The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. largely leveled off over the last decade, even as some individual groups, such as boys from ages 6 to 19, saw increases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Bloomberg reports. Obesity rates in adults rose slightly to 35.7% from 30.5% between 1999 and 2010, compared with rates that nearly doubled the two previous decades. Overall, a third of the population—78 million adults and 12.5 million children—were obese in 2009- 2010. According to the story:
“The fact that prevalence rates are reaching a plateau is good news, but by no means are we at the end of the epidemic,” said David Ludwig, a pediatric endocrinologist and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity ...
SaludToday Guest Blogger: Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez Obesity causes more than 15 percent of this country’s preventable deaths—more than alcohol, toxins, care accidents, gun-related deaths, drug abuse and STDs combined—and it causes a huge financial strain on the health care system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity affects approximately 34 percent of adults and 17 percent of children in the U.S. The agency recently estimated the costs of obesity at almost $150 billion per year. The obesity statistics for young Latinos are particularly frightening. Mexican-American children ages 2 to 19 are more likely to be obese or overweight (40.8 percent) than white (31.9 percent) and African-American (30 percent) children. Among preschoolers, nearly ...
For National Influenza Vaccination Week Dec. 4-10, 2011, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) is inviting Hispanics ages 6 months and older to get vaccinated against the influenza. The first and most important step to protect against flu is to get vaccinated, according to the CDC's Spanish-language flu website. The vaccine reduces one's risk of illness, hospitalization, or even death and can prevent the spread of the virus to loved ones. There is good news: More Hispanic children, 43 percent, have been vaccinated this year than black children at 36 percent or white children at 34 percent, UPI reports. Go to flu.gov in English or Spanish to learn ...
Diabetes, a disease that is expected to affect 9.9% of the world's adult by 2030, takes an especially heavy toll on U.S. Hispanics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Huffington Post reports. Hispanics have double the risk of developing diabetes compared with non-Hispanic whites, according to a CDC a study on diabetes prevalence among Hispanics in California, Florida, Illinois, New York/New Jersey, Texas, and Puerto Rico from 1998 to 2002. The CDC study also found that: Hispanics tend to develop diabetes at a younger age
The prevalence of diabetes decreased with higher education levels; among Hispanics with less than a high school education, 11.8% had diabetes, compared to 7% of college graduates Read the full news report. Watch an ...
Editor's Note: This story appears in the latest E-newsletter of Salud America!, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) network to prevent obesity among Latino kids, directed by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Laura Kettel Khan rarely stepped foot outside Arizona as a child. She raised horses and enjoyed church-based activities there. Her family didn’t travel much. She even went to study at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Her life changed when she joined the Peace Corps in the 1980s. Kettel Khan—despite not knowing Spanish at the time—was assigned to nutrition issues in Latin America. She found herself in a 300-person Honduran village, helping raise animals and building chicken coops at the village ...
Watch a new video from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that explains the factors contributing to the obesity epidemic and showcases several community initiatives taking place to prevent and reduce obesity. Obesity is a national epidemic and a major contributor to some of the leading causes of death in the U.S., including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer. Latinos have some of the highest rates of overweight and obesity, and suffer a larger burden of diabetes. The CDC urges communitywide changes that strongly support healthy eating and active ...
Watch this video to see an exciting public health model that has great potential in the effort to curb childhood obesity and reduce the disparities that exist between poor children and the general population. The Campaign for Healthy Kids video spotlights the Tennessee Coordinated School Health program, a public health model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide a platform for improving health policies and practices in schools and communities. The program’s coordinator works in schools to ensure they meet best practices for nutrition and physical activity, such as reducing junk food sold in K-12 schools. In the video, see examples of two schools with Coordinated School Health programs—one that is large and relatively affluent and the other, which ...
Although high school students report drinking plenty of water, milk, and real fruit juice, they still gulp down more sugar-sweetened beverages than is probably good for them, CDC researchers found, ABC News reports. About 24% of teen respondents said they had a soda every day. Several racial/ethnic differences were found, according to the story, which originated at MedPage Today. Teen boys were more likely report drinking milk and whole fruit juices than girls, and whites were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to have water and milk every day. Boys and blacks were also more likely to drink soda and sports drinks than girls and white or Hispanic teens. For more, watch the ABC News report here or ...
The number of U.S. cancer survivors increased from 3 million in 1971 to 11.7 million in 2007, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute. There were 3 million cancer survivors in 1971 and 9.8 million in 2001. A cancer survivor is defined as anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis through the balance of his or her life. Many people with cancer live a long time after diagnosis; more than a million people were alive in 2007 after being diagnosed with cancer 25 years or more earlier. Of the 11.7 million people living with cancer in 2007: 7 million were 65 years of age or older.
6.3 million were women.
4.7 million were diagnosed 10 years earlier or more. The largest groups of cancer ...
