Campus Recreation
The Weight of the Nation – Resources for Change
www.theweightofthenation.hbo.com/resources
Local / West Michigan Resources
- Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition
- Alliance For Health, Rethink Healthy
- Kent County Health Department
- Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
- Activate West Michigan
- Fit Kids 360
- Helen Devos Healthy Weight Center
- Feeding West Michigan
- West Michigan Food Co-Op
- Veggie Van (Mobile Farmers Market)
- City of Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation
- Healthy Michigan
The Weight of the Nation: Shocking Statistics
1) Approximately one-third of American adults are obese and another third are overweight.
2) More that 36% of adults have cardiovascular disease; as many as 25% of adults have excess fat in their liver.
3) Obesity reduces productivity and causes millions of lost days of work- at a total annual cost to employers of more than $70 billion.
4) More than 75% of Americans drive to work- a 300% increase since 1960
5) Roughly one in four adults get no physical activity at all.
6) In the last 50 years, jobs requiring even moderate physical exertion have plummeted from 50% to 20%.
7) Screen time is high; children and adolescents now consume more than 7.5 hours of media every single day.
8) About 48% of food expenditures go toward food consumed outside the home.
9) A person today on-average consumes about 300 more calories per day than a person in 1974.
10) The profit margin for soft drinks is 90%, for fresh produce, just 10%.
11) Since 1977, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has increased by 135%.
12) Restaurant revenues today total 558 billion dollars.
13) Tennessee has the nation’s fourth highest rate of overweight youth. Nashville’s adult obesity rate is 30%.
14) Nationwide, 50% of firefighter deaths in the line of duty result from heart disease or a heart attack.
15) 54% of full-time public sector employees now have access to some form of wellness program. In the private sector, 28% of full-time employees now have access to wellness programs.
Page last modified October 24, 2012
