Health - The Weight of the Nation: Consequences

The first film in The Weight of the Nation series examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese. The obesity epidemic is a problem thats emerged over the last 30 years. It threatens our nations social, economic and physical health. But, unlike a natural disaster, obesity is often preventable. Although overall obesity prevalence rates appear to be leveling off, there are still far too many Americans who are overweight or obese and who continue to develop health problems as a result. In order to end the epidemic, everyone must be part of the solution. At the level of our DNA, were programmed to eat as much as we can to survive and store the extra as fat for future energy use. In a world where calorie-dense, sugar-laden and fatty foods are available around every corner, thats a problem. The good news is that, even if the propensity to gain weight is written into our genes, were not fated to a lifetime of fat.