As the old saying goes, only two things are absolute in life: death and taxes. As many of us just finished the hustle and bustle of tax season, I think we can add another item to today’s list of absolute certainties, and that’s the discussion of obesity.
It seems like the national consumer media is constantly reporting new data and research surrounding this health topic. It’s understandable why the topic is so relevant, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that 35.7 percent of the U.S. adult population is obese, and 17 percent of children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 19 also fit the categorization. For an adult, a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher is considered obese, while weight status for children is determined by age- and gender-specific percentiles for BMI because of various body compositions, the CDC says.