Everyone knows that many Americans are fat — among the fattest
people in world. And nearly everyone knows that Americans are
getting fatter. It is an epidemic that ruins the health of many
overweight people and costs hundreds of billions of dollars to
the health care system, to employers and to health-food
businesses. The extent of fatness has moved from the troubling
toward the frightening, according to new research. The Trust for
America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in their
“F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012″
forecasts that: For the first time, the annual report includes
an analysis that forecasts 2030 adult obesity rates in each
state and the likely resulting rise in obesity-related disease
rates and health care costs. By contrast, the analysis also
shows that states could prevent obesity-related diseases and
dramatically reduce health care costs if they reduced the
average body mass index of their residents by just 5 percent by
2030. If obesity rates continue on