One would think that the crushing obesity epidemic would cause a decrease in life expectency in the United States, right? Well, it turns out that is wrong. Wow.

The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics group released the report for the year ending 2006. The report is interesting for the fact that all major causes of death decreased. This includes the sinister diabetes, which is attributed to an increase in obesity. Diabetes dropped from the sixth leading cause of death to seventh. Alzheimer’s moved up to sixth place. 

I thought it'd be a good idea to hold a mirror up on society and see what popular obesity videos were making the rounds. I went to the following video sites to look for the word obesity:

1. YouTube
2. Vimeo
3. Metacafe
4. Yahoo Video
5. Google Video

I am interested in seeing if the videos are more mocking as opposed to information. We'll look at the number one result on each site to determine the flavor of popularity.

YouTube

The biggest of all the video sites, a search for obesity shows the first two results as previews for shows on cable. The third result is something called Childhood Obesity. Here it is:

The BBC would agree with the title of this post. They have walked through their news stories of 2007 and listed the ones that affected obese people or obesity. The list isn't pretty, but keep in mind this is for the UK only. The US has seen a wave of media reports about obesity throughout 2007, as it seems to be the new cause the media will rally around as a health battle. I have no idea why they don't go for low hanging fruit such as immunizations for kids or even ensuring innercity kids are worm free. 

It's interesting what shows up in the news. ITV, a British television network, ran a program called Too Fat for for Treatment. The show gave real world of examples of how the British National Health Service denies care to those who are obese. Putting aside the arguments against nationalized or socialized health care, I had to dig into this. 

According to the press reports, the denied care is for elective procedures such as a hip replacement. Yes, you read that right. Being obese will deny you a procedure such as a hip replacement, which is considered elective. Of course, one of the best ways to fight obesity is through exercise, which is made much easier and less painful when you have a good hip.

Yes.

I felt like ending the post with that, but I should explain. A Scientific American article looks at how fat, obese people are fit and healthy. 

Katherine. M. Flegal, PhD, completed a study that showed mildly overweight adults outlived those who were not overweight. Yes, the old BMI myth was used as the statistical basis, but bear with me.

The article isn't all that fascinating, but the picture is the real deal. Click here to view the picture. The caption says:

It's interesting to note that selling to obese people hasn't been more popular. If you're to believe all the made up statistics concerning obesity, you would think it would be a huge market. For instance, this AP article entitled, "Brand of plenty" says the following:

An estimated two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, compared with 47 percent from a survey done in the late 1970s, according to federal statistics. 

Wow, so why hasn't a company catered to the obese?

Last week a court in India ruled that Indian Airlines, the state owned airline, could ground flight attendants based on their weight. The judge in the case said:

No airline can afford to remain lax in any department whatsoever, be it the personality of the crew members of their physical fitness.

This is interesting. The issue of safety is brought up concerning the contention that Indian Airlines can factor in the weight of their female flight attendants. Now, at first glance this seems like a very sane, rational decision. But, if one looks further they would see the issues with this: