Today, two-thirds of U.S. adults
and nearly one in three
children struggle because they are overweight or have obesity. The
effects of the nation’s obesity epidemic are immense: taxpayers,
businesses, communities and individuals spend hundreds of billions of
dollars
each year due to obesity, including an estimated $168 billion in medical
costs. Obesity is the reason that the current generation of youth is
predicted to live a shorter life than their parents. Much can be done
to
reverse the epidemic, yet important opportunities to tackle obesity at
the
national policy level -- including changes that enable more Americans to
eat
healthy and be active, as well as those that provide appropriate medical
treatment for patients -- have gone largely unmet. The Campaign works
to
fill this gap. By bringing together leaders from across industry,
academia and public health with policymakers and their advisors, the
Campaign
provides the information and guidance that decision-makers need to make
policy
changes that will reverse one of the nation’s costliest and most
prevalent
diseases.
AMERICA'S OBESITY EPIDEMIC
*Today, two thirds of adults and nearly one in three children struggle with
overweight and obesity.
* Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Today,
more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25
percent, according to Trust for America's Health.
* The rate of childhood obesity more than doubled from 1980 to 2000; 30 states
have child obesity rates of 30 percent or more.
OBESITY'S IMPACT ON AMERICA'S HEALTH
* Obesity is linked to more than 60 chronic diseases.
* According to the American Cancer Society, obese adults are at increased risk
for all cancers.
* Obesity contributes to two-thirds of all heart disease, according to the CDC.
* 66 percent of American adults with doctor-diagnosed arthritis are overweight
or obese.
* Over 75 percent of hypertension cases are directly related to obesity.
* More than 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF OBESITY * In 2010, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that nearly 20 percent of the increase in U.S. health care spending (from 1987‐2007) was caused by obesity.
* The annual health costs related to obesity in the U.S. are as high as $168
billion, and nearly 17 percent of U.S. medical costs can be attributed on obesity,
according to research released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
OBESITY'S IMPACT ON THE WORKFORCE * Full-time workers in the U.S. who are overweight
or obese and have other chronic health conditions miss an estimated 450 million
additional days of work each year compared with healthy workers -- resulting in
an estimated cost of more than $153 billion in lost productivity annually,
according to a 2011 Gallup Poll. *Medical expenses for obese employees
are 42 percent higher than for a person with a healthy weight, according to the
Centers for Disease Control.
OBESITY'S IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES OF NEED * Blacks, Hispanics and Native people are much more likely to be obese than
whites, according to CDC data.
* Low-income neighborhoods are more affected by obesity than affluent areas,
reflecting a range of policy and cultural influences.
OBESITY AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
*Approximately 50 percent of children walked or bicycled to school in 1969; today, fewer than 15 percent of schoolchildren walk or bike to school, according to the Safe Routes to School Partnership.
*Only 3.8 percent of U.S. elementary schools, 7.9 percent of U.S. middle schools and 2.1 percent of U.S. high schools provide daily physical education for students, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
*52 percent of adults do not meet minimum physical activity recommendations.
OBESITY AND NUTRITION
* Only 12 percent of adults and two percent of children eat a healthy diet
consistent with federal nutrition recommendations.
* According to the USDA, healthier diets could prevent at least $71 billion per
year in medical costs, lost productivity and lost lives.
