Epidemic Of Obesity

Progress in decades in the U.S. in lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and snuff consumption stagnated over the increasing rate of obesity and heart diseases cause 400,000 deaths in the country this year, experts said on Monday.

A study by British scientists found that about half of those deaths could be prevented if people ate healthier foods and stop smoking.

Experts warned that there is no room for complacency when it comes to the risks to heart health.

Simon Capewell from the University of Liverpool said that recent trends in weight were “alarming”, with an estimated 1,500 million adults worldwide are overweight by 2015.

“Although the number of deaths from heart disease fell in the U.S. in the last four decades, now is leveling off among men and women,” she wrote in a study published in the weekly magazine of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The reduction in total cholesterol in blood has been modest, blood pressure is rising among women and obesity and diabetes is increasing in both sexes,” he said.

The researchers calculated the number of deaths from the lifestyle trends of people and taking 2000 as base year.

The team found that nearly 200,000 lives could be saved by eliminating some risks for the heart, even modestly, in particular, “if people eat healthier and quit smoking,” Capewell said.

Two-thirds of U.S. adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or are obese, a condition that increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and other chronic ailments.

U.S. health officials last week presented the first lady, Michelle Obama, as the ultimate tool to combat the problem of obesity, which generates heavy costs to the economy.

But Shanthi Mendis, an expert in chronic disease prevention, the WHO, said the U.S. is not the only country facing an obesity epidemic and noted that many choices related to lifestyle directly affect the health of many individuals around the world.

“Worldwide, nearly 1,000 million adults are overweight and, if no action is taken, this figure will exceed 1,500 million in 2015,” said Mendis in the study.

“Avoiding the consumption of snuff, to a healthy diet and being physically active on a regular basis can dramatically reduce the risk of developing heart disease, stroke or diabetes,” he said.