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Obesity
What is obesity? It is weight that is too great for a given height. If you are overweight, you are more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, back, knee, and ankle problems, some types of cancer and shortness of breath. 22.9% of Arizonans are overweight compared to the Healthy People 2010 goal of 15%.1
To find out if you are obese, you can visit this website: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm. It is a table that calculates “body mass index” (BMI). The Center for Disease Control determines BMI by comparing weight and height. An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is overweight. An adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is obese. BMI tables may incorrectly label some people, such as athletes with increased muscle mass, as being overweight.
Other methods of determining obesity: Measuring skinfold thickness can determine body fat distribution. The lower area of the upper arm, when pinched, makes a skinfold, that can be measured. Another way is to measure the waist and the hip. A thick waist compared with the hip measurement indicates obesity. Sometimes obesity is measured using ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Obesity for children and teens? There are specific BMI tables for boys and girls of various ages and for teens that use different ratios. . For more information about BMI for children and teens (also called BMI-for-age), visit BMI for Children and Teens. (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/bmi-for-age.htm )
How is obesity in adults best treated? The most common treatments are changes in diet, exercising. behavior therapy, drug therapy, weight-loss surgery and combinations of the above. If Arizona implemented comprehensive programs to reduce obesity, we could effect substantial reductions in costs to the health system associated with diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis and cancer.
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Links to Arizona Websites
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Links to National Websites
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