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Government Study Finds
American's are Eating Themselves to Death
Inactive Americans are
eating themselves to death at an alarming rate, their
unhealthy habits fast approaching tobacco as the top
underlying preventable cause of death, a government
study found.
In 2000, poor diet including obesity and physical
inactivity caused 400,000 US deaths - more than 16
percent of all deaths and the No. 2 killer. That
compares with 435,000 for tobacco, or 18 percent, as the
top underlying killer.
The gap between the two is substantially narrower than
in 1990, when poor diet and inactivity caused 300,000
deaths, 14 percent, compared with 400,000 for tobacco,
or 19 percent, says a report from the federal Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This is tragic," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC's
director and an author of the study. "Our worst fears
were confirmed."
"It's going to overtake tobacco" if the trend continues,
Gerberding said. "At CDC, we're going to do everything
we can to prevent it," she said. "Obesity has got to be
job No. 1 for us in terms of chronic diseases."
The researchers analyzed data from 2000 for the leading
causes of death and for those preventable factors known
to contribute to them. Like tobacco, obesity and
inactivity increase the risks for the top three killers:
heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular ailments
including strokes. Obesity and inactivity also strongly
increase the risk of diabetes, the sixth leading cause
of death.
The results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the
American Medical Association.
US Department of Health and Human Services officials
discussed the findings Tuesday at a Washington news
briefing where they announced a public service ad
campaign using humor to get Americans to pay attention
to the dangers of inactivity and obesity.
"I am working very hard at CDC to walk the talk,"
Gerberding said in a telephone interview, noting efforts
the agency has made at CDC offices to improve the health
of its 9,000-plus employees.
They include putting music, lights and fresh paint jobs
in stairwells to encourage employees to use the stairs
for exercise. Also, besides the current indoor smoking
ban, CDC will ban smoking from outside all of its
buildings starting later this year.
In order, the leading causes of death in 2000 were:
Heart disease, cancer, strokes and other cerebrovascular
disease, chronic lower respiratory disease,
unintentional injuries, diabetes, influenza and
pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, and
septicemia.
The underlying preventable causes of death were, in
order: tobacco, poor
diet and physical inactivity,
alcohol, microbial agents, toxic agents, motor vehicles,
firearms, sexual behavior and illegal drug use.
Together, these accounted for about half of all 2.4
million US deaths in 2000.
An editorial accompanying the study in JAMA says
national leadership and policy changes are needed to
help curb preventable causes of death.
"After all, wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is
doing it," said editorial authors Drs. J. Michael
McGinnis and William Foege. McGinnis is with the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation and Foege is with the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation. |
