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American Obesity Predictions For 2030 Appear Risky

Rebecca Dancer |
September 18, 2012 | 7:47 p.m. PDT

Contributing Writer

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According to a recent report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, if America's current obesity trend continues at a steady pace, all 50 states will have obesity rates above 44 percent by 2030, reports the Huffington Post. 

Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, told NBC News maps from 1991 show almost all 50 states below 10 percent obesity. In 2005 the U.S. average obesity rate was 23 percent, which jumped to 35.7 percent by 2010. 

By 2030 Mississippi is expected to have the highest obesity rate of all states at 66.7 percent, and Colorado the lowest at 44.8 percent.

These high rates will not only prove to cause a rise in obesity related health hazards, such as diabetes and heart disease, but they will also cause an increase in cost in the healthcare system. Currently, the medical costs of obesity exceed $147 billion. The costs of preventative health care for obesity is predicted to increase by $48 billion in the next two decades.

The report also suggests recommendations for states to help lower obesity-related diseases and the costs of unnecessary healthcare, such as by reducing residents' body mass index by 5 percent. Thus, it suggests putting the responsibility of reducing obesity in the hands of the states rather than the national government.

Levi adds that current figures of obesity-related diseases predict 6 million new cases of diabetes, 5 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and more than 400,000 cases of cancer in the next 20 years.  

 

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