Supersized Americans

Let's just say it: We Americans are too big.

Two of three American adults and 9 million American children are overweight or obese.

Obesity is an epidemic. It is close to overtaking tobacco as the nation's most lethal preventable killer.

We are overeating our way into the grave. In 2000, physical inactivity and poor died caused the deaths of 400,000 Americans.

Last week, Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson announced a campaign of humorous public service announcements aimed at getting people to walk a little more and eat a little less of the kinds of foods that expand our waistlines. It's a start.

We eat too much fast food, sit too long in front of computers and don't exercise enough. That has become the Great American Lifestyle.

It's enough to make you long for the good old days when families prepared their own meals and work required sweat.

As any customer of fast-food restaurants knows, they have realized that Americans now know that processed foods are one of the sources of our rotundity. Everyone is marketing low-carbohydrate meals. That's a good sign.

Another is that fast-food giant McDonald's announced it no longer will offer supersize fries and drinks. We need less fat and sugar, not more.

Some legislators, both in Missouri and at the federal level, are trying to pass laws limiting lawsuits that blame restaurants for our obesity. People should take responsibility for the food choices they make. Restaurants also should be required to provide point-of-sale information about the nutrition of their products.

Last week, researchers announced that tests are being conducted on a miracle pill that blocks circuitry carrying the signals that tell us we want to eat or smoke more.

Overweight people who took high doses of the drug for a year lost an average of 20 pounds. They also increased their levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, by 23 percent.

When tested on pack-a-day smokers for 10 weeks, the pill enabled 28 percent to stay off cigarettes compared to 16 percent who quit while taking a placebo. Those smokers on the drug did not gain weight, and some even lost weight.

Doctors say the new drug offers great promise but insist that the best prescription for losing weight is old-fashioned good sense: Eat in moderation food that is better for you and exercise more.