The World Cancer Research Fund carried out the largest ever inquiry into lifestyle and cancer, and issued several stark recommendations. Everyone must also aim to be as thin as possible without becoming underweight. The panel examined 7,000 existing studies over five years.

The result, they say, is the most comprehensive investigation ever into the risks of certain lifestyle choices.

They see body fat as a key factor in the development of cancer, estimating its significance to be much higher than previously thought. increased body fat, particularly in the abdominal area, affects levels of hormones and growth factors, which can influence the development of cancer cells. Cancers of the colon and breast are some of the most common forms of the disease, and the report says the evidence is "convincing" that body fat plays a key role in the development of these tumors. They called the link between body fat and six types of cancers "the most striking finding" of the analysis.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cancer31oct31,0,4739640.story?coll=la-home-center

If Americans keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 per cent of US adults overweight and 41 percent obese, researchers have predicted.

"Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 per cent of adults and nearly 24 per cent of US children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement.

The following photographs were all taken in downtown Charleston WV

As the Kanawha County Health Dept continues to beat-up on smokers, we cant help but wonder if they've ever walked out their door long enough to look around at the very serious issue surrounding them.   Smokers "might" develop diseases down the road.  Hell it might even kill em some day.  But NOBODY is going to make it out of this world alive right?   This fat issue is a little different however.  I see teens and young people already on the road to many of the same diseases as smokers and will most likely contract other diseases like diabetes.  They are going to die before they're 50 at this rate. WV is near the top of the "most diabetics in the nation" list right now.  Add heart disease and bone & joint issues,  and the costs of treating these people are going to make smokers look like health nuts!   Folks... you haven't seen anything yet.  In another 10 years,  we wont even be able to pay for the health needs of people.. who mostly do this to themselves and expect us to pay for it.  And MY GOD... do you know how depressing this is to look at every day?   Come on Health Dept,  get off the smokers backs long enough to see what's going on around you concerning the REAL health issue in West Virginia.

C-section rates above average
State’s obesity, induced labor rates cited as factors

West Virginia has the fourth-highest Caesarean section rate in the nation, and the number of women in the state who have the procedure is growing, speakers at a children’s health conference Tuesday in Charleston said.

Frivolous malpractice lawsuits are driving up C-section rates in the state.

“People don’t get sued for doing Caesarean sections,” said Nerhood, speaking on the final day of the Growing Healthy Children conference in Charleston. “They get sued for not doing Caesarean sections.”

“We have some of the most obese patients I’ve ever encountered,” said Dr. Brenda Dawley, vice chairwoman of the West Virginia section of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “No one wants to do a stat emergency Caesarean section on a 400-pound woman at two in the morning.”

MY question: How'd it get IN there?

MORE...

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007101625

Diabetes (FAT) afflicts W.Va. mothers
Pregnant women with the disease double 2000 count

Gazette....

More West Virginia women with diabetes are giving birth, causing an increase in pregnancy complications, Cesarean sections and hospital costs, according to a report expected to be released today.

HEY! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE ABOVE! KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SMOKERS!

The number of pregnant women with type 2 diabetes, which often is linked to obesity and lack of exercise, more than doubled over the past six years. The report called the increase “staggering.”

NO NO NO! YOU DIDNT SEE THAT! IT CANT BE TRUE! SO KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SMOKERS!

Gestational diabetes brought on by pregnancy also increased significantly, according to the 29-page report from the state’s Bureau for Public Health.

“It shows we have a greater problem than many of us realized,” said Peggy Adams, manager of the West Virginia Diabetes Prevention and Control Program. “We believe the rates are going up because West Virginia has such high rates of obesity.”

WOMEN SO FAT THAT SOME DOCTORS WONT EVEN TAKE THEM AS PATIENTS? STOP RIGHT HERE! KEEP YOUR EYE ON THOSE HORRIBLE SMOKERS!

Diabetes during pregnancy can lead to serious problems for mother and baby, Adams said. Children of diabetic mothers also are more likely to face health problems — obesity, type 2 diabetes and abnormal glucose tolerance — later in life.

Nearly half of West Virginia women with diabetes who gave birth during the past six years had a Cesarean delivery, compared to 30 percent of women without diabetes, the study found. The C-section rate among diabetic women increased from 43 percent to 52 percent during the same period.

Diabetic women also had a higher rate of complications during labor and delivery, the report said.

MOSTLY (ACCORDING TO ONE OB/GYN THAT I TALKED TO ) DUE TO ALL THAT FAT THEY MUST CUT THROUGH! BUT NO MATTER! KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SMOKERS AT ALL COST!

<SNIP>

Hospital costs for deliveries of babies whose mothers have diabetes also are rising, the study found. The average hospital charge for births from women with diabetes was more than $6,000, compared to $4,600 for babies whose mothers weren’t diabetic.

