Prince William Dermatology International: Obesity Costs U S About 147 Billion Annually Study Finds Eric Finkelstein RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—Annual medical expenditures attributable to obesity have doubled in less than a decade, and may be as high as $147 billion per year, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the U.S. The study, published on the Health Affairs' Web site, reports that, between 1998 and 2006, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index greater than 30) increased by 37 percent. This increase is responsible for 89 percent of the increase in obesity costs that occurred during this time period. The results also showed that an obese person has $1,429 per year more medical costs, or about 42 percent more costs, than someone of normal weight. Much of the costs to Medicare are a result of the added prescription drug benefit.
Prince William Neuroscience Center Obesogens and obesity—An alternative view? - Sharpe - 2013 - Obesity Abstract It is accepted that diet is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic, but environmental ‘obesogenic’ chemicals have also been suggested recently as playing a role, based on in vitro, animal and epidemiological studies. Using two such ‘obesogen’ examples (bisphenol A, certain phthalate esters), we argue that their association with obesity and obesity-related disorders in humans could be circumstantial, and thus non-causal, because a Western style diet increases exposure to these compounds. This possibility needs to be addressed before further (confounded) epidemiological studies on ‘obesogens’ are undertaken. The prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2008 worldwide, so that by 2008, 10% of men and 14% of women in the world were obese (body mass index, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and at least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese [1]. Adiposity is highly heritable, with an estimated genetic contribution to BMI of 20-84%.
Prince William OB/GYN Associates - Home Obesity Is a Disease Requiring Treatment | Health Nutrition Medicine Dr. Mitchell Roslin is chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, holds several patents for the treatment of obesity and designed a method for treating relapse after gastric bypass. Roslin has expertise in laparoscopic obesity surgery, duodenal switch surgery and revisional bariatric surgery. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Although we are only in the second decade of the 21st century, from a health standpoint, this period has already been labeled as the century of chronic disease. Whereas the 20th century saw the eradication of many infectious diseases and the development of vaccines, the 21st century has started with an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. While that might sound less threatening, it is, in fact, not. From an economic standpoint, the obesity and diabetes epidemic , or diabesity, will make health-care reform and cost-containment nearly impossible to achieve. Certainly our behavior impacts our health .
Welcome to Prince William OB/GYN, Mannassas, Virginia - The Prince William OB/GYN Official Site Op-Ed: Who’s to Blame for Childhood Obesity? Uh, That Would Be You. We are a nation of advocates. Of changemakers. Of visionaries. We have achieved incredible medical advancements, such as developing childhood vaccines for adult cancers. When we decide as a nation that something should happen, it does. And yet, despite decades of mounting evidence, we have not been able to address the single-most important health threat facing our children today: childhood obesity. A Surprising Dip in Childhood Obesity Rates We all know that childhood obesity is rampant in America. Why then, does it continue? The real culprit of childhood obesity is you. Wow--The Effects of Childhood Obesity on Adolescent Health Are Much Worse Than We Thought So what? While this temporarily flew across the blogosphere, the surge of emotion was almost entirely limited to vitriolic blog comments related to Congress. Some Programs to Get Kids Moving Might Be a Waste of Time Why? Second, as a society we have become afraid of discussing weight—it is almost taboo. Who's to Blame for Obesity?
Congress Is Literally Going To Make America Stupid By Starving The Poor The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and at latest count, more than 16 million American children are living in poverty, right this minute. While their lives may be bleak now, new research shows that even if they do manage to pull themselves out of the poverty they were raised in, those kids will struggle to become functional adults. An emerging field of research is finding that inside the minds of poor children, the struggle for emotional and economic stability has lifelong effects, leaving them emotionally stunted and intellectually disadvantaged—permanently. Research published by the National Academy of Sciences found that children who grew up with severe stress in their early lives, like orphans, have "altered brain circuitry" that affects their amygdala function. As The Atlantic puts it, experiencing poverty is like knocking 13 points off your IQ, or perpetually trying to function on a missed night of sleep. America's destitute millions rely on the program to simply survive.
Corn Subsidies Make Me Sick (and Fat) There are few government policies disheartening enough to make me lose sleep at night. But of those few, the subsidization of the corn industry is one big one, and the way in which the government continues to squander billions of dollars on a senseless policy that arguably does more harm than good, is simply outrageous. Here is the situation, in brief: The U.S. Government currently spends around $300 billion every five years on something called the “Farm Bill.” The Farm Bill, which has become known as a series of handouts to help different sectors of the agricultural industry, has often stirred controversy. So what’s so horrible about corn subsidies? This policy of subsidizing corn farmers is also potentially bad for our health. Corn subsidies don't just threaten our health though. Wrong. Don’t get me wrong: I like farmers.
Taxpayers Turn U.S. Farmers Into Fat Cats With Subsidies A Depression-era program intended to save American farmers from ruin has grown into a 21st-century crutch enabling affluent growers and financial institutions to thrive at taxpayer expense. Federal crop insurance encourages farmers to gamble on risky plantings in a program that has been marred by fraud and that illustrates why government spending is so difficult to control. And the cost is increasing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last year spent about $14 billion insuring farmers against the loss of crop or income, almost seven times more than in fiscal 2000, according to the Congressional Research Service. The arrangement is a good deal for everyone but taxpayers. With a showdown over the nation’s finances -- and a possible government shutdown -- looming this fall, the growing insurance tab is a bipartisan target. Lobbyists Win Crop insurers and the USDA say that the subsidized insurance helps stabilize food prices for consumers while protecting farmers from weather-related losses.
U.S. Farm Subsidy Program Adds to Worsening Obesity Trends By Dr. Mercola Agricultural policies in the US are contributing to the poor health of Americans, and, specifically, government-issued agricultural subsidies are worsening the US obesity epidemic, concluded a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.1At the root of the issue? “Government-issued payments have skewed agricultural markets toward the overproduction of commodities that are the basic ingredients of processed, energy-dense foods,” the researchers wrote. This includes corn, wheat, soybeans and rice, which are the top four most heavily subsidized foods. By subsidizing these, particularly corn and soy, the US government is actively supporting a diet that consists of these grains in their processed form, namely high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), soybean oil, and grain-fed cattle – all of which are now well-known contributors to obesity and chronic diseases. The Farm Subsidy Program Is Junk — Literally Just Eight Crops Make Up Virtually All of US Cropland