Looks like it's getting worse, and we won't like the consequences.
Main point: "As one major killer — smoking — declined, another rose precipitously to take its place: obesity."
Points:
- "Many cancer deaths were averted after millions quit lighting up, but they are now rising because even greater numbers are unable to keep their waistlines in check."
- "...cancer risk rose in direct proportion to the degree of excess weight. In other words, the heavier you are, the more likely you will be to develop one of these often fatal cancers."
- "...experts called upon clinicians who treat children and adults to do their due diligence and spend more time assessing body mass index (B.M.I.) and counseling patients about how to avoid or reduce excess weight."
- "Many primary care doctors have little to no training in how to counsel patients who need to lose weight."
- "...patients are often turned off by what they perceive to be their health care providers’ negative attitudes toward people with weight problems."
- "...doubling in the prevalence of obesity between the childhood ages of 6 to 11, now at 17 percent, and young adulthood ages of 20 to 29, now at 34 percent."
