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The Associated Press
Obesity is a U.S. epidemic that has surged in the past
decade and now affects nearly one in five adults,
killing some 300,000 a year, a collection o f new
studies suggest.
The studies, which will be published in Wednesday’s
Journal o f the American Medical Association, are the
latest to spread the warning that Americans are
getting fatter - and that fat kills.
“Obesity is a major cause o f mortality in the United
States,” concludes one o f the surveys.
One study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention showed that the number of
Americans considered obese - defined as being more
than 30 percent over their ideal body weight - soared
from about one in eight in 1991 to nearly one in five
last year.
In 1991, four out o f 45 participating states had
obesity rates o f 15 percent or higher, while the figure
for 1998 was 37 states, according to the study.
That data, which was to be announced today at the
A M A’s annual Science Reporters Convention, was
based on telephone surveys o f more than 100,000
partic ipants each year between 1991-98.
Younger adults, people with some college education
and Hispanics showed the most drastic increases, but
“a steady increase was observed in all states; in both
sexes; across age groups, races, educational levels;
and occurred regardless o f smoking statu s.' the
study found.
Overall, the population o f obese men and women
increased from 12 percent in 1991 to 17.9 percent last
year, according to the CDC survey, which said that
figure might be conservative.
Other recent research has found that more than 50
percent o f Americans are overweight and 22 percent
are obese, even though weight-loss products and
services are a $33 billion-a-year industry.
Being overweight has been strongly associated with
greater risk o f certain illnesses, including heart
disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure,
diabetes, stroke and some cancers.
A recent study in the New England Journal o f
Medicine of more than 1 million Americans concluded
that obese people run a significant risk o f dying early,
even if they don’t smoke and are otherwise healthy.
Another study in this w eek’s JAMA issue on obesity
- all o f the studies involved Americans at least the
age o f 18 - attributed an estimated average o f about
280,000 deaths a year to being overweight, but said
the figure could be more than 374,000 when the
numbers are calculated differently.
The figures were adjusted for sex, age and whether
the subjects smoked but did not factor in chronic
disease or family histories that might indicate a
predisposition to an illness.
An editorial accompanying the obesity issue o f
JAMA calls for developing a comprehensive national
strategy to prevent obesity.
Growth in the marketing o f fast food and snack food,
as well as lack o f exercise, are among the reasons
Americans are taking in more calories than they bum,
the editorial concluded.
“Children watch more television daily, physical
education has been markedly reduced in our schools,
many neighborhoods lack sidewalks for safe walking,
the workplace has become increasingly automated,
household chores are assisted by labor-saving
machinery, and walking or bicycling has been
replaced by automobile travel,” the editorial said.
Oregon City bans after-school fights
T he A sso ciated P ress
Derick Garcia hasn’t seen the new
violent movie “Fight Club” and he
doesn’t understand the fuss about
the punching matches among him
and his friends, girls included.
The Oregon City High School senior
has been boxing since he was a boy,
something done just for fun with his
Dad, his older brother or his buddies
at a park down the street. They wear
gloves.
Everything would have beenjust fine,
Garcia said, if one o f his classmates
hadn’t told a newspaper reporter
about the u n su p erv ised Friday
boxing matches held since February
at Atkinson Park, a thicket o f trees
atop a b lu f f o v e rlo o k in g the
Willamette River and the skyline of
nearby Portland.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Garcia said.
“Nobody cared it about until all o f a
sudden there were all these TV guys
and they’re making this into some
huge thing. They were way out of
control.”
At a time of increased scrutiny o f teen
violence, word o f the boxing hit the
news about the same time that “Fight
Club,” a Brad Pitt movie centered on
a brutal, barefisted club for men,
began its final advertising blitz before
its release to theaters. The film
received extra attention in Oregon
because it’s based on a novel by a
Portland writer, Chuck Palahniuk.
I didn't even know there was a movie
like that until a reporter told me,” said
Garcia, 18. “But this is nothing. It’s
just having fun. There’s no grudge
matches or anything like that. W e’re
all friends."
A few girls tried it too, but “it was just
cat fighting," the 18-year-old Garcia
said. “Nobody hurt anybody else.”
Still, the Oregon City Commission
voted Wednesday night to ban the
fights from city parks.
“I was very pleased with the way the
city commissioners and the police
handled it," said Barry Rotrock,
O rego n C ity S chool D istric t
superintendent.
