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associalisticpress.com� 17 Mar 2005

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Report: Obesity to Lower U.S. Life Span

By LINDSEY TANNER (Direct descendent of Karl Marx! - tha malcontent)
AP Medical Writer Mar 17, 10:50 AM EST

CHICAGO (AP) � U.S. life expectancy will fall dramatically in coming years because of obesity, a startling shift in a long-running trend toward longer lives, researchers contend in a report published Thursday.

(ap) - Memo to America: You fat Bastards!... Keep in mind, this Report will be countered by another Report, countered by another Report! Our problem in 50 years is going to be people living too long, not the other way around! The result of this Report will be as would be expected... DemocRATS in the Congress will demand that a Tax be added to the foods that are "the Culprits in the Killing of our Citizens!" Of course, Personal Responsibility will not be part of the Debate, and if it is, it will be called Racist, since the Life spans of Ethnic Minorities are shorter than Whites, and any attempts to stop Legislation protecting the Dependents of the DemocRATS will always be painted as Abject Racism. I have not read this story in advance to commenting on it, as is always the case, and this is my prediction... By the end of it, there will be a Leftist, "Something should be done." angle, and it will include Congress. - tha malcontent)

By their calculations � disputed by skeptics as shaky and overly dire � within 50 years obesity likely will shorten the average life span of 77.6 years by at least two to five years. That's more than the impact of cancer or heart disease, said lead author S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

(Those who disagree with the President's proposals are not called "skeptics" by the AP... Interesting Choice of words! - tha malcontent)

This would reverse the mostly steady increase in American life expectancy that has occurred in the past two centuries and would have tremendous social and economic consequences that could even inadvertently help "save" Social Security, Olshansky and colleagues contend.

(This one Report is capable of making people, mostly on the Left, believe that 200 years of increased Life span is going away because of Obesity?... By the way, I see a DemocRAT plan to save Socialistic Insecurity in that paragraph, do you? More McDonald's, not less! Keep in mind, Blacks are the least likely to ever get Benefits, thanks to their lowered Life expectancy as compared with Whites. Part of reason for the lowered Life expectancy is the continued Oppression in the form of Ignorance and Dependence that is Fostered by the Party they Vote most for... 9 out of 10 Blacks Vote for the DemocRATS, to be exact. - tha malcontent)

"We think today's younger generation will have shorter and less healthy lives than their parents for the first time in modern history unless we intervene," Olshansky said.

("Unless we intervene."... Can you say, "Legislation"? - tha malcontent)

Already, the alarming rise in childhood obesity is fueling a new trend that has shaved four to nine months off the average U.S. life span, the researchers say.

(Based on what?... The most recent Life expectancy numbers I have seen for Americans reflected an increase in Age, not a decrease. - tha malcontent)

With obesity affecting at least 15 percent of U.S. school-age children, "it's not pie in the sky," Olshansky said. "The children who are extremely obese are already here."

The report appears in the New England Journal of Medicine. In an accompanying editorial, University of Pennsylvania demography expert Samuel H. Preston calls the projections "excessively gloomy."

Opposing forecasts, projecting a continued increase in U.S. longevity, assume that obesity will continue to worsen, but also account for medical advances, Preston said.

(Hello, Common Sense rears it's ugly head! - tha malcontent)

Still, failure to curb obesity "could impede the improvements in longevity that are otherwise in store," he said. Americans' current life expectancy already trails more than 20 other developed countries.

("Could impede improvements", based on ONE Report... I have yet to read if this Report was based on a predetermined conclusion, and was simply designed to back up that conclusion. - tha malcontent)

Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston, a study co-author, cited sobering obesity statistics:

_Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese; one-third of adults qualify as obese.

_Up to 30 percent of U.S. children are overweight, and childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 25 years.

_Childhood diabetes has increased 10-fold in the past 20 years.

(What are the actual numbers that "10-fold" reflect?... Are these numbers also a product of advancements in Detection? These types of questions need to be asked, because they are entirely Relevant.. - tha malcontent)

"It's one thing for an adult of 45 or 55 to develop type 2 diabetes and then experience the life-threatening complications of that � kidney failure, heart attack, stroke � in their late 50s or 60s. But for a 4-year-old or 6-year-old who's obese to develop Type 2 diabetes at 14 or 16" raises the possibility of devastating complications before reaching age 30, Ludwig said. "It's really a staggering prospect."

While national attention is starting to focus on contributors to obesity, including the prevalence of fast-food, soft drinks in schools and cuts in physical education classes, "what we presently lack is a clear, comprehensive national vision for addressing the obesity epidemic," Ludwig said.

