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CNN Live At Daybreak

Obesity Causing More Health Concerns

Aired December 14, 2001 - 06:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: There have been some important medical advances in the past 20 years, but obesity remains a serious problem and it's moving up on the scale of costly deadly conditions.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports now on some of the efforts being made to save lives and dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In medical school I was always struck by how many health problems are directly linked to obesity. Now we're told in a new report by the Surgeon General that obesity in fact is wiping out all the gains we've already made by reducing heart disease, diabetes, cancer and many other chronic conditions.

DR. DAVID SATCHER, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: It's time for America to get up and get moving, and I think we can do that. I think we should put in place all of the necessary support systems for the American people to get up and get moving.

GUPTA: Take responsibility, that's the Surgeon General's message. Home Depot, headquartered in Atlanta, got the message a long time ago. In 1997, they developed their own corporate wellness center.

GREG LANDON, HOME DEPOT EMPLOYEE: Just the fact that the facility is located right here on -- you know within out complex here, it just gives you the opportunity to come down and workout either in the morning before work, at lunch or after work.

GUPTA: But it's more than just an occasional workout.

LINDA WELCH, WELLNESS SUPERVISOR: We offer convenient on-site health and wellness programs, including lunch and learn seminars on a variety of health topics. We organize recreational programs, including golf tournaments, tennis tournaments. We have a basketball league. We do offer a variety of health screenings, including cholesterol, diabetes. We do on-site mammography screenings as well.

GUPTA (on camera): So obesity is a major health problem. Public awareness campaigns have been in place for decades. And everyone agrees eating right, staying fit, that's a good start. Programs like the one here at Home Depot seem to help, but the problem is those people who often need programs like this the most are those that are least willing to participate.

WELCH: I think one interesting way that we could encourage people to eat healthier, similar to cigarette tax, is to actually tax unhealthy foods, to dis-incentivate (ph) people to eat candy and sodas.

GUPTA: (voice-over): Much like a cigarette tax, a junk food tax would certainly make it more expensive to buy a cheeseburger. The extra money might actually help offset the billions of dollars spent each year on obesity related illness.

We asked the Surgeon General what he thought of that idea.

SATCHER: Well, I don't want to get specific about taxes, but I would support efforts that provided incentives for people to consume nutritious foods and to be more physically active, and that could include taxes.

GUPTA: In the meantime, Dr. Satcher will continue the campaign against obesity and will recognize it as the disease that it is.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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