By Kathryn Kauffman, Registered Dietitian, Dixie Regional
Medical Center The recently released “2010 Dietary Guidelines
for Americans” reveals that obesity rates in America increased
for adults from 15 percent to 34 percent between 1970 and 2008,
and from 4 to 20 percent for children ages 6-11 years during the
same period. The study also shows that not a single state had an
adult obesity prevalence rate of more than 25 percent in 1990,
and by 2008, 32 states had earned that distinction. Obesity is
clearly becoming an epidemic. Why the rising obesity rates?
Numerous factors figure into the increase in obesity rates:
super-sizing of meals, lack of physical activity, consumption of
high fat foods, and an ever increasing consumption of sugar
sweetened beverages. According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, regular soda consumption climbed from 22 to 46
gallons per person per year between 1970 and 2000 and the
numbers are still climbing. What’s wrong with soft drinks? Soft
drink consumption often leads to an i