Health and Fitness
"Taking Action on Obesity", an Article from Club Business International,
February 2004

Obesity has become the nation's most pressing and well-publicized public health issue. The government, researchers, healthcare professionals, club owners, the public - all are actively involved in the search for solutions. Among the most recent developments:

Surgeon General Richard Carmona has revised the estimated cost of obesity in the U.S. upwards. Medical bills and lost productivity cost the nation $117 billion a year, he told The New York Times.

Carmona notes that some 9 million children in the U.S. are now overweight, and has call on physicians to do more to teach youngsters about the importance of good nutrition and regular exercise. "We must encourage all children to be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day...," he insists.

Only one-third of school-age children in the U.S. now participate in a daily gym class. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 60% of the 9 - 13 year-olds take part in no organized physical activity outside of school, and that 20% engage in no extracurricular physical activity at all.

A growing number of experts are calling on health insurers and others to classify obesity as a disease, not unlike alcoholism or diabetes. Such a move, they claim, would tend to destigmatize the condition, and make it easier for overweight individuals to obtain medical coverage that would pay for proper treatment.