Experts Predict 165 Million Americans Will Be Obese By 2030.

ABC World News (8/25/2011, story 7, 2:00, Stephanopoulos) reported, "Tonight, sobering new numbers on America's struggle with obesity." A new series on obesity published in "the medical journal Lancet says if trends continue, half of all American men will be obese by 2030."

        Bloomberg News (8/26/2011, Gerlin) reports, "US health-care spending will rise by as much as $66 billion a year by 2030 because of increased obesity if historic trends continue," the study suggested. "Almost 100 million Americans and 15 million Britons are already considered obese, based on body-mass index, a ratio of weight to height, Y. Claire Wang, an epidemiologist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York, said yesterday at a London news conference." Yet "another 65 million American adults and another 11 million British adults would join them in the next two decades based on past trends, said Wang."

        The Washington Poste (8/26/2011, Huget) "The Checkup" blog reported that a "four-part series by a number of international public health experts argues that the global obesity crisis will continue to grow worse and add substantial burdens to health-care systems and economies unless governments, international agencies and other major institutions take action to monitor, prevent and control the problem." The blog adds, "The series, which had support from the federal government and foundations, is published in advance of the first High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly focused on non-communicable disease prevention and control, which will take place in New York City Sept. 19 and 20."

        According to CNN's (8/26/2011, Cooper) "The Chart" blog, one report in the series "includes suggestions for ways governments can implement policies that it says will reduce obesity and save money. Proposals include a tax on unhealthy foods and beverages, school programs to promote good nutrition and physical activity, and cutting junk food advertising."

        HealthDay (8/26/2011, Preidt) reports, "In the United States, the cost of treating obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, would...represent a 2.6 percent increase in overall health spending." In fact, "spending on obesity problems alone will increase 13 percent to 16 percent per year if US trends continue."  WebMD (8/26, Boyles) also covers the story.

        Calorie-Cutting Rule May Result In Less-Than-Expected Weight Loss. MedPage Today (8/26/2011, Gever) reports, "Common rules of thumb exaggerate how much weight people will lose from a given dietary calorie reduction," according to research published Aug. 27 in the Lancet as part of its four-study obesity series. "Whereas patients are often told that cutting 500 calories a day will let them lose a pound a week, a more realistic formula is that such a caloric reduction would lead to a 50-pound loss over three or more years." But, "even then...such weight loss is possible only if the calorie reduction is actually maintained over that time," the study authors wrote.

        "Researchers now say the formula is wrong because it fails to account for a slowing metabolism, the fact that dieters lose muscle as well as fat, and other factors that influence weight loss," WebMd (8/26/11, Boyles) reports. "Researcher Kevin Hall, PhD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), says the 3,500-calorie rule leads to unrealistic expectations and may undermine people's efforts to lose extra pounds."

“500 calories a day is a lot, especially in the world we all live in today," says researcher Steven L. Gortmaker, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health. “This is why we really should be focusing more on preventing weight gain in the first place, especially among children.”