Saturday, July 26, 2008 by Dr. Manny
Medifast has an ongoing fight against obesity in American. Medifast products and the Medifast diet will help combat obesity across the country. Medifast utilizes a VLCD approach and controlled portions to help you lose weight. Medifast works.
Obesity in the United States has been increasingly cited as a major health issue in recent decades. While many industrialized countries have experienced similar increases, American obesity rates are the highest in the world with 64% of adults being overweight or obese, and almost a quarter being obese. Estimates of the number of obese American adults have been rising steadily, from 19.4% in 1997, 24.5% in 2004 to 26.6% in 2007.
The economic cost attributable to obesity in the United States has been estimated to be as high as $99.2 billion in 1995, with $51.64 billion attributable to direct medical costs. Researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and RTI International estimate that in 2003, obesity-attributable medical expenditures reached $75 billion.
In the military
An estimated 16% of active duty U.S. military personnel were obese in 2004, with the cost of remedial bariatric surgery for the military reaching $15 million in 2002. Obesity is currently the largest single cause for the discharge of soldiers.
Incidence by state
The following figures were averaged from 2004-2006 adult data compiled by the CDC BRFSS program and 2003 child data from the National Survey of Children's Health.
State ↓ Overweight adults (%) Obese adults (%) Overweight children (%) Rank
Alabama 64.7 29.4 16.7 3
Alaska 63.7 25.8 11.1 16
Arizona 57.3 21.7 12.2 43
Arkansas 63.7 27.0 16.4 8
California 59.9 22.7 13.2 36
Colorado 54.2 17.6 9.9 51
Connecticut 57.7 20.1 12.3 47
Delaware 62.2 23.6 14.8 29
D.C. 55.0 22.2 22.8 40
Florida 60.0 22.9 14.4 34
Georgia 61.4 26.1 16.4 14
Hawaii 54.5 20.1 13.3 47
Idaho 59.8 23.2 10.1 31
Illinois 60.7 24.4 15.8 25
Indiana 62.5 26.8 15.6 9
Iowa 62.1 24.9 12.5 20
Kansas 61.3 24.3 14.0 27
Kentucky 64.9 27.5 20.6 7
Louisiana 63.4 28.2 17.2 4
Maine 60.1 23.0 12.7 33
Maryland 60.1 24.4 13.3 25
Massachusetts 55.3 19.8 13.6 50
Michigan 62.7 26.8 14.5 9
Minnesota 61.3 23.7 10.1 28
Mississippi 66.5 30.6 17.8 1
Missouri 62.8 26.3 15.6 12
Montana 58.0 20.7 11.1 45
Nebraska 63.0 25.4 11.9 18
Nevada 60.8 22.5 12.4 37
New Hampshire 59.5 22.4 12.9 38
New Jersey 59.6 22.2 13.7 40
New Mexico 59.3 22.0 16.8 42
New York 58.6 22.4 15.3 38
North Carolina 62.3 25.6 19.3 17
North Dakota 63.8 25.1 12.1 19
Ohio 62.5 26.0 14.2 15
Oklahoma 62.9 26.8 15.4 9
Oregon 59.8 23.3 14.1 30
Pennsylvania 61.4 24.5 13.3 23
Rhode Island 58.8 20.5 11.9 46
South Carolina 63.7 27.8 18.9 5
South Dakota 62.9 24.9 12.1 20
Tennessee 63.9 27.8 20.0 5
Texas 63.1 26.3 19.1 12
Utah 55.8 21.1 8.5 44
Vermont 55.4 20.0 11.3 49
Virginia 61.0 24.5 13.8 23
Washington 59.5 23.2 10.8 31
West Virginia 65.5 29.8 20.9 2
Wisconsin 61.8 24.8 13.5 22
Wyoming 60.2 22.8 8.7 35
Anti-obesity efforts
Due to pressure from parents and anti-obesity advocates, many school districts have removed sodas, junk foods, and candy from snack and vending machines and cafeterias. State legislators in California, for example, passed laws banning the sale of machine-dispensed snacks and drinks in elementary schools in 2003, despite objections by the California-Nevada Soft Drink Association. The state followed more recently with legislation to prohibit their soda sales in high schools by 2009, with the shortfall in school revenue to be compensated by an increase in funding for school lunch programs. In mid-2006, the American Beverage Association (including Cadbury Schweppes, Coca Cola and PepsiCo) agreed to a voluntary ban on the sale of all high-calorie drinks and all beverages in containers larger than 8, 10 and 12 ounces in elementary, middle and high schools, respectively.