“They listened and took the time to
explain their concerns, and tell the
kids how it would affect a lot o f people
if it got out o f hand," Rotrock said.
“They just explained that from a
liability standpoint they couldn’t let
it continue."
Rotrock and police said they don’t
expect the ordinance to stop the fights
because they can be held on private
property as long as neighbors are not
disturbed. Officials said they hope
the youths will choose to hold the
matches in a place where they can be
supervised.
“W e’ve expressed our concerns over
safety issues with participants,” said
Lt. Rocky Smith o f the Oregon City
police. “At this point we haven't made
any headway toward getting them
into a ring, or some place with
supervision.”
Garcia’s mother, Cherie, said the teens
already have tried boxing at each
other’s homes. She said they have
been more careful, and are getting
better equipment, including headgear
and mouthpieces.
"Theyjust really like it,” Mrs. Garcia
said. “They enjoy it. For the last year,
it’s been a way to get aggressions out
have a good time, spend time together.
They are all friends andall the attention
has kind o f encouraged them more.”
Garcia says that he and his friends
held the fights in the park because
nobody wanted to join a boxing club
or put in long hours o f training and
coaching.
“That’s way too much work,” he said.
“I’m not going to make a career out o f
it.”
He should be screaming at
the top of his lungs
WHILE HE STILL CAN.
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g a rd e n
s u p p lie s ,
contributed story
for The Portland Observer
As homeless numbers rise, shelters seek volunteers
Multnomah County’s six winter shelters for homeless
families w ill open on Monday, November 1sl. The shelter
network expands each winter to assist homeless families
during the year’s coldest months. The program runs
through March 31st.
Despite a strong local economy, the number o f homeless
families in Multnomah County continues to rise. “Last
year we counted 38% more homeless families than in
1993,” notes Donna Shackelford, who coordinates the
County’s homeless services to families. “We estimate
that 622 families are homeless in Multnomah County at
any point in time.”
The County defines a “family” as a person or couple with
a child under 18. Sadly, 17% oftheCounty’shomelessare
children under six years old.
Increasing housing costs and a decrease in livable wage
jobs are among the reasons for the rise in homelessness.
According to the federal government, the fair market rent
(the cost o f an average rental) for a two-bedroom operate
only in winter and three are year-round facilities. Several
shelters provide day services. To access a shelter, families
should contact one of the following referral numbers:
For Downtown and Inner Southeast: 721-1500
Shelters: Goose Hollow (winter only), Salvation Army
Door of Hope (all year), Sunnyside (winter only).
For EastCounty: 491-0578
Shelter: Metropolitan Portland East County Inter-Faith
Hospitality Network (new all year facility).
ForNorth/Northeast: 721-6760
Shelter: YWCA Safehaven (all year)
For Southeast; 736-6000
Shelter: Reedwood (winter only)
Shelter guest receive case management with the goal o f
helping them find long term or permanent housing. The
average length o f stay in a shelter for a homeless family is
30 days.
Shelters rely heavily on volunteer help. There are simple
ways to help as a volunteer and time commitments are
flexible. For volunteer information, contact Donna
Shackelfordat 248-3999. Ext. 28402.
Multnomah County is responsible for services to homeless
families and youth. The City o f Portland serves homeless
single individuals and couples without children.
Help shape our transportation future
I j u r i n g ihe past five years, residents have
Public com m ent meetings
joined w ith local governm ents from across
the region to identify how we can best meet
o u r future tra n sp o rta tio n needs. N o w it’s
tim e to take a final look at the Regional
T ran sportation Plan - our 20-year blueprint
for the region’s tra n sp o rta tio n system -
before it is finally adopted.
Com e to one of the follow ing m eetings to
learn m ore and to com m ent:
Regional elected officials are seeking com ­
m ents on the p la n ’s recom m ended m otor
vehicle, transit, pedestrian, bicycle and freight
projects, and on ways to finance these long­
G resham City Hall
1333 N W Eastm an Parkw ay
G resham
term needs.
M etro Regional Center
600 N E G rand Ave.
P ortland
Oregon Department
of Transportation
W h e n P a c ific P o w e r engineers say, ' ' there has to
be a better way," it's not just talk.
Dean Miller and Brad Williams were sure that they
could come up with a quicker, more reliable way to
pinpoint and resolve problems on power circuits. If
there was an outage, this would help get the power
back on to customers faster. The technology existed.
