New Study Shows Obesity May Overtake Smoking as Leading Cause of Preventable Death in America (031004)

According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and released yesterday, obesity in America is the second leading cause of preventable deaths in America and may soon overtake cigarette smoking as the leading cause. Within the last decade, the gap between the two causes has shrunk from a 5 to a 1.5-percentage gap.

Other actual causes of death were microbial agents (i.e., influenza and pneumonia, 75,000), toxic agents (exposure to pollutants, asbestos, etc., 55,000), motor vehicle crashes (43,000), incidents involving firearms (29,000), sexual behaviors (20,000), and illicit use of drugs (17,000).

The combination of physical inactivity and unhealthful diets has led to this increase and federal officials believe that obesity is poised to become the leading cause of preventable deaths. The total could surpass 500,000 deaths annually, by next year. Obesity can also increase the risk of other diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

In 1990, approximately 60 percent of adult Americans were either overweight or obese, including about 20 percent who were obese, according to CDC data. By 2000, that number had climbed to 64 percent being obese or overweight, including about 30 percent who were obese.

"There's been a big narrowing of the gap," said Ali H. Mokdad, Ph.D., CDC's behavioral research branch. "It is particularly striking because the toll of every other leading cause of preventable death -- including alcohol, infections, accidents, guns and drugs -- steadily decreased over the same period," Mokdad said.

The researchers used 2000 mortality data reported to CDC to identify the causes and number of deaths. The estimates of actual cause of death were computed by multiplying estimates of the cause-attributable fraction of preventable deaths with the total mortality data. The new estimates of the rising toll of obesity are part of the first update of the 1990 landmark paper that ranked the nation's preventable causes of death.

Federal officials have responded to the rise in obesity with education programs aimed at preventing overweight and obesity, including public service announcements that will soon be released by the Department of Health and Human Services. The direction of federal response is to educate and prevent. The Bush administration has announced a new public education program, encouraging small, lifestyle changes to promote weight loss. The National Institutes of Health has proposed an anti-obesity research agenda and a special task force is scheduled to present the Food and Drug Administration with recommendations to help reverse this dangerous, national trend.

Over the last decade, the food industry has responded with products offering an array of nutritional choices like low-fat and fat-free products. According to Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, "Everything we've seen from the industry has been positive."

The study is available in The Journal of the American Medical Association (March 10). For more information and statistics, visit www.cdc.gov.