the buzz log

Weighty Topic: Obesity Rates Rising

Here's a heavy subject: If obesity trends continue, more than 40% of the U.S. will be obese by 2018. According to a new study, that's not the only number to go up: The health care costs associated with a tubby country will quadruple to $344 billion a year, making up a rotund 21% of all health costs.

That's a lot to swallow. The reason? Health care economists who authored the study say that obesity is connected to other illnesses, like diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. Unhealthy people are costly to the health care system.

Japan has been attempting to rein in weight with a mandated measure on waist size, spurring chubby residents into unhealthy behavior like crash diets to make their numbers. But it's hard to imagine the U.S. doing anything of the kind. Or that it would work.

The solution, say researchers, is to keep the obesity level the same. (You're obese if you're 30 pounds overweight.) The states most at risk to tip the scales are Kentucky, Maryland, and Mississippi. While the slimmest areas are led by Connecticut, Massachusetts, and D.C. But even the least obese state of Colorado estimates its obesity health costs to be over $3 billion.

It's not like Americans aren't trying to lose weight. The quest for the ultimate diet that will magically shed the pounds (preferably painlessly) is an ever-popular quest. Lookups on "400 calorie diet," "bellyfat diet," and "low protein diet," all top the search box.

Scientists are also offering up their solutions, like investing communities and employers in a nationwide weight-loss effort. Paging Richard Simmons.

Filed under: Health

While most Americans gain a pound (or 10) over the holidays, the only repercussion is tight clothes. In Japan, employees must face an annual physical exam that includes the dreaded tape measure. If your waist is over the mandated limit, you don't just run the risk of looking bad, you — and your business — get in trouble.

Faced with high health care costs that the country links to obesity, the law of the land now requires employers to keep the numbers of fatties to a certain low level or risk fines — and be required to pay in more for health care coverage. And those health care costs aren't getting any cheaper.

Apparently, the Japanese take this annual humiliating ritual pretty seriously, going on crash diets and joining gyms to whittle their waists down to government-acceptable levels.

Here's the biggest irony: Japan's obesity rate, according to the Global Post, is actually the world's lowest. (A skimpy 5% compared with a scale-busting 35% in the U.S.) But in the last three decades, the population's weight has ballooned, along with worrisome levles of diabetes. Their solution: Legislate weight.

Oh, and if you're planning to visit anytime soon, rest assured: The law doesn't apply to tourists.

Filed under: Health

Our picks from the day's hottest searches.

• Space Shuttle Discovery (+1,164%). Landing during hurricane season? Good luck—astronauts have an extra day in orbit until they figure out which coast will be clearer.
• Hermaphrodite (+694%). The kerfuffle over runner Caster Semenya has people reading up this intersex condition; meanwhile, her government considers a lawsuit for human rights violations.
• Cell Phone Radiation Chart (+417%). The Environmental Working Group's consumer guide is hotter than a Billboard chart.
• 9/11 Photos (+274%). Commemorating today's anniversary.
• Zozobra (+266%). Old Man Gloom—the original burning man—went up in flames at the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Filed under: Health, Holidays, 9/11, Space, Cell Phones