Obesity: Both Nature and Nurture

There has been growing recognition of the scope and threat of obesity. In the United States, one in four adults and one in five children are obese. And obesity has been steadily increasing. The health threats – heart disease, diabetes and cancer – are similar to those of smoking, and they tend to concentrate among the poor. These threats, too, are trending upward: one in three Americans born in 2000 is likely to develop diabetes. Direct and indirect costs of diabetes to the U.S. economy already were $132 billion in 2002. This problem has been building over time. Over the last 30 years American women have increased their daily caloric intake by 21 percent, or 325 calories, while men have added 170 calories to an already significant

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