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Meanwhile the current guidelines created by a committee of experts analyzing the current body of science-based research, says poor diet and physical inactivity are also the one-two punch responsible for those excess pounds most Americans pack around and the growing obesity crisis the country is facing. In 2002, 30 percent of American adults were obese and another 35 percent were overweight—only ten years earlier 23 percent were obese and another 33 percent overweight. Americans are a fat people and we are growing fatter fast.
And that’s killing quite a few of us. Studies indicate that being overweight (as defined by body mass index) is not causing premature deaths, but being obese is a different matter. In 2005, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that obesity (defined as a body mass index over 30) kills about 112,000 people per year. Because obesity rates are rising, deaths attributable to obesity are likely to rise in the years ahead. We need to get a grip on the how we eat and the amount we exercise.
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