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Poll Examines American Perceptions About Obesity
Ask yourself this:
“What is the most serious health problem facing the nation”? If you
answered “obesity”, you would be in the company of most Americans
(81%) who ranked it as high as cancer and above heart disease and
diabetes (72% each), according to a new survey by the American Society
for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the independent
research organization, NORC at the University of Chicago1.
Obesity has been linked to many other diseases and conditions
including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even some
cancers, making it a serious threat to individual health and
dramatically increasing the chances of premature death. But perhaps
surprisingly, the ASMBS/NORC Obesity Poll found that although 94% of
Americans understood this, only about two thirds of those struggling
with obesity have spoken to a doctor or health professional about
their weight, and far fewer still have considered or been suggested
surgical options by their doctor.
Complex Causes
Now consider what the most effective treatment for
obesity would be. Top of mind for more than three-quarters of the
respondents in the ASMBS/NORC Obesity Poll was “diet and exercise”.
Yet, in addition to being too simplistic, this belief that obesity is
driven by a person’s lifestyle and/or lack of willpower may be
counterproductive, and lead to anxiety and denial in adults concerned
about their health. John M. Morton, MD, MPH, chief of
bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at Stanford University School
of Medicine, agrees. “We have to get people, and even the medical
community, to go beyond ‘eat less and exercise more.’ That’s too
simple an answer for a complex disease like obesity. We have an
expanding spectrum of treatments and many are underutilized because
they are misperceived or poorly understood.” Underlying this
complexity are a combination of genetic, environmental, and social
factors that health professionals believe all play a role in the
causes of obesity. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute also lists some other, perhaps
overlooked, causes such as lack of sleep, emotional factors (e.g.
stress or boredom), and smoking cessation. Taken together this means
that while some elements of obesity may be in an individual's control,
addressing others requires alternative interventions.
Surgical Treatment
Though not fit for everyone, weight-loss surgery may be
one such alternative. Good candidates for bariatric surgery are those
with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, or those with a serious
obesity-related health problem and a BMI of at least 35, according to
the NIH. Interestingly however, only 12% of eligible obese
individuals in the ASMBS/NORC survey have been suggested this surgical
option by their doctor, despite the fact that nearly a third of them
have considered weight-loss surgery on their own. The main reasons
that many of those who considered surgery did not pursue it were
related to cost, affordability, and lack of insurance coverage (40,
29, and 11%, respectively). Thirty seven percent of respondents
believed that the surgical option was unsafe but the majority of
Americans still believed that weight-loss surgery is less risky than
living with obesity.
Obesity is pervasive
Obesity is a personal issue for many Americans. Obese
individuals are roughly twice as likely than non-obese people to
report that their weight interferes with their romantic relationships,
life goals, and family life. And although those with obesity are more
likely than others to have a parent, spouse, child or close friend
that is overweight, these problems are not isolated. The ASMBS/NORC
poll found that more than half of Americans consider a close friend
overweight and one-third of them “personally know someone who died or
developed a disease or
health condition because of obesity”, a fact that is more common among
Whites than African Americans or Hispanics.
New Approaches
Although the poll seems to indicate that Americans’
awareness and knowledge on obesity is increasing, there is still some
way to go to stem the tide of the disease. In 2013 the American
Medical Association declared obesity a disease but only 38% of
Americans agree, most considering it instead merely a risk factor for
other diseases. According to a 2012 article in the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA), from 1999-2010 the overall rate
of obesity in adults remained roughly steady around 35-36% but the
trend does not look good for what has been a decades old epidemic. The
Centers for Disease Control estimated in 2012 that by 2030, 42% of
adults will be obese, adding $550 billion dollars in health spending
over that time.
If the current education and methods on how to treat
obesity is not sufficient, some have called for different thinking all
together. In a recent commentary Dr. Jody Zylke and Dr.
Howard Bauchner, editors of JAMA, said that after spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on obesity research, drugs, and
hospital and community programs "perhaps it is time for an entirely
different approach, one that emphasizes collaboration with the food
and restaurant industries that are in part responsible for putting
food on dinner tables."
Sources:
https://tinyurl.com/jhz36pf
https://tinyurl.com/z2jd937
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