The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the latest survey showing a significant increase of obese people in the country. If there will be no actions or control measures to be taken, it could become a major problem which can lead to more expenditures on health related services. The number of obesity cases doubled in adults while children obesity has tripled in recent years according to Dr. Thomas Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Frieden obtained the data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) which is responsible in monitoring the health conditions and risk behaviors of the people in the United States every year. In just two years, the number of obese tripled in states having more than 30% obese residents. “Less than a decade ago, in 2000, not a single state had an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or higher,” the doctor told the AFP. However, the results of the survey revealed that the goal of reducing the obesity cases to at least 15% was not successful even if health officials urged every state to help manage the problem.

In the BRFSS data, the national obesity rate climbed up to 27 percent last year. Only 1.1 percent was added to the previous statistics but if converted to actual number of people, it will reach to 2.4 million of obese people for last year alone. The method used by BRFSS in collecting data is based on self reporting while the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) weighs and measures the participants. Dr. Frieden explained that the different rate of obesity between the two surveys was due to different methods used. The NHANES reported that the obesity rate is already at 34%.

People should be concerned on their weight because it can lead to other health problems and complications such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. It can also lead to more deaths according to Frieden. It was estimated that medical cost related to obesity reached $147 billion in 2008. “That translates into medical costs for people who are obese that were 1,429 higher per person each year compared to normal-weight individuals,” said Frieden.

A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine also showed that the number of obese adults in the country increased to 90 percent in almost 2 decades. In 1993, obesity rate is only estimated at 14% but in 2008 it climbed to 27%. Another significant finding of the study is the increase in the number of people dying younger and suffering from obesity related diseases. The quality years of life was also reduced to 68 percent for people who are obese. Although there are a lot of medications such as weight loss pills and other methods of losing weight, it has little effect on lowering the prevalence of obesity.

As long as people adopt an unhealthy lifestyle, the rate of obesity will continue to rise. According to Bill Dietz, director of the CDC’s division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, the shift on high-calorie foods and reduced opportunities for physical activity contributes to the higher rate of obesity. He also said that this problem is not unique to Americans. “We have a very high prevalence but a couple of years ago I compared the rate of rise of obesity in women in the UK versus women in the United States. The curves were parallel,” he said.