It would just have to be applied the right way.
So Dean and Brad, along with their co-worker Tom
Evford, put their heads together and came up with a
remote control process that combines the automation
of power poletop switches with computer operations
at the substations.
Here's how it works: the poletop switches
send information back to the substation
5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20
Conestoga M iddle School
12250 SW Conestoga Drive
Beaverton
5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21
5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26
5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28
M onarch Hotel
12566 SE 93rd Ave.
C lackam as
For m ore inform ation, call M e tro ’s
transp o rtatio n hotline, (503) 797-1900,
option 2, or visit w w w .m etro-region.org.
For O D O T, call 731-8245 or visit
w w w .odot.state.or.us/stip/
computers. If the computer detects a problem, it can
automatically close a switch, and immediately reroute
power around the problem. Not only is the power back
on faster, but line crews can also be dispatched more
effectively to fix the trouble spot.
The new control scheme was tested in Portland,
which show ed that outage times could be reduced
drastically. The team knew their idea was a winner.
In fact, the process is so state-of-the-art, the engineers
were awarded a patent. The plan is to install the
automated switches along with other reliability
measures throughout the Pacific Power service area,
from big cities to rural towns, in the coming years.
"This kind of innovation, along with other
new technologies like customer outage monitors
and intelligent
meters, improves
our responsiveness
and also helps keep
costs down," said Jim
Walters, a Portland operations manager, who put the
team's w’ork into action.
Dean Miller, Brad Williams and Tom Eyford.
Three of the brightest bulbs in the box.
Brothers of invention.
s p o rts
f u r n it u r e ,
“These results suggest that insulin
might be involved in how much free
IG F-1 is incirculation,” he said. This
connection is significant because
non-diabetic, healthy, normal-weight
African-American childrenalso have
higher blood insulin levels.
H igher blood insulin levels are
thought to predispose individuals to
insulin-resistant Type 2 diabetes.
However, even if diabetes does not
develop, high insulin levels might
contribute to the development ofhigh
cholesterol levels, weight problems
and hypertension, which are all more
prevalent among African Americans.
“ If we can unravel the molecular and
genetic mechanisms responsible for
ethnic differences in free IGF-1 levels,
we might also discover factors that
predispose African Americans to high
insulin levels and related weight and
cardiovascular problems,” Wong
said.
Winter shelters for homeless
families open November 1
Creatina livable communities
You can reach us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Just call 1-888-221-7070.
le c tib le s . lin e n s , housew ares, e le c tro n ic s ,
to y s ,
American children and whether these
higher levels could be a factor in
excessive w eight gain if they persist
once growth is complete," said Dr.
William Wong.
The study involved 136 normal-
weight, healthy African-American
and Caucasian girls between the ages
o f 9 and 17. The study was designed
to gain insight into the reason African-
American girls are more sexually
mature, taller and heavier, with both
more lean muscle mass and body fat
than their Caucasian counterparts.
“In addition to the higher levels of
free IGF-1, the African-American girls
had corresponding low er blood
levels o f two specific binding
proteins. These binding proteins tie
up free IGF-1 in the bloodstream,
making it inactive," he said.
A ccording to W ong, the liver’s
production o f one o f these binding
proteins is inhibited by insulin.
Metro Regional Services
e q u ip m e n t, to o ls , h ooks, a n tiq u e s and c o l ­
c lo th in g .
contributed story
for The Portland Observer
Hormonal differences that might help
explain why African-American girls
grow faster and taller than their
Caucasian counterparts could also
be stacking the metabolic deck in
favor of weight gain in adulthood.
Researchers at the USDA ARS
Children's Nutrition Research Center
at Baylor College o f Medicine in
H ouston report that A frican -
American girls have higher blood
levels of the biologically active form
o f a potent growth hormone known
as “free IGF-1” than their Caucasian
peers. The study, the first to report
ethnic differences involving Insulin­
like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), is
reported in the September issue of
the Journal o f Pediatrics.
"This raises the question o f whether
high levels o f free IGF-1 are
accelerating growth in A frican-
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NOV. 4 —NOV. 7
th e
Growth Hormone Might Contribute To Weight Woes
In a d d itio n , state and regional decision­
m akers need your input a b o u t tran sp o rtatio n
projects on the state system proposed for
priority funding w ith p art of the recently
passed increase in the gas tax and vehicle
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Obesity on the Rise in the U.S.
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