the following
table -
|
Height |
Weight
Range |
BMI
|
Considered
|
|
5' 9" |
124 lbs or less |
Below
18.5 |
Under
weight |
|
125 lbs - 168 lbs |
18.5 - 24.9 |
Heavy weight |
|
169 lbs - 202 lbs |
25.0 - 29.9 |
Over weight |
|
203 lbs or more |
30 or higher |
Obese |
In the United States, about 1/4 of the adults
possessing a BMI of 30, are considered as Obese.
|
All Adults |
20 + years old |
39.8 million |
22.3% |
|
Women |
20 +
years old |
23 million
|
25% |
|
Men |
20 +
years old |
16.8 million |
19.5% |
The recent trend however indicates that Obesity
is unevenly distributed among the general U.S. mass.
| |
|
BMI
>:25
Overweight |
BMI
>:30
Obese |
BMI
>: 40
Morbidly Obese |
| African
American |
Male |
60% |
29% |
4% |
| |
Female |
78% |
50% |
15% |
| Mexican
American |
Male |
74% |
29% |
2% |
| |
Female |
72% |
40% |
6% |
| White
American |
Male |
68% |
28% |
3% |
| |
Female |
58% |
31% |
5% |
We generally find that a fattening tendency in
the childhood culminates into obesity in the later
stages of life in most of the cases.
There is a remarkable growth in childhood obesity
found in just 3 decades of a child's life.
The infantile fat growing tendency between the
age groups of 6 to 11 years shows an increment from
4% to 13%, where as from 12 to 19 years of age,
it is from 5% to 14%.
Not just this, being obese at the age of 6 years
has a 50% possibility of life-long obesity, where
as at 13 years of age, the possibility is 75%.
This increasing trend of obesity in most current
age groups, both male and female, is really alarming!
We have to handle the situation cautiously with
an aim to eliminate it completely from our society.
Source:
1 Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, National
Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion Based on data from NHS II (1963-1965),
NHS III (1966-1970), NHANES I (1971-1974) and NHANES
II (1976-1980).
2 American Obesity Association; Obesity
in Minority population; Available at http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts
/Obesity_Minority_Pop.shtml ;
Last updated October 26, 2004.
