Time Magazine does a year end review with many lists. They bust them up into single pages in an effort to increase pageviews, so getting through them is hard. Luckily, I came across one of their lists, 2007 Underreported Stories, and found something related to obesity.
Time lists as the number seven underreported story the fact that obesity levels in American adults has leveled off or dropped between 2003-2006. You would think the media would be all over this, but you would be wrong.
They base their story on a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that looked at statistics for 2003-2006. In this study the rates for US adults has held steady around 34%. Remember, the media has depicted obesity as an epidemic in the United States.
Funny, an epidemic means something that is progressive and growing. According to the US CDC the rates have leveled off and stayed the same.
Yes, this is for adults only, but you would think the media might look at this and quit blasting out the obesity epidemic stories.
No one questions that being obese is a health issue that is many times controlled through the personal choices and behavior of the person who is obese. At the same time you need to realize that it isn’t an epidemic.