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The Trends Journal has reported extensively on obesity and its devastating effect on the U.S.
Obese people have a greater risk for various health issues like heart disease and certain cancers, and COVID-19 hits that community the hardest. (See: “FAT CHANCE COVID WON’T KILL YOU,” “THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.”)
Sixteen states now have a population where at least 35 percent of their population is obese, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. In 2018, only nine states had such a high percentage.
The report said the states on the list include Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Overall, nearly 40 percent of the population in the country is considered obese.
Since the pandemic began, 42% of adults in the U.S. reported gaining an undesired amount of weight, US News & World Report said, citing a Harris Poll conducted in February. These adults reported putting on an average of 29 pounds.
“The epidemic of obesity is an urgent problem in the U.S. and has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic,” President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health J. Nadine Gracia said in a news release. “What is needed are transformational policies and bold investment in programs that reduce health inequities and address the social and economic conditions of people’s lives that are barriers to access to affordable, healthy food and physical activity.”
Adult Obesity Facts
- The prevalence of obesity was 42.4% in 2017–2018. [Read CDC brief]
- From 1999–2000 through 2017–2018, the prevalence of obesity increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. [Read CDC-NCHS brief]
- Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death. [Read evidence review report]
- The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008 US dollars; the medical cost for people who have obesity was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. [Read abstract]
Obesity affects some groups more than others:
- Non-Hispanic blacks (49.6%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanics (44.8%), non-Hispanic whites (42.2%) and non-Hispanic Asians (17.4%).
- The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among adults aged 60 and older.
TRENDPOST: Washington is more than happy to tell Americans to roll up their sleeves to take three Operation Warp Speed gene therapy COVID-19 jabs, but refuses to recommend that Americans stop gulping down fast food/junk food, ice cream, candy and soda.
There has also been a clear societal shift when it comes to obesity. “Fat shaming” is real, and it is shameful to suggest that someone drop a few pounds and get in shape. In the new dead-woke world, it’s their body and they should be proud. Who cares how you look… you’re you!
Indeed, when Jonathan Newman, the CEO of salad chain Sweetgreen quoted CDC numbers that, “78 percent of hospitalizations due to COVID are obese and overweight people,” he was attacked by Presstitutes and social media freaks who accused him of shaming the obese and overweight American majority. They also said he was ignorant of the facts that low income individuals and their families are fattened up because all they can eat is junk food.
However, as we have continually noted, for those who take time to cook, it is cheaper and more healthy to eat at home, thus, even the poor can eat healthy and lose weight (See “Cheap family meals: Budget recipes under £1 per head.”)
TRENDPOST: It should also be noted that one of the first things politician and bureaucratic “health officials” did when they launched the COVID War, was to order cities to close down playgrounds, gyms and keep people inside where they stressed out about job security but able to buy all the alcohol they can drink since liquor stores were deemed “essential.” (See “BOOZE BINGE ESSENTIAL.”)
TREND FORECAST: Unfortunately, as economies sink deeper into despair, so, too, will the human spirit of so many who have been morally and financially devastated by these unprecedented political maneuvers that have, within just a few months, sapped the vestiges of liberty, love, joy, and beauty from the planet.
Beyond alcohol, as we had forecast for months, drug addiction, legal and illegal, will continue to claim more victims in the coming years as the “Greatest Depression” worsens, civil unrest escalates, military clampdowns tighten… and geopolitical tensions intensify.