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American Morning
Paging Dr. Gupta: Just How Bad is Being Overweight For you?
Aired January 07, 2003 - 08:38 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you know the phrases, stop smoking and lose weight, two always mentioned frequently, heard around the New Years's resolution time. Now, there are more reasons to keep those resolutions.
From the CNN Center, Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks about both of those with us today.
Good morning, Sanjay. Good to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Yes, you know, not any breaking news there in terms of losing weight and stopping smoking. But just how bad is obesity for you? Just how bad is being overweight for you? Let's listen to Congressman Jerry Nadler, who you interviewed a couple of months ago on this show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: I have a lot more to do in my public life, and the statistics -- start worrying about the statistics catching up with you in terms of life expectancy, in terms of other diseases that result from obesity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And when you talk about obesity and you talk about being overweight, just how bad are the numbers? A new study looked at that question. As the congressman mentioned, just about every chronic disease is associated with obesity.
But if you want to put a number to it, if you are overweight at the age of 40, you are going to shorten about three years off of your life. If your obese by the age of 40, you are going to shorten about 6 to 7 years off your life. Let's look at some examples. What does that mean for you at home. A woman average height, 5'5", 150 pounds, that's considered overweight, will lose about three years life expectancy. A woman 5'5", 180 pounds, that's obese. Now I'm going to get more into that in just a second here. She'll lose about seven years of life expectancy. Men if you look at their average 6 feet, 180 pounds, that's overweight. Lose three years life expectancy.
This is the first time we're able to put numbers on being overweight and being obese.
Now, we've heard about smoking as well, and people in our society have come to think of smoking as something that they know will shorten their lives.
If you actually add being obese and smoking, let's look at some of those numbers. How bad will that be? If you smoke and you're overweight, you can see there, a man will lose 13 years off of his or her life. A woman, an obese smoker, 14 years off his or her life.
Bill, there really needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we think about obesity. For a long team people have known, as they knew smoking was bad, they just didn't know how bad. Well, scientists told them that, listen, smoking will shorten your life. That's what we're starting to see with overweight and obesity. Not only is it bad, but it's shortening your life by a definitive number of years, and these are the numbers -- Bill.
HEMMER: And as you have said many times and told me, obesity is tied, you just said it again, to every major known disease to humankind. You put a graphic up there, Sanjay, 6 feet, 184 pounds for a man. Doesn't sound quite obese. What gives with that figure.
GUPTA: That's right. Well, you know, there's a difference. I want to talk a little bit about this, overweight and obese; 184 pounds was actually overweight, 220-some was obese.
But let's look at some of the numbers with regards to just average numbers for men and women in terms of obesity and overweight. If you look at some of the numbers with regards to what -- first of all, what is it that we're measuring, the body mass index. That's the number a lot of scientists are trying to figure out exactly how much overweight you are, how obese you are, 25 to 29.9 is overweight. Obese is 30 or higher. Most people don't know what those numbers mean. Let me give you what that means in terms of how tall you are and how much you weigh.
Let's take look at some of those numbers, if we have them. For a 5'2" person, 140 pounds, they're going to have a BMI of 25.6. That's overweight. People at home can pay attention to these. If you are 165 pound, 5'2" you'll have a BMI of 30.2. We're doing the math here for you -- obese.
Let's look at some other numbers. For a 5'9" person, we got there, 170 pounds, 25.1. Again, that's considered overweight. 5'9" 210 pounds, that's considered obese. That gives you a rough idea of sort of what the numbers are in terms of overweight and obese. The formula is a little more complicated, but you can find that on the Internet or any weight book about how to figure those numbers out.
HEMMER: You talk to anyone like Jerry Nadler who's gone through this situation for about 40 years of his life. He knows all about BMI.
Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired January 7, 2003 - 08:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you know the phrases, stop smoking and lose weight, two always mentioned frequently, heard around the New Years's resolution time. Now, there are more reasons to keep those resolutions.
From the CNN Center, Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks about both of those with us today.
Good morning, Sanjay. Good to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Yes, you know, not any breaking news there in terms of losing weight and stopping smoking. But just how bad is obesity for you? Just how bad is being overweight for you? Let's listen to Congressman Jerry Nadler, who you interviewed a couple of months ago on this show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: I have a lot more to do in my public life, and the statistics -- start worrying about the statistics catching up with you in terms of life expectancy, in terms of other diseases that result from obesity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And when you talk about obesity and you talk about being overweight, just how bad are the numbers? A new study looked at that question. As the congressman mentioned, just about every chronic disease is associated with obesity.
But if you want to put a number to it, if you are overweight at the age of 40, you are going to shorten about three years off of your life. If your obese by the age of 40, you are going to shorten about 6 to 7 years off your life. Let's look at some examples. What does that mean for you at home. A woman average height, 5'5", 150 pounds, that's considered overweight, will lose about three years life expectancy. A woman 5'5", 180 pounds, that's obese. Now I'm going to get more into that in just a second here. She'll lose about seven years of life expectancy. Men if you look at their average 6 feet, 180 pounds, that's overweight. Lose three years life expectancy.
This is the first time we're able to put numbers on being overweight and being obese.
Now, we've heard about smoking as well, and people in our society have come to think of smoking as something that they know will shorten their lives.
If you actually add being obese and smoking, let's look at some of those numbers. How bad will that be? If you smoke and you're overweight, you can see there, a man will lose 13 years off of his or her life. A woman, an obese smoker, 14 years off his or her life.
Bill, there really needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we think about obesity. For a long team people have known, as they knew smoking was bad, they just didn't know how bad. Well, scientists told them that, listen, smoking will shorten your life. That's what we're starting to see with overweight and obesity. Not only is it bad, but it's shortening your life by a definitive number of years, and these are the numbers -- Bill.
HEMMER: And as you have said many times and told me, obesity is tied, you just said it again, to every major known disease to humankind. You put a graphic up there, Sanjay, 6 feet, 184 pounds for a man. Doesn't sound quite obese. What gives with that figure.
GUPTA: That's right. Well, you know, there's a difference. I want to talk a little bit about this, overweight and obese; 184 pounds was actually overweight, 220-some was obese.
But let's look at some of the numbers with regards to just average numbers for men and women in terms of obesity and overweight. If you look at some of the numbers with regards to what -- first of all, what is it that we're measuring, the body mass index. That's the number a lot of scientists are trying to figure out exactly how much overweight you are, how obese you are, 25 to 29.9 is overweight. Obese is 30 or higher. Most people don't know what those numbers mean. Let me give you what that means in terms of how tall you are and how much you weigh.
Let's take look at some of those numbers, if we have them. For a 5'2" person, 140 pounds, they're going to have a BMI of 25.6. That's overweight. People at home can pay attention to these. If you are 165 pound, 5'2" you'll have a BMI of 30.2. We're doing the math here for you -- obese.
Let's look at some other numbers. For a 5'9" person, we got there, 170 pounds, 25.1. Again, that's considered overweight. 5'9" 210 pounds, that's considered obese. That gives you a rough idea of sort of what the numbers are in terms of overweight and obese. The formula is a little more complicated, but you can find that on the Internet or any weight book about how to figure those numbers out.
HEMMER: You talk to anyone like Jerry Nadler who's gone through this situation for about 40 years of his life. He knows all about BMI.
Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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