The Obama administration is going to provide states and local governments with money to control obesity, which will include investing in public transportation to encourage more walking, says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius says that the majority of the $1 billion stimulus plan appropriated by Congress for disease prevention would go to a CDC-planned initiative to fight obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

The money can also go to boost or create programs to get more fruits and vegetables into school lunches and encourage grocery stores to sell more fresh produce in poorer communities.

“We’re spending just under 150 billion dollars a year on health conditions related to obesity,” Sebelius told the first-ever national conference on obesity to be organized by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We have a situation where health conditions related to obesity have nearly twice the cost-impact on the health system as all the cancers combined in this country.”

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. While citizens are responsible for their own health, the environment that we live is a factor, too. Much of the food supply is unhealthy, and we drive too much. If work is done on both sides – citizens and government – maybe we can make some progress.

(via: Yahoo)

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Kathleen Sebelius Aims Stimulus Money to Fight Obesity

Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and there’s no end in sight to this dangerous trend. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2007 25.6 percent of Americans were obese. But in 2008, it crept up to 26.1 percent.

There are six states that can dubiously boast the fact that over 30 percent of their citizens are obese: Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Colorado is the only state in which less than 20 percent of its citizens are not obese.

“If this trend continues we will likely see increases in health care costs for obesity-related diseases,” said the CDC’s Liping Pan, who headed the study.

Well, yeah, that’s pretty much stating the obvious.

The most fascinating part of this phenomenon to me is, where is the breaking point? It’s certainly not sustainable. So where does it get to that point? Is it half of our population obese? More? Let’s hope we don’t have to test those boundaries.

(via: Yahoo)

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Americans Still Getting Heavier

There are a few similarities between the two. They’re both college towns of about 50,000 people; the populations are mostly white and of English, Irish and German decent; the names sound slightly alike… but that’s where the similarities end.

In fact, the differences may be a microcosm of what the demographics look like when comparing obese and fit groups.

- People in Burlington, Vermont are better off financially, with eight percent living at the federal poverty level, compared to 19 percent in Huntington.

- While both are college towns, the residents of Huntington aren’t as educated (maybe the students in Burlington stay after college). Nearly 40 percent of Burlington residents have at least a college bachelor’s degree. Only 15 percent in the Huntington area do.

The cultures differ as well. Burlington is the picture of an eco-friendly, health conscious town. Bicycling, hiking, skiing, and other exercises are common in Burlington.

“There’s this norm of a lot of activity,” said Chris Finley, Vermont’s deputy health commissioner.

While in Huntington the narrative is a bit different. Shari Wiley, a nurse at St. Mary’s Regional Heart Institute in Huntington, runs a program that identifies heavy school children and tries to teach them better eating and exercise habits.

“A lot of the patients we were seeing were getting heart attacks in their 30s. They were requiring open heart surgery in their 30s,” says Wiley.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington’s five-county metropolitan area are obese. And, keeping with the stereotypical image of West Virginia, half of the population has lost all their teeth, which tops in the nation.

Maybe the saddest part is the apparent indifference about the health problems from the Huntington mayor.

“It doesn’t come up,” said David Felinton, who is 5 feet 9 and 233 pounds. “We’ve got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That’s usually the focus.”

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Healthiest and Unhealthiest U.S. Cities