Overweight People are More Apt to Acquire Cancer

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33683092/ns/health-cancer/

Having to much body fat is believed to cause some cancers. Some cancers, such as, endometrial cancer a uterus cancer, body fat causes almost half of these cancer cases. Esophageal cancer, body fat causes nearly a third of these cancer cases. Right behind heart disease, cancer is the second leading killer in the United States. MSNBC states that 1.47 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year and 562,000 people will die from it. These numbers could be dropped greatly if Americans would loose a few pounds. Researchers say that 26 percent of Americans are obese. They define that by having a body mass index of 30 or higher. The researchers also state that a third of Americans are overweight. This is becoming a greater problem each year. The researchers even figured out how many cancers cases could be prevented if the United States didn’t have such a problem with obesity, 100,500. Endometrial would lose over 20,000 victims alone from obese people making a change. What is more alarming is how much money the United States health care would save each year. Obesity cases cost an estimated $147 billion a year. This is almost ten percent of the annual medical spending each year. With these facts alone and the rising obesity level in the United States we are facing many more cancer cases each year and even more money for these cancer cases.

I didn’t realize how overweight the United States really is until know. I think that we should welcome in a fat tax on food. If the medical spending is that high from just the obesity cases in the United States we should do something about it. Fat tax might not be the answer but our government needs to make moves toward lowering these numbers dramatically.

Six months ago I probably would not have reacted this way. I took a trip overseas and realized that I was consuming more food than I should. People around the world do not eat like we do, not even close. I went to restaurants all over Europe and noticed that I was still hungry after my meals. I then noticed that most everyone around me was not overweight at all. I really believe that the American people just plain eat too much. I do think there are a few people that have a real problem, but for the most part we just eat too much.

I hope to see more people take some personal responsibility and make some positive and healthy decisions in the future. If that doesn’t happen then maybe the government should step in and put a “fat tax” on extremely unhealthy foods? If it worked we would all save money on our healthcare costs.