Study: Obesity an epidemic in U.S.

Filed under: Study — @ March 9, 2004

According to a study released Tuesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is closing in on tobacco as the nation’s No. 1 preventable killer.

bq. A poor diet and physical inactivity caused 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33 percent jump over 1990, the study said. Tobacco-related deaths in the same period climbed by less than 9 percent and the gap between the two narrowed substantially. The report predicts obesity will surpass tobacco if current trends continue.