Babies with diabetic mothers also were more likely to have birth defects and be born prematurely, the report said. Meanwhile, mothers with diabetes were more at risk to develop hypertension and other health problems.

The study found that fewer pregnant women in West Virginia today are talking to their doctors and other health-care professionals about diabetes than six years ago.

The report spotlights the need for expanded screening and counseling of pregnant women who have diabetes risk factors, Adams said. Many women become pregnant and don’t know they have diabetes.

Others with diabetes might not realize they’re pregnant in the early weeks.

WEEKS? SOMETIMES MONTHS! SOMETIMES RIGHT UP UNTIL THE BABY DROPS OUT! NO MATTER! KEEP CALLING THE VENT LINE AGAINST THOSE FILTHY SMOKERS!

<SNIP>

West Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of all adults diagnosed with diabetes.

NEVER SEPARATE THE TERM DIABETES FROM FAT, AS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT ONE CAUSES THE OTHER.

More.....
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007112620

Obesity Driving Rising U.S. Health Costs

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay ReporterTue Oct 2, 11:45 PM ET

TUESDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity is a big factor driving soaring rates of chronic disease in the United States, with many more Americans chronically ill than their European counterparts, a new study finds.

It's an expensive problem, too: According to researchers, chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease account for some $100 to $150 billion in health-care spending in the United States each year.

"The United States spends twice as much as European countries on health care," noted lead researcher Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. "Seventy-five percent of what we spend in this country is associated with patients that have one or more chronic conditions and most of the growth is due to obesity."

"We have got to find more effective means to reduce, and at the worst, stabilize this persistent rise in obesity among adults and kids in this country," he said.

In addition, experts must find better and less expensive ways of managing chronic health-care problems, Thorpe said.

"That's where all the money is being spent," he said. "We are not going to control costs until we get the level and growth in chronic disease prevalence down."

The report appears in the Oct. 2 online edition of Health Affairs.

In the study, Thorpe's team compared 2004 data on the prevalence and treatment of diseases among adults aged 50 and older in the United States and Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

They report that about 17 percent of European adults are obese, compared with around a third of American adults. In addition, 53 percent of adult Americans are either former or current smokers, compared with 43 percent of those in Europe. American adults were also more likely than Europeans to have heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease -- all associated with obesity and/or smoking.

"The United States spends more on health care than any country in Europe," Thorpe said. In the United States, in 2004 the per capita spending on health care was $6,102 -- about twice as much as in the Netherlands and Germany, and almost twice that of France.

If the prevalence of obesity could be reduced (and along with it, chronic disease), Thorpe's team estimates that health spending could be cut by $100 billion to $150 billion per year, trimming up to 18.7 percent off the nation's total health-care budget.

There are several reasons for the costs of chronic disease in the United States, Thorpe's group notes. In addition to high rates of obesity and smoking, these include more aggressive cancer screening in the United States than in Europe, and more intensive drug treatment for chronic disease than in Europe, further driving up costs.

Thorpe believes the only way to get health-care costs under control is to find ways to reduce obesity. "There is a lack of an effective primary-care system in this country," he said. "We have to manage patients with chronic conditions more effectively, and we have got to find a way to prevent this rise in obesity."

One expert agreed with the scope of the problem, but said solutions remain elusive.

"There are two reasons why the U.S. might spend more of our total economy on health care than any other country -- treatment here costs more, and more of us need treatment," said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine.

That Americans are fatter than Europeans comes as no surprise, Katz said, but that more Americans smoke is surprising. "This finding does make me question the reliability of the data to some degree. But even if we know for sure that Americans have more chronic disease risk factors than populations abroad, it doesn't necessarily tell us how to fix the problem," he said.

Obesity rates in Europe are rising fast, so "we are exporting our bad example and higher health-care costs may well follow [there]," Katz said. "Without a doubt, the high costs of health care are best reduced by the propagation of health. Defining how best to get there from here is as yet a challenge inadequately met."

Another health-care cost expert agreed.

"I'm not sure obesity is a medical condition that lends itself to medical treatment," said Greg Scandlen, the founder of Consumers for Health Care Choices, a health-care lobbying group. "Certainly, it does suggest the need for more exercise and better diets, but that is a grandmother's advice. Do we need highly trained and expensive professionals telling people what grandmothers have told them for free for generations?"

"I'm just not sure this information is of much use to the health-care system, though it may be for the education system," Scandlen said. His suggestions? "Bring back P.E. classes, [use the] transportation system, use more bicycles and fewer cars, and urban design, get rid of escalators so people will walk up stairs," he said.

Obese girls much less likely to attend college: U.S. study

After tracking 11,000 American adolescents, a study released Monday found that following secondary school, obese girls in the U.S. were half as likely to enroll in college, versus their non-obese peers.

