Increase in Obesity Linked to Increase in Strokes

Being the news junky that I am, while combing through CNN.com, I came across and article that discussed the results of a study off middle aged women that were presented at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans. The study was done by Dr. Amytis Towfighi from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The results of the study show that strokes in women between the ages of 35 and 54 have tripled in the last 16 years. A rate which experts call alarming. The research also shows that the waist size of women in the same group has also increased. The researchers say that there is a direct correlation between the increase in belly fat and the spike in the number of strokes.

At this point, it is no secret that this country is suffering from an obesity epidemic, and anyone who is surprised to hear that must have been living under a rock for the past 10 or so years. This is another study that shows that being obese increases other health risks.

As more and more of this information comes out, I’m still shocked to see the obesity rates still continue to rise. I’m shocked further by reading how some people want to pin it down to one single thing.

There is no one single thing that has created this massive problem. (No pun intended.) It’s a combination of several, several factors. One, we live in a society that constantly has somewhere else to be. So that means, quick and on the go meals. Well, the quickest and simplest meal isn’t always the healthiest. Many jobs are sedintary, with people sitting at a desk for eight to nine hours a day. The only movement is to get up to go hit the snack machine. And from many people I have observed, if there is any kind of effort or sacrifice involved with getting fit, they give up. This is also a result of the quick solution society. These people give up the moment there are signs that it is not quick and simple.

This is not a simple problem to fix. New fad, or quick and simple, diets are not the solution.