Home > News & Events > NIH Radio > October 2005 Audio Reports

NIH Radio

NHLBI Predicts Increases in the Percentages of Overweight Americans

Right Click to Download MP3 File

Brief Description:
Nine out of 10 men and seven out of 10 women will be overweight by 2035, according to a study supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Transcript:
Akinso: Here's a startling prediction!!! Nine out of 10 men and seven out of 10 women will be overweight by 2035, according to a study supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. In addition more than one in three young to middle-aged adults is obese or will become obese during the next 30 years. Doctor Denise Simons-Morton, NHLBI's Director of the Clinical Applications and Prevention Program, examines the impact that this trend may have on public health.

Simons-Morton: "We see from this study, that many people will gain weight over time to the extent that it will effect their health. So we think the study means that adults in the United States need to pay attention to preventing excessive weight gain that will result in higher risk for having health problems in the future."

Akinso: Being overweight increases the likelihood of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and numerous other problems. Doctor Simons-Morton says it's time to look at the big picture.

Simons-Morton: "We think that this should be a wake up call to America. It is a major problem and increasing in importance. Even in children we're seeing more obesity and we're seeing diseases in children that are caused by obesity like type 2 diabetes. And we think that we need a national effort, including both personal level, and community level, and national level, in terms of changing the situation, so that we can prevent this excess weight gain. It's a major threat to the health of the public."

Akinso: To learn more about obesity and prevention, visit, www.nhlbi.nih.gov. This is Wally Akinso at the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland.

This page was last reviewed on December 1, 2005 .

[ Q&A About NIH | Jobs at NIH | Visitor Information | FOIA ]
[ Telephone & Service Directory | Employee Information | Información en español ]

[ Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Disclaimers | Accessibility | Site Map | Search ]

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Department of Health
and Human Services