LucasP wrote:
> Hey, the Texans have always bragged how *everything* is bigger in
> Texass!!

> Peter Lucas
> Brisbane
> Australia


In the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, researchers note that
national obesity statistics typically rely on self-reported weight and
height, which are often wrong.
Those inaccuracies often make people sound lighter or taller than they
actually are, write Majid Ezzati, Ph.D., and colleagues. Ezzati works
at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Self-reported weight and height don't always match reality, so U.S.
obesity statistics are too low, Ezzati's team argues.
The researchers recalculated America's obesity statistics, adjusting
for those errors. The result: The nation's obesity estimates went up.

Corrected Obesity Statistics
Ezzati's team based their corrections on data from two large national
surveys of U.S. adults:
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS): Given by telephone
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): Given in
person, with some participants measured and weighed afterwards
Ezzati and colleagues compared BRFSS and NHANES data for similar years.
They found that people tended to report their height and weight more
accurately in person than over the phone, but that all self-reports
generally missed the mark.

Where Obesity Lives
Ezzati and colleagues identified the states (and Washington, D.C.)
where obesity was most common in 2000, based on the new calculations.
Here are those findings, along with the percentage of obese men or
women in those areas.


Highest prevalence of obese men:

Texas (31 percent)



SOURCES: Ezzati, M. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, May 2006;
Vol. 99: pp. 250-257. News release, Harvard School of Public Health.
CDC: "Overweight and Obesity: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)."
By Miranda Hitti, probably from CBSNews, or if not, NYTimes
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.