Surge in obesity is weighty problem for Utahns

Utahns of all ages are getting heavier and unhealthier, mirroring national trends. And it's getting worse, according to Utah Department of Health officials, who just posted a new report on weight trends in Utah online.

The report, "Tipping the Scales: Toward a Healthier Population," is sobering, says LaDene Larsen, director of the department's Bureau of Health Promotion. "In spite of industry's attempts to make it seem (increasing weight gain) is not a problem, it is a public health problem. . . . This is an unbelievable increase. Those who are obese, not just the lower categories of overweight, are increasing. And younger people. We're seeing this problem in children."

The numbers may also be an undercount, officials say, because some of the weight data are self-reported. "People always say they're taller than they are," Larsen says.

As part of tracking weight trends, the bureau periodically weighs schoolchildren. In the 1993-94 school year, it weighed third-graders and found 7 percent of the boys were too heavy, based on accepted height-weight ratios. From a similar 2002 weigh-in, she says, the number of third-grade boys who weighed too much had more than doubled, to 15 percent. And though some people say the guidelines have been adjusted, creating an artificial shift, Larsen says that's clearly not true in measurements for kids.

"The height-weight ratio hasn't changed. But we're seeing real increases," she said. "And being overweight can lead to diabetes and heart disease and cancer and osteoarthritis and poor quality of life. We can't be thinking that it's no big deal."

Diabetes numbers overlaid with weight numbers tell a stark story. The prevalence of diabetes is 2.3 percent of those who are ideal weight and 11.1 percent in those who are obese. People who are overweight are also more likely to be injured in a car crash and are twice as likely to be seriously injured or die as those who have more normal weights, the report says.

What we're not doing is just as important as what we are doing when it comes to reversing the weight trend, according to "Tipping the Scales."

"We have spent a lot of time focusing on individuals and what you have to do to change. That is the truth. But we've also created an environment where those behaviors aren't supported very well," Larsen says, adding that "we need" more walkable communities with lighted paths, less searching for the things that will be good for us while those that could harm us are readily available. "Our slogan is, 'Make healthy choice the easy choice.' "