Obesity Rates: A Rising Threat To Public Health And Welfare
By Jeremy HobsonObesity Rates: A Rising Threat To Public Health And Welfare
By Jeremy Hobson
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In recent decades, obesity has become one of the greatest problems facing the United States. Since the 1980s, the number of overweight and obese people has more than doubled, raising the likelihood of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes.
All this week, Here & Now will take a closer look at obesity in a new series, America On The Scale. We’ll explore its causes, the fight to prevent it and the cultural complications and biases that people living with obesity face on a daily basis.
Host Jeremy Hobson begins with the raw numbers with NPR’s Allison Aubrey and Dr. Bruce Lee of Johns Hopkins University. They discuss what regions and what demographic groups are most affected and how obesity in America compares to the rest of the world.