Fat Nation Needs a Diet

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Fat Nation Needs a Diet, Starting in Dixie

By Joe Mysak

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- There's no other way of saying this: the South is fat.

And no place is fatter than Mississippi, where almost a third of the population counts as obese, 30.6 percent, according to the fourth annual edition of ``F as in Fat,'' by the Washington-based Trust for America's Health, a non-profit organization that studies preventative medicine.

Most of the former Confederacy dominates the top of the list: West Virginia is in second place, Alabama is third, Louisiana fourth, South Carolina fifth, tied with Tennessee.

At the other end of the spectrum is Colorado, where only 17.6 percent of the population is obese. Massachusetts is next, followed by Vermont, Connecticut and Hawaii.

State and municipal rankings usually are a lot of fun. People always want to know how the places they live rate. This particular set of state rankings, though, contained in a 120-page report released Aug. 27, is more than a little disturbing.

``With two-thirds of American adults obese or overweight, many Americans are struggling with their weight,'' the authors write. ``Clearly, the strategy of focusing on personal responsibility alone is failing.''

Too Many Choices

We don't exercise enough. And we eat too much. This isn't really a matter of regional cuisine, either, but of bigger portions and, I would add, perhaps an overabundance of variety. It's Thanksgiving everywhere, every day.

In Wisconsin (No. 22 in obesity), I once confronted a menu that included a breakfast special featuring a stack (``short or tall?'') of pancakes, two eggs (``any style''), bacon, two sausage links, hash browns and toast, and I think there was even a slice of ham thrown in there somewhere. This was a fairly typical, extremely popular offering, and not one exclusive to the Upper Midwest, by any means.

In Florida (34th in obesity), I thought I could get away with a nice piece of broiled fish for dinner. You can imagine my surprise when the waiter asked if I'd like their special topping with that. The special topping combined parmesan cheese, crabmeat, bacon and New Orleans Andouille sausage. The waiter really pushed this special topping business. I could have had it on the salad, on the rice, on the fish, on everything but the key lime pie, it seemed.

Food used to be a lot simpler.

Then there's the bar at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (an astoundingly svelte 38th in terms of obesity), where the bartender asks everyone, ``Would you like a shot with that for an extra dollar?'' This was well before the summer of delays.

Body Mass Index

The study doesn't lay out the facts in terms of pounds and ounces. ``Obesity'' and ``overweight'' are a matter of ``body mass index'' as determined by a mathematical formula that includes your weight and height.

It's easy to say you know who you are. That may not be the case, however. You may think you are ``big-boned,'' or just ``big,'' when in fact you are seriously overweight or perhaps even obese.

A ``normal'' body mass index runs between 18.5 and 24.9. If your BMI is more than 25, you're overweight. If it's more than 30, you're obese.

So, for example, if you're 5-feet, 10-inches tall (177.8 centimeters), and weigh 180 pounds (81.6 kilograms), your BMI is 25.8. You, yes you, are overweight.

This report regards obesity as a national epidemic, and doesn't really go into much detail on the regional differences in evidence here. Why is the South so fat, and the Northeast and West so (comparatively) lean?

``Americans living in the Northeast and Western regions of the country are more informed about healthy living than their counterparts in the Central and Southern parts of the U.S.,'' says the report.

Research Needed

I'm not sure I buy that. There's a lot more that can be done with these findings, it seems to me, on a regional or even a state by state basis. Fatitude probably has a lot more to do with race and social class and wealth level than the people at the Trust for America's Health let on.

It would also seem that climate has something to do with it. Do people exercise as much in places where it is sizzling hot and the humidity is turned up high year-round? I bet not. Unhappily, these are also places where people typically wear a minimal amount of clothing.

The study says we have to develop a ``national action plan'' and undoubtedly spend a whole lot of taxpayer dollars to deal with our extra avoirdupois. Perhaps we should all just push away from the table a bit more. After the Labor Day barbecue, of course.

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CNN

Data Show No Progress On U.S. Obesity Problem
August 31, 2007: 08:05 PM EST


Aug. 31, 2007 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

Another report of rising obesity rates in the U.S. has brought renewed attention to the market for obesity drugs.

It's also raising more questions about the drug industry's ability to come up with a diet pill that's both safe and effective.

