U.S. obesity rates alarmingly high (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research shows "alarminglevels" of obesity in most ethnic groups in the United States,principal investigator Dr. Gregory L. Burke, of Wake ForestUniversity, Winston-Salem, North Carolina told Reuters Health.The study also confirms the potentially deadly toll obesityexacts on the heart and blood vessels.

"The obesity epidemic has the potential to reduce furthergains in U.S. life expectancy, largely through an effect oncardiovascular disease mortality (death)," Burke and colleagueswarn in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Among 6,814 middle-age or older adults participating in theMulti-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or "MESA" study,researchers found that more than two thirds of white, AfricanAmerican and Hispanic participants were overweight and onethird to one half were obese.

Obesity rates were far lower in Chinese Americans in thestudy, with 33 percent overweight and just 5 percent obese,suggesting, Burke said, that high rates of obesity should notconsidered "inevitable."

The investigators also found that obese adults, comparedwith normal-weight adults, had higher rates of high bloodpressure (up to more than twice as high), abnormal lipids (two-to three-fold higher), and diabetes, despite a "huge number"being on costly medications to lower blood pressure and lipidlevels and control diabetes, Burke said.

"As the obesity numbers increase further, we will spend aneven larger amount of health care dollars just treating riskfactors," Burke said.

Obese adults also had more silent vascular disease (bloodvessel disease that causes no symptoms); they had moreatherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and thicker heartwalls, even after adjusting for "traditional" risk factors likehigh blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

Given the higher amount of silent blood vessel disease withobesity, Burke said "one could worry that this will cause us toreverse our 50-year decline in cardiovascular disease mortalitydue to the obesity epidemic." This will likely be accompaniedby an increase in diabetes, other heart disease risk factors,and silent disease - "on top of the aging of the baby boomgeneration."

"Our findings support the imperative to redouble ourefforts to assist in increasing healthy behaviors and toremove...barriers to maintaining a healthy weight," Burke andcolleagues conclude.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, May 12, 2008.