[acb-diabetics] baby boomers may outlie their children

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

Baby Boomers Will Outlive Their Children

 

It's a provocative prediction that, due to the obesity epidemic, Baby
Boomers may outlive their children....

 

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But a new study by the University of Michigan Health System on obesity
trends shows Americans are getting heavier at a younger age and carrying the
extra

weight for longer periods over their lifetime.

 

As a result, the study suggests the impact on chronic diseases and life
expectancy may be worse than previously thought.  

 

In the April 12 International Journal of Obesity, researchers report that 20
percent of those born between 1966-1985 were obese by ages 20-29. Among
their

parents, those born between 1946-1955, that level of obesity was not reached
until ages 30-39, not until ages 40-49 for individuals born between
1936-1945,

and obesity prevalence was even later -- during the 50's -- for those born
between 1926-1935.  

 

"Many people have heard that Americans are getting heavier," says lead
author Joyce Lee, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric endocrinologist at the U-M Mott
Children's

Hospital and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and
Communicable Diseases at the U-M Medical School. "But it's very important to
understand

who the obesity epidemic is affecting."  

 

"Our research indicates that higher numbers of young and middle-age American
adults are becoming obese at younger and younger ages," she says. Evidence

shows body mass index, a calculation of fat and weight, increases with age,
and children who are obese are more likely to become obese adults." 

 

The prediction, made in 2005, for a reduced life expectancy in the 21st
century, was based on obesity prevalence from the period 1988-1994, the
mid-point

of the obesity epidemic, and included much older adults, born 1885-1976, a
generation that had much lower obesity rates over their lifetime. 

 

Obesity is a well-known contributor to Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, disability and premature death. 

 

The federally funded U-M study shows obesity trends were worse for women and
blacks, a bad sign for reversing racial disparities in health, U-M authors

say. Among 20-29-year-olds, born 1976-1985, 20 percent of whites were obese
compared to 35 percent of blacks in that age group.  

 

"What is particularly worrisome is that obesity trends are worse for blacks
compared to whites," Lee says. "Black Americans already experience a higher

burden of obesity-related diseases and the obesity trends will likely
magnify those racial disparities in health." 

 

International Journal of Obesity, Issue, 34.4, April 12, 2010. Details on
the research results and a slideshow of figures are available at 

www.heavieryounger.com 

 

Using Genotypes to Individualize Diabetes Treatment

Gene Links Lower Birth Weight and Diabetes 

 

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This article originally posted 13 April, 2010 and appeared in  

Issue 517

 

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