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Most people in Butler County overweight

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer 9:57 PM Monday, October 3, 2011

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first installment of a three-part series on the health in our communities.

More than half of adults in Butler County are estimated to be overweight or obese, impacting their quality of life and likelihood of developing a serious disease.

Being overweight or obese can impact quality of life, increase the cost of health care and has the potential to affect the likelihood of companies locating here. The problem is so serious it prompted one local doctor to call it an epidemic, not just here, but across the U.S.

From 2004 to 2007 in data collected from a phone surveys, an estimated 34 percent of adults in Butler County were overweight according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Overweight is defined as having a Body Mass Index of 25 to 29.9, according to Ohio Department of Health. It is estimated 25.6 percent of adults were obese with a Body Mass Index of more than 30, according to the most recent information available from Ohio Department of Health.

Almost 276,000 people 18 and older lived in Butler County in the 2010 Census, making a total 59.6 percent or at least 164,496 people overweight or obese.

When this newspaper compared data it found more people are overweight or obese in Butler County than Hamilton County. Slightly less people are overweight in Butler County than Warren and Montgomery counties and Ohio as a whole, according to the state department of health.

To be overweight or obese is to have a greater weight than what’s considered healthy for a given height, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BMI is a calculation of body fat from a person’s weight and height, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

A healthy BMI is 18 to 25.

“This is the epidemic of our lifetime, this is obesity this time,” said Dr. C. Joe Northup, a bariatric surgeon and the medical director of Mercy Healthy Weight Solutions, a weight loss management program that includes nutrition, counseling and exercise, on the campus of Mercy Hospital Fairfield.

A growing number of people are overweight for a combination of reasons, including lack of healthy eating and physical activity, Northup said. It affects the time they can spend with their family and activities they can do with their children, Northup said.

The cost of obesity in the U.S. is projected to be $1,425 per person by 2018 if obesity rates continue at the same pace to treat increased illness from obesity-related health challenges, according to a report, “The Future Costs of Obesity,” by Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University. The report was paid for by United Health Foundation, the corporate foundation for UnitedHealthcare insurance company, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention. That’s an increase in costs from $321 per person in 2009, according to the same report.

Ohio has one of the highest costs per adult of obesity, second only to Oklahoma, according to Thorpe’s study. His study says Ohio’s obesity costs are expected to increase to $755 per person in 2013 and to $1,877 per person in 2018.

People who are overweight or obese have an increased risk for several chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and several types of cancer, according to the state health department.

The leading causes of death in Butler County as of 2004 to 2006 were cancer, heart disease and chronic lower respiratory diseases, according to the state health department.

“Being overweight means your body is less sensitive to insulin,” said Dr. Mary Krebs, one of four partners at Family Practice Associates in Middletown.

Krebs said our bodies make insulin to lower blood sugar.

“If we’re not sensitive to insulin, blood sugar remains high,” Krebs said.

High blood sugar can cause diabetes, which can lead to blindness, an increased risk of heart attack or wounds that are hard to heal and can lead to amputation. Excess weight can also cause obstructive sleep apnea, that makes people stop breathing when they’re sleeping, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and fatigue, she said. She said a lot of people aren’t taught to eat right or aren’t taught about physical activity. The rest of it is lifestyle choices.

“Often I think we’re too busy to make health a priority,” she said.

A total of 35.9 percent of Ohio adults were overweight as of 2007, and 26.3 percent more were obese, according to the state department of health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Ohio’s obesity rates increased to 29.2 percent in 2010, putting it in the top 16 states with the highest obesity rates in the U.S. Mississippi had the highest obesity rate of 34 percent, according to the CDC. Colorado had the lowest of 21 percent.

For the Tristate region of Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana, the rate of people overweight or obese increased from 56 percent in 1999 to 64 percent last year, or more than 1 million people, according to a report released this year by the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati. Adults in the Tristate who are seriously obese, a BMI more than 35, almost doubled from 8 percent in 1999 to 14 percent in 2010, according to the health improvement collaborative.

Tracy Mitchell’s health improved after she lost 67 pounds. Mitchell, 36, of Trenton, tried diet and exercise, but still had diabetes and high cholesterol. She had bariatric surgery in March at Mercy Healthy Weight Solutions.

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