Written by Robert Crosnoe, from the University of Texas at Austin, the study was published in the July issue of the journal, Sociology of Education. It defines obese young people as those individuals at the highest end of the body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height.

It found that, "Obese girls were less likely to enter college after high school than were their non-obese peers, especially when they attended schools in which obesity was relatively uncommon."

Crosnoe pointed to a variety of issues as to why young obese women are less likely to attend college. The paper discussed the theories that, compared to boys, girls are more focused on their body and appearance and that their self-perception has a greater effect on their education.

The study said that obese girls are more likely to consider committing suicide, have negative self-images, and use alcohol and marijuana.

Interestingly the report found that obese boys "did not differ from their peers — no matter what their school context — in college enrolment."

"How students fit in with or stand out from their peers at school is of the utmost importance to their educational pathways. Rather than chalking up the social challenges of school life as harmless parts of growing up, therefore we need to assess the risks that are associated with these challenges as ways of easing passage through the educational system," added the study's author, citing previous research.

The study compiled data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the U.S., to look at the gendered link between obesity and education.

Guiding the investigation were three questions: Why does obesity affect college enrolment? In what contexts are the effects most common? And for whom are the effects most common?

NOW,  KANAWHA COUNTY COMMISHNER KENT CARPER WANTS A TOTAL SMOKING BAN?

I like Kent,  but sometimes I cant help but wonder were his priorities are:

For instance:  5 people recently died in an auto accident due to a drunk driver.  Yet little is said.

A little 3 year old girl has her face mauled by a Pit Bull,  but nothing on the books about these dogs here.

People are SO fat (like Kent himself used to be) that smokers will soon take second place in health care costs to all of the obese people here in WV,  but Kent never says a word.

Smokers are the easy target now,  but soon people like Kent will be on the backs of anyone with bad habits.  What's YOUR bad habit?  Like all you can eat buffets?  Drinking?  Chewing?  Get ready!

Cigarette smoking. Smokers tend to gain weight after quitting. This weight gain may be partially due to nicotine's ability to raise the rate at which your body burns calories (metabolic rate). When smokers stop, they burn fewer calories. Smoking also affects taste; quitting smoking makes food taste and smell better. Former smokers often gain weight because they eat more after they quit.

Study: Obesity Is 'Socially Contagious'

(They didnt need a study for this.. just look around WV)

If your friends and family get fat, chances are you will too, researchers report in a startling new study that suggests obesity is "socially contagious" and can spread easily from person to person.

The large, federally funded study found that to be true even if your loved ones lived far away. Social ties seemed to play a surprisingly strong role, even more than genes are known to do.

"We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight status as friends who are right next door," said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.

The study found a person's chances of becoming obese went up 57 percent if a friend did, 40 percent if a sibling did and 37 percent if a spouse did. In the closest friendships, the risk almost tripled.

Researchers think it's more than just people with similar eating and exercise habits hanging out together. Instead, it may be that having relatives and friends who become obese changes one's idea of what is an acceptable weight.

Despite their findings, the researchers said people should not sever their relationships.

"There is a ton of research that suggest that having more friends makes you healthier," Fowler said. "So the last thing that you want to do is get rid of any of your friends."

The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Researchers analyzed medical records of people in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following the health of residents of that Boston suburb for more than a half century. They tracked records for relatives and friends using contact information that participants provided each time they were examined over a 32-year period.

In all, 12,067 people - all Framingham participants - were involved in the study.

After taking into account natural weight gain and other factors, researchers found the greatest influence occurred among friends and not in people sharing the same genes or living in the same household. Geography and smoking cessation had no effect on obesity risk.

On average, the researchers calculated, when an obese person gained 17 pounds, the corresponding friend put on an extra 5 pounds.

Gender also had a strong influence. In same-sex friendships, a person's obesity risk increased by 71 percent if a friend gained weight. Between brothers, the risk was up by 44 percent and 67 percent between sisters.

Indiana University statistician Stan Wasserman said while the study was clever, it had its limitations because it excluded relationships outside of the Framingham group.

Obesity is a global public health problem. About 1.5 billion adults worldwide are overweight, including more than 400 million who are obese. Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese.

Much of the recent research focus has been on the intense hunt for obesity genes involved in appetite or calorie burning. Treatment has been mainly centered on helping individuals curb their weight through better diet and fitness.

The findings could open a new avenue for treating this worldwide epidemic. The researchers said it might be helpful to treat obese people in groups instead of just the individual.

"Because people are interconnected, their health is interconnected," said lead author Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a Harvard sociologist.

Obesity experts not involved in the research said the results back up what they have suspected all along - that people look toward one another for what is an acceptable weight.

"If you're just a little bit heavy and everyone around you is quite heavier, you will feel good when you look in a mirror," said Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center.