"Wake up chubby"
Source: The Guardian-London
Wake up chubby
29 million in US become fat overnight.ÿ|ÿFromÿtheÿpaperÿ
Fat is a mathematical issue
Millions discover they are obese thanks to new American formula
By Martin Kettle in Washington
Friday June 5, 1998
When they went to bed they were mostly at ease with themselves. But when they woke up and heard the news the next morning, they were suddenly fearful. The egos of 29 million Americans took a battering yesterday when government health officials abruptly reclassified them as fat.
The new classifications mean that an adult American 5ft 3in tall and weighing 10st 1lb or more is now considered overweight. Before, they had been safe up to 10st 12lb. An adult who is 5ft 9in tall is now overweight at 12st 1lb. The previous threshold was 13st. The figure for a 6ft 1in adult falls from 14st 8lb to 13st 7lb.
The guidelines are based on a measure called body mass index which takes into account height and weight when estimating the total body fat of adults. The millions who had previously been considered to be of healthy weight will now be advised to slim down to the new lower safe levels.
The reclassification means that the United States has come into line with the definition of overweight used by other countries and the World Health Organisation. But it means that most American adults are now officially overweight, making the US the only country for which this substantial claim can be made.
Under the new criteria, some 97 million Americans - 55 per cent of the adult population - have expanded beyond the official limit. Of these, 39 million, or one in five, are now officially considered to be obese.
The adoption of the guidelines is good news for the makers of slimming drugs and bad news for fast food companies. But the move has been controversial. Some health professionals argue that the limits are needed to rein in dietary habits, but others claim they will unnecessarily stigmatise the marginally overweight, particularly with insurance companies.
"We felt that the record was clear and the risk was there," Xavier Pi-Sunyer, a leading obesity researcher, told the Washington Post, which revealed the new guidelines yesterday.
"We felt that we owed it to physicians and their patients to alert them to this fact, although it doesn't mean that everyone has to go on a diet."
Americans seemed to be taking that last piece of advice to heart yesterday, at least in Washington. The manager of the branch of McDonald's nearest to the Guardian's offices said it was selling as many burgers as ever.
Like St Augustine, Americans want to lose weight - but not yet.
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