Reminds me "second hand smoke"
Obesity Gaining on Tobacco as Top Killer
Bad diets and inactivity are rampant and could cancel out many health advances, studies say.
By Rosie Mestel
Times Staff Writer
March 10, 2004
Poor diet and physical inactivity are closing in on tobacco use as the leading preventable causes of death in the U.S., primarily because of a dramatic rise in obesity, according to a new scientific report.
The analysis, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., reported that deaths caused by poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles rose by 33% between 1990 and 2000 to an estimated 400,000.
Deaths related to smoking or exposure to tobacco came to 435,000. Their share of total U.S. deaths have dropped from 19% to 18.1% since 1990.
The number of deaths related to other preventable health threats, such as illicit drug use and environmental toxins, changed only slightly, the authors reported.
"Our poor eating habits and lack of activity are literally killing us, and they're killing us at record levels," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson at a news conference in Washington.
