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Found this on msn.com.


Americans Becoming Fatter, Faster

Black Women, Hispanic Men Have Highest Risk of Obesity
By Jennifer Warner


June 17, 2002 -- American's aren't just piling on the extra pounds, they're piling them on faster and younger than ever before. A new report shows twice as many people were obese in 1999 than in the early 1960s, and people born in 1964 became obese up to 28% faster than those born only seven years earlier.


It's one of the first studies to take a long-term look at what makes some people more likely to become overweight than others and highlights major differences between ethnic groups, age groups, and the sexes.


"Our study clarifies who is at risk for obesity, identifies an age when this risk is particularly high, and looks at how excess weight develops over time," says study author Kathleen M. McTigue, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a news release.


For nearly two decades, McTigue and colleagues followed more than 9,000 men and women who were born between 1957 and 1964. Their findings are published in the June 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.


They found 27% of the people were obese by 1999, and 61% weighed more than is considered healthy. That's more than double the number of people who were obese in 1960-1962, and a 20% increase in the number of overweight Americans compared with nearly 40 years ago.




The study also found obesity developed most quickly in black women, moderately quickly in Hispanic women, and most slowly in white women. Black and Hispanic women also became overweight faster than white women, reaching overweight status in their mid to late 20s compared with mid-30s among white women.


"We could predict who would be obese at 35 to 37, based on sex, race/ethnicity, and body mass index at [age] 20 to 22," says McTigue. "This was especially striking in women. A 21-year-old woman with just a few extra pounds was quite likely to be obese by the time she was in her mid-30s."


Among men, the pattern was a little different. Hispanic men became obese most quickly compared with other groups.


The researchers say their study shows that young people who are overweight are most at risk of becoming obese as they grow older and prevention efforts should be targeted at this age group to avoid future health problems. Obesity increases a person's risk of four out of the six top causes of death in the U.S. -- heart disease, certain cancers, stroke, and diabetes.


In an editorial that accompanies the study, Robert C. Whitaker, MD, MPH, of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, says future studies should explore other factors that might affect a person's risk of becoming obese, beyond race and ethnicity.


We must try to understand how other factors, such as neighborhood setting and family customs, influence diet and activity patterns, according to Whitaker.


"In our culture, all adults and children are at risk for obesity and must act to avoid it," Whitaker concludes. "Moderation is not a virtue that we easily apply to such activities as feeding and eating -- activities that give us and our loved ones so much joy."


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