("National vision" = Legislation. I feel a DemocRAT being quoted soon! - tha malcontent)

The calculations are a stark contrast with Social Security Administration forecasts for slow improvement in life expectancy, and with projections publicized in 2002 that said the maximum human life span will reach 100 in about six decades. In an interview, Olshansky said he hoped the new research would play a role in the current discussion about overhauling Social Security.

James Vaupel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, and a research scientist at Duke University, co-authored the 2002 forecast, based on data from developed nations including the United States.

Vaupel called the new report "very one-sided" and said he doubts that obesity will negate the effects of other medical progress in improving mortality.

(200 years of Substantive Evidence says that, regardless of Ailments, new or old, we continue to increase Life expectancy. This Report is nothing more than a Reactionary Theory based on limited Substance and Projections that are weak Theory at best, but hey, Congress should act Legislatively on this issue as soon as humanly possible! - tha malcontent)

Emory University health policy expert Dr. Kenneth Thorpe said that while obesity is clearly damaging public health and driving up health care spending, rising rates aren't enough to resolve Social Security's woes. "That's too simplistic," he said.

Other life expectancy forecasts rely on past mortality trends; the Olshansky group used obesity prevalence data and previously published estimates of years of life lost from obesity.

They calculated in reverse, assessing the fall in death rates that would occur if all obese Americans had a normal weight. Their estimate shows that, if not for obesity, life expectancy at birth should be four to nine months higher than the record 77.6 years announced by the government last month. That slight gain translates into a loss that will worsen if current trends continue, the researchers said.

(Again, this is little more than Theory. - tha malcontent)

Richard Suzman, a researcher at the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study, said the projections are "possible, but I would say unlikely." He said the best approach is to estimate life expectancy using historical trends.

The Center for Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group for the restaurant and food industry, which argues the obesity problem has been exaggerated, said the paper should be discredited because co-author David Allison has done consulting for makers of weight-loss products.

Allison, a biostatistician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, noted that the journal mentions his financial ties. While the study methods are partly based on assumptions, they are also sound, Allison said.

("Assumptions" was the word that I was looking for! It's interesting that David Allison has done some consulting for makers of weight-loss products... Something tells me the AP could have dug a little further and found that he is also a Leftist Activist who hates Corporate America, and who has probably spoken out Publicly Against this President and his Party. - tha malcontent)

Obesity researcher Dr. JoAnn Manson said she agrees with the paper's message, if not the methods.

"The calculations that were made may not be perfect," but the emphasis on obesity's dangers "should serve as a wake-up call for policy makers and the public health community," said Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

("A wake-up call for policy makers"... Here it comes! - tha malcontent)

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Wednesday that the report supports his efforts to have government regulation of junk food marketing to children.

(It's bad Journalistic form to leave out Party affiliation, AP, you know this! Harkin is a DemocRAT, and it is no Surprise that the DemocRATS would be mentioned in this story looking to "regulate" junk food. This is also known as Taxation. In the end, it will be dealt with as Big, BIG Tobacco was dealt with. We just have to wait for another DemocRAT to be in control of the Justice Department, that's all! While Janet Reno went after Microsoft and Phillip-Morris, al Qaida was plotting their second Attack on the World Trade Center... The first came in Clinton's 2nd month in Office by an Agent of Iraq, Ramzi Yousef, and a member of al Qaida... One was caught, and treated as a simple Criminal, and the other was caught later and Treated as the Terrorist he is... Problem is, he wasn't caught until AFTER he successfully took the Towers down the second time he tried! Khalid Sheikh Mohamed was his name, in case the "Free Presses" lack of focus on these Facts has Left you Ignorant of them. - tha malcontent)

If the dim life expectancy forecast doesn't demonstrate a need for action, "I don't know what will," the Iowa Democrat said.

(You could always Lie and state these "forecasts" as Scientific Fact, and then wait for your "Free Press" to Parrot you and hopefully change Public perception, then you can get your new Tax, and yet more Government Control. For the Record, Tom Harkin is in support of a "Living Wage" for High School Students who work at McDonald's, by the way!... He must be, because he thinks that the Minimum Wage should be a "Living Wage", and that would make kids in High School Self-Sufficient if they worked there... And it would make your Big Mac about $12 a pop!... Not including any new Tax Mr. Harkin would propose! - tha malcontent)

___

On the Net: http://www.nejm.org

(That depends on what the meaning of "may" is... All commentary included on this website is the opinion of tha malcontent and is based in the Truth. No Liberals, Marxists, Stalinists, Socialists, Communists or DemocRATS were harmed in the making of this website, I promise! - tha malcontent)

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