The report, released last week by the Trust for America's Health, compared data from 2003-05 with data from 2004-06. It found that obesity rates continued to rise in 31 of the 50 states last year. No state reported a decline.

The data came from a survey of height and weight taken over the telephone by state health departments.

An estimated two-thirds of American adults are considered overweight or obese. Many are at risk of developing serious health problems such as diabetes and heart disease.

Yet despite all the attention paid to the obesity problem, efforts to battle it have had little effect.

"There are multiple ways of addressing this problem -- wellness, exercise, reducing the fat content of foods -- but it's hard to find the magic pill," said analyst Linda Bannister of Edward Jones.

It's not for lack of trying. Dozens of diet pills and anti-obesity drugs are in company pipelines. But the market remains underserved. No blockbusters are in play, and most leading drugs have been saddled with harmful side effects and other problems.

A decade ago, Wyeth's (NYSE:WYE PR) (NYSE:WYE) WYE Fen-phen diet pill had to be pulled off the market after patients developed heart complications. Product liability litigation wound up costing many billions of dollars.

Two of the current top sellers -- Roche Holdings' RHHBY Xenical and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) ' ABT Meridia -- also carry uncomfortable or dangerous side effects.

One promising drug is GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE:GSK) GSK Alli, which hit the U.S. mass market in June. It was the first over-the-counter weight-loss pill approved in the U.S. Glaxo claims Alli users can lose up to 50% more weight than those who attempt to shed pounds through diet and exercise alone.

Sales of nonprescription Alli totaled $156 million in the weeks after its U.S. launch. The drug's U.S. sales potential has been estimated at as high as $200 million a year.

But while Glaxo officials have said the drug is performing well in the U.S., some analysts say sales have leveled off since the initial rush.

Meanwhile, Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) SNY in June withdrew its application to sell the obesity drug Rimonabant in the U.S. That decision came two weeks after an advisory panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration not approve the drug for sale because of psychiatric side effects. Sanofi plans to resubmit its U.S. application at a later date.

Beyond the safety issues, there are questions about the effectiveness of weight-loss medicines. Most are designed to suppress appetite or block signals that control food cravings in the brain. But actual results tend to vary wildly.

"Some are effective for short periods of time, then become less effective as (users) build up resistance to the drug or stop using it," said Bannister. "If someone could come up with something very efficacious and safe, it could be a potential blockbuster."

That hasn't happened yet. But the category has produced a few moderately successful products. Xenical had more than $500 million in global sales during its peak years, while Meridia produced about $300 million. Those numbers have fallen substantially over the past few years.

While drug firms chase after the magic pill, weight-loss companies continue to preach the gospel of diet and discipline.

One of those companies, NutriSystem (NASDAQ:NTRI) NTRI, saw shares rise 12% last week. Part of the uptick was due to the obesity report, experts say.

Any news about expanding waistlines is bound to help companies like NutriSystem, which provides prepackaged, portion-controlled meals and snacks as well as other weight-management and fitness products.

"Clearly it's a trend that in a perverse way helps weight-loss programs," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets. "NutriSystem stands on its own as a convenient, direct-to-consumer diet firm. It has a proven program."

It's also a proven financial performer that regularly trots out double- and triple-digit sales and profit growth. Still, the company's stock has been choppy this year. After falling to a 52-week low of 40.82 in mid-February, shares rose more than 80% over the next five months.

But the stock sank in late July and early August on lower guidance for the third quarter.

"The guidance was softer than expected due to the (Alli) diet drug from Glaxo," Sebastian said. "Glaxo really made a marketing push."

Though reports of flat Alli sales helped push NutriSystem's stock higher last week, it did little to help shares of Weight Watchers International (NYSE:WTW) WTW. It continued a slide that has seen the stock retreat about 12% since hitting a two-year high on Aug. 9.

Like NutriSystem, Weight Watchers produces steady financial gains, though its growth often runs in the single digits. The company offers meals and classes to customers.

Analyst Scott Mushkin of Banc of America Securities sounds cautiously optimistic about Weight Watchers' prospects over the next year.

"Inconsistent attendance growth could indicate a systematic problem with the business," he wrote in an Aug. 2 report, "(but) the (December) appointment of David Kirchhoff as CEO is perhaps the first step toward more consistent execution."