Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Ansel Oliver/ANN]
Seventh-day Adventist health leaders echo public health officials who are concerned about the rising rate of obesity, which is set to become the number one preventable cause of death in the United States as early as next year, overtaking tobacco use, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported.
Church health leaders warn that Adventists display similar rates to the national average, despite the church’s emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle. Preliminary results from an ongoing study of Adventists in the United States indicate some 60 percent of respondents are overweight, according to Dr. Gary E. Fraser, director of the Loma Linda University Center for Health Research and principal researcher of the Adventist Health Study 2.
“This is horrific,” says DeWitt Williams, health ministries director for the Adventist Church in North America. “It’s preventable. We need to let individuals know how dangerous obesity is.”
Poor diet and physical inactivity are currently responsible for about 16 percent of preventable deaths, according to the journal of the American Medical Association. Obesity also increases the likelihood of developing health problems, such as diabetes and cancer. The CDC said deaths from obesity could reach 500,000 annually if the trend continues.
“More exercise,” recommends Williams. “And cut out those in-between meal snacks. Eat together. You eat less when you eat together. Most families are lucky if they eat even one meal together [in the course of a day].”
“We need to keep muscle … it burns more calories,” says Williams. “A lot of people in this high-tech society aren’t doing anything strenuous.”
Health leaders are particularly concerned with obesity among blacks. Preliminary results of the Adventist Health Study 2 say two-thirds of black respondents are overweight, versus 50 percent of white respondents who are overweight.
Half of Adventists in the study are vegetarian. “They are usually much thinner than meat-eaters, so adopt a more plant-based diet,” says Williams.
He says obesity is of a concern in all age categories. Many schools have cut back physical education classes because of budget restraints, which, Williams says, “Is something we ought not to let happen.”
He also recommends more water instead of other beverages and cutting back on watching television, which can encourage a sedentary lifestyle.
Copyright © 2003 Adventist News Network.
