Clearly there is far more money to be made on the “overweight” bandwagon. Take the growing number of weight loss programs in the country, not to mention the millions of so-called diet pills sold and the ever popular diet books that have appeared over the years on the New York Times best-selling list. And as previously alluded to, the government is throwing money at the problem. For example, the National Institutes of Health increased its funding for obesity research to $440 million. And then there are the lawsuits against such food chain giants as McDonalds, with lawyers trying to wring billions of dollars out of them in class action cases for knowingly making weak people fat.
New Studies Needed
But certainly there must be something to the claims that being obese can hurt you. Well, some scientists are now calling for a whole new approach to looking at the problem, not what the government has long dictated as “normal.” Some say the BMI needs to be re-examined and genetics needs to be taken into account, and that the “healthy weight range” needs to be expanded. Also, new studies need to be done which more accurately examine why major diseases are in decline. One side says, “see, being overweight is not a factor in getting sick or dying.” Other researchers say, “not so fast – we’ve made great strides in medical diagnosis and treatment to offset the overweight factor.” The answer is obviously complicated and much more so than the media wants. There is no much thing as a “complicated sound byte.”
The Money In Losing Weight
In the meantime Americans are still trying harder than ever to be “normal.” Ali Mokdad, Chief of the CDC’s Behavioral Surveillance, says that 75% of adults in the U.S. are trying to either lose or maintain their weight. That’s SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT! And they’re spending $46 billion on weight-loss products and services to do it. Also, weight reduction surgeries have jumped from 36,700 in 2000 to 140,000 in 2004.