Originally published June 11 2005
CDC epidemiologists study obesity epidemic in West Virginia
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A team of epidemiologists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- normally deployed to investigate and control outbreaks of infectious diseases -- was recently deployed in West Virginia to study the state's debilitating obesity rate. The study found that many West Virginians, including children, rarely exercised and ate large amounts of full-fat foods and fast foods. As a result, 10 percent of the state's population suffered from diabetes. State officials have implemented the Japanese interactive video game Dance Dance Revolution to try to get school kids moving, but experts say the state's problems won't be solved until dietary habits are changed, too.
A team of federal "disease detectives", normally sent to combat outbreaks of infectious bugs, has been dispatched to the state to chart its frightening obesity epidemic.
Epidemiologists from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) have never before been deployed in this fashion, and it reflects the growing anxiety about the threat obesity poses to the health of the nation as a whole.
Article continues Over two-thirds of American adults are overweight and 30% are obese, as are 15% of the country's children.
The figures for West Virginia are even worse.
There are no available clinical statistics for the state population as a whole.
The result is that 10% of the population suffer from diabetes, 33% have high blood pressure and 28% report doing no physical activity over the course of a month.
The health "Swat" team has just spent three weeks taking their clipboards and scales around West Virginian schools, offices and restaurants in an attempt to understand why so many of the state's people, particularly its children, are getting so fat so very fast.
That would not come as a surprise to anyone who has travelled through the American "heartland" where most restaurants are fast-food outlets, and fresh fruit and vegetables can sometimes be hard to find.
The figures also make clear that there is still a strong link between obesity and poverty, despite a recent study suggesting wealthy Americans are catching up fast.
We'll find out that there aren't any sidewalks and there is lousy food in schools," said Daniel McGee, a statistician at Florida State University.
Faced with dramatically rising rates of "adult-onset" diabetes and other obesity-related diseases among young West Virginians, the state's Public Employees Insurance Agency has taken unorthodox measures, using video games in an attempt to get sedentary children moving.
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