Man Made Global Warming or Man Made Obesity Epidemic

Percentage of severely obese adults skyrockets Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

One could surmise that Obesity far outweighs the hysteria the liberals have about "Man Made Global Warming".  The Obesity Epidemic is clearly manmade without a doubt! The percentage of American adults who are 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight has skyrocketed since 2000, a study released last Monday shows. In 2010, about 6.6% of adults in this country were severely obese -- about 15.5 million people -- up from 3.9% in 2000, says the study from the RAND Corp., a non-profit research group. "There is no question that severe obesity is going up very fast," says lead author Roland Sturm, a senior economist at RAND. "Severe obesity has severe effects on quality of life, chronic conditions and health care costs."  Extra weight increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic and debilitating health problems. About two-thirds people in the USA are either overweight or obese. People are considered obese if they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. People are severely (or extremely) obese if they have a BMI (a height-weight ratio) of 40 or higher. That's roughly 100 or more pounds overweight. "Moderate obesity (a BMI of 30 or more) has adverse health effects, but severe obesity is in a different league," Sturm says. Severely obese people have far more complex health issues and create different challenges for the health care system, he says. "Moderate obesity increases health care costs by 20% to 30% compared to those at a healthy weight, where severe obesity more than doubles health care costs."