Home>News Center>Life
             
     

    Study: Americans eating themselves to death
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2004-03-10 08:50

    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 U.S. 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.

    U.S. 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 U.S. 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

     
      Today's Top News     Top Life News
     

    China puzzled over US filing tax complaint at WTO

     

       
     

    Chen, Annette Lu slightly wounded in shooting

     

       
     

    Specific reform objectives set for banks

     

       
     

    Bush urges allies to stick with united mission

     

       
     

    Marriage bells toll in cyber churches

     

       
     

    Chinese, French women hold dialogue

     

       
      China on show in song and story
       
      Girl, 14, becomes a mother
       
      Dazzling art works catch collectors' eyes
       
      Liver-transplant patient gives birth
       
      China final of Miss Universe to be held in "Spring City"
       
      Computer game cracked down on for discrediting China's image
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Obesity gene discovery will 'revolutionise treatment'
       
    Inside myself I don't feel so fat
       
    Just how much do you weigh?
      Feature  
      HK pop star Edison Chen punched by youngsters  
    Advertisement
             
    中文国产成人精品久久亚洲精品AⅤ无码精品 | 无码不卡av东京热毛片| 国产久热精品无码激情| 亚洲国产人成中文幕一级二级| 97碰碰碰人妻视频无码| 精品高潮呻吟99av无码视频| 日韩亚洲国产中文字幕欧美| 无码AV波多野结衣久久| 久久久久亚洲AV片无码下载蜜桃| 在线观看免费无码视频| 久久久91人妻无码精品蜜桃HD| 曰批全过程免费视频在线观看无码 | 日本久久久久久中文字幕| 无码不卡亚洲成?人片| 久久精品中文字幕无码绿巨人 | 久久精品中文无码资源站| 久久亚洲中文字幕精品一区四| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区在线观看| 无码人妻少妇久久中文字幕蜜桃| 色婷婷综合久久久久中文字幕| 亚洲中文久久精品无码| 亚洲精品无码专区久久同性男| Aⅴ精品无码无卡在线观看| 无码精品国产VA在线观看DVD | 久久精品中文字幕久久| 亚洲国产精品成人AV无码久久综合影院| 日韩一区二区三区无码影院 | 成人无码区免费A片视频WWW| 一本久中文视频播放| 暖暖日本免费中文字幕| 波多野结衣中文在线| 中文字幕人妻无码专区| 中文无码人妻有码人妻中文字幕| 蜜臀精品无码AV在线播放| 国产精品无码日韩欧| 超清无码无卡中文字幕| 91精品久久久久久无码 | 亚洲中文字幕无码一区| 天堂а√在线中文在线最新版| 中文字幕av无码一区二区三区电影| 中文无码字慕在线观看|