As the world counts down to the approaching millennium, most people are still comparing New Year's resolutions and planning how they will live 1998 better. I should stop eating french fries. My friend plans to hit the gym early and more than once a month.
Obesity is an American obsession.
Society's obsession over obesity is over-hyped and unnecessary. Those of us who have made a decision to worry about our body-fat percentage should be looking instead at why we worry, and whether it's worthwhile. In the largest study ever conducted on the health risks of obesity, The New England Journal of Medicine found that obesity does make premature death more likely, but not as much as experts have predicted. Tracking 423,135 white adults for 12 years, the study refuted a widespread belief that obese people who lose weight will reduce their risk of dying young. Instead, the risk of dying due to being fat is relatively modest and declines as people grow older.