Health Trends:
Can water help ease America’s obesity problem?
Today, more Americans are obese, not just overweight.
America's weight problem is now an epidemic. Sixty-six percent of Americans are officially over-weight or obese. Our society's weight problem is a huge contributor to our rising health care costs. Obesity is a major factor in diabetes, which is America's 5th leading cause of death. One out of three children born after 2000 will be diagnosed with diabetes at some point in their lives. There's a lot we need to do. One simple tool that can help is to replace sugared beverages with water.
The average teenager gets 15-20 teaspoons of sugar each day from soft drinks alone. If he or she replaced those soft drinks with water, they'd save about 50,000 calories a year.
Childhood obesity is directly linked to diabetes. While more and more parents are trying to control what their kids eat, they too often fail to recognize the number of calories being consumed from beverages. Today, 20% of our calories come from beverages. The number should be closer to 10%.
A significant portion of our health care costs can be traced directly to our society’s weight problem. Being overweight increases the risk for everything from heart attack to diabetes to high blood pressure. Water helps flush the body of toxins and is an excellent replacement for other high-caloric beverages.
