Obesity

W hether or not he lets himself be persuaded to run for president, Chris Christie needs to find some way to lose weight. Like everyone else, elected officials perform best when they are in optimal health. Christie obviously is not. You could argue that this is none of my business, but I disagree. Christie's problem with weight ceased being a private matter when he stepped into the public arena — and it's not something you can fail to notice. Obesity is a national epidemic whose costs are measured not just in dollars and cents but also in...

WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama says her campaign to improve young people's health is about the government providing information, not "telling people what to do. " Mrs. Obama explained her "Let's Move" initiative in an interview broadcast Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. The first lady for the past three years has been pushing a program aimed at improving childhood health and she has been urging the young to develop better eating habits. Mrs. Obama visited Mississippi...

Older people in China remember the Great Famine of 1958-61, when 15 million to 45 million people died of hunger and related causes. Today, nearly every street corner in Beijing and many other cities seems to boast a McDonald's. There are KFC outlets in almost every Chinese city, 3,700 in all. Meanwhile, newly minted members of the Chinese middle class have rushed to buy cars, leaving bicycles that were once a major source of exercise rusting on the street. Pizza Hut is considered a fancy...

It's no secret that the United States has a weight problem, but the numbers are staggering: More than a third of U.S. adults are obese. Cases of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and stroke — which kill hundreds of thousands each year and are linked to obesity — are set to multiply tenfold between 2010 and 2020. By 2030, the annual medical bill for the nation's bad eating habits could top $66 billion. Statistics will not scare people into better health, though. "The big question is: How do you...

The worsening economic crunch is causing the tab for food assistance programs to balloon, and with the rising costs has come an intensifying debate over whether -- and how -- the U.S. government can tackle simultaneously the paradoxically linked problems of hunger and obesity. The statistics spell out the dilemma. The number of Americans on food stamps topped 31.5 million in September, a record high. Obesity, too, is at epidemic levels: In 30 states, at least 25 percent of the population is dangerously overweight.

Children playing in front yards or riding bikes along sidewalks are an uncommon sight in most Loudoun County neighborhoods. The lure of video games is keeping youngsters indoors, and their inactivity has led to rising rates of childhood obesity in Loudoun and communities nationwide, according to health officials. Leesburg parks officials recently addressed the issue by launching efforts to teach children the benefits of fit and healthy lifestyles. Next month, the Leesburg Parks and Recreation Department will start offering such...

People who sleep fewer than six hours a night -- or more than nine -- are more likely to be obese, finds a new government study, one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies. The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use. The research adds weight to a stream of studies that have found obesity and other health problems in those who don't get proper shut-eye, said Ron Kramer, a Colorado physician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep...

TUESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Kids these days are 13 going on 45, at least when it comes to their arteries. According to research presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association's annual scientific sessions in New Orleans, obese adolescents had arteries more representative of someone three decades older. "These data further illustrate the potential detrimental effects of obesity and its related risk factors, particularly components of the metabolic syndrome, on cardiovascular disease in children," said Dr. Carl Lavie, medical...

The use of antibiotics in young children might lead to a higher risk of obesity, and two new studies, one on mice and one on humans, conclude that changes of the intestinal bacteria caused by antibiotics could be responsible. Taken together, the New York University researchers conclude that it might be necessary to broaden our concept of the causes of obesity and urge more caution in using antibiotics. Both studies focus on the early age, because that is when obesity begins, the scientists say. ...

I applaud New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to curb soda consumption [" New York's plan to curb soda size stirs new controversy over obesity ," news article," June 3]. But when people pass a food truck, they see items that can be just as dangerous to their health as is soda, such as cheeseburgers, hot dogs and potato chips. Such junk food, like soda, can be high in sugar. It also tends to be usually high in sodium, fat and cholesterol, all major contributors to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Members of the baby boomer generation are in worse health than their parents were at the same stage of life, with obesity and lack of exercise taking a toll, according to a new study. About 13 percent of baby boomers — the generation born in the two decades after World War II — reported being in "excellent" health in middle age. That compares with 32 percent of the previous generation who said the same thing at the same stage of life, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine . ...

Look, I get it. The Washington Nationals' fourth-inning Presidents Race is a diversion, nothing more — a ballpark tradition, a chance for a belly laugh. A diversion from a diversion, if you think about it, for pro sports are supposed to be the kind of entertainment that relieves us of our daily burdens. But if the Nats are preparing to use their newest mascot, William Howard Taft, the way I think they will, their fifth racing president is a terrible...

The Washington Nationals will open their season April 1 against the Miami Marlins, and during the fourth inning a man known for being very fat will wobble onto the field at Nationals Park. His name: William Howard Taft. He was our 27th president and, at 340 pounds, our most corpulent. "Stood trip well," Taft wrote in a telegram to the secretary of war in 1903, before becoming president. "Rode horseback twenty-five miles to five thousand feet elevation. " The secretary...

DEAR AMY: My best friend and I have known each other since we were 5. We are now 22. Neither one of us has ever been skinny, but where I lost 20 pounds when we started college and kept it off through steady diet and exercise, she is now extremely overweight, and I am becoming concerned about her health. Recently we were going up a flight of steps together. When I got to the top, I realized she was struggling. I worry about the strain her weight is putting on her heart and the consequences it will...

Older people in China remember the Great Famine of 1958-61, when 15 million to 45 million people died of hunger and related causes. Today, nearly every street corner in Beijing and many other cities seems to boast a McDonald's. There are KFC outlets in almost every Chinese city, 3,700 in all. Meanwhile, newly minted members of the Chinese middle class have rushed to buy cars, leaving bicycles that were once a major source of exercise rusting on the street. Pizza Hut is...

A Columbia-based nonprofit is kicking off an anti-obesity campaign designed to get parents and children in Howard County to kick the soda habit. The Horizon Foundation plans to hold a "Dump Sugar" event Tuesday morning, where organizers will dump 10 tons of "sugar" (actually white sand) at a local middle school. Ten tons signifies the amount of sugar that the average middle school student would consume if he or she drank one 12-ounce soda each day for one year, organizers said.

MONDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- Two obesity-related genetic variations may be associated with higher body mass index (BMI) among severely obese patients (BMI of 40 or higher) who have bariatric surgery to help them lose weight, say American researchers. Bariatric surgery is a highly effective treatment for severely obese patients, according to background information in the study. However, some patients don't lose weight after bariatric surgery. "Identification of variables that determine the success of bariatric...

Under intense pressure to trim its budget, the Army is dismissing a rising number of soldiers who do not meet its fitness standards, drawing from a growing pool of troops grappling with obesity. Obesity is now the leading cause of ineligibility for people who want to join the Army, according to military officials, who see expanding waistlines in the warrior corps as a national security concern. Between 1998 and 2010, the number of active-duty military personnel deemed overweight or obese more than...

Just call her a mini Michelle Obama . Like the FLOTUS, Jodi Evans, a fourth-grader from Bowie, is on a mission to improve the eating habits of the nation's children. Jodi, 9, is one of 21 students nationwide who were selected to serve on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Youth Advisory Board. The board is one of the only youth-led groups in the country that focuses on issues related to childhood obesity, according to the American Heart Association and the William J....