We are in the midst of a debate over just how overweight we are and whether it really matters to the health of this country. But, I ran across an interesting article that really made me think.
We have all seen those signs that are ever-present in elevators, trucks, etc. They say that an elevator or truck is rated for so much weight. We tend to ignore them because there is always a safety margin built into the figures. But, there are a couple of places where losing the safety margin is very dangerous. And, no, it is not elevators. Actually, despite all the horror movies, elevators have multiple redundant safety margins built in. Neither is it really trucks or cars. The worst that will tend to happen is flat tires or worn out shocks, etc.
No, the two places for which the weight of the people involved are very important are planes and boats. In either case, overweight can cause a boat to become unstable and capsize or founder while an airplane can fail to take off or come down unexpectedly. In the last couple of years, airlines have begun to take some steps to address this issue. Unfortunately, because this has also been a time when the same airlines have added fees here and there as well as reducing services, the move has been seen as a useful excuse for an industry that appears to be intent on maximizing profits at all costs.
But boats are a different story. There is not a wave of anger sweeping the country about boats because boats are generally either pleasure vehicles or are commercial transport. But, they are not generally a means of public transport, like airplanes. So, most people do not think about the multiple news stories from around the world that tell of terrible boat tragedies. Almost all the stories are from Third World countries and they almost all involve ships that were overloaded.
As a result, if you read the news story above, you read that the Coast Guard is changing the method by which the number of passengers allowed on a boat are calculated. They have raised the average weight of an American from 160 pounds to nearly 200 pounds. And, that is about as good an indication as anything I have read about how well documented the increase in American’s weight is. You see, the Coast Guard is one of the most dedicated-to-people agencies that exists. Just think about how many times you can turn on the TV and see a Coast Guard helicopter rescuing people.
What they do not wish to see is an increase in rescues because boats are being taken out over capacity. And so, they took the necessary action to ensure the safety of the people over whom they have watch. That action was to adjust downward the number of people for which a boat is rated. It is a quiet proof of how bad our overweight problem is in the USA.
I’d like to comment that although some of us ARE overweight (raises hand), the Coast Guard’s revision upward of the “weight of an average American” also reflects a different change: younger people are simply BIGGER than they used to be. All six of my children — none of whom are overweight; a couple are actually skinny — are taller than the “average American” was fifty years ago, as are most of their friends. Even at “normal” weight, these taller people weigh more.
From the Guardian in England:
America used to be the tallest country in the world,” writes Associated Press reporter Matt Crenson. “From the days of the founding fathers right on through the industrial revolution and two world wars, Americans literally towered over other nations.” Crenson continues:
“But just as it has in so many other arenas, America’s predominance in height has faded. Americans reached a height plateau after World War II, gradually falling behind the rest of the world as it continued growing taller.”
America has dropped to 27th in the world in average male height.
Conservative politicians and pundits in the United States like to point to comparative rates of economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic as evidence that the larger welfare states of European economies are inferior to America’s leaner, meaner public sector and more vibrant economy. But when it comes to head-to-toe yardsticks, comparisons clearly favour the Old Country, where Dutch males are the tallest, the United Kingdom ranks 17th, and most countries outside the Iberian peninsula are taller than America.
Even Iraqi men – ranked 21st – are taller, on average, than the Americans who joined the Brits in invading that country more than four years ago.
Though American growth has ceased vertically, it continues horizontally: obesity has emerged as a national pandemic in the states.
According to a 2004 report produced by the centres for disease control, while mean height for American men and women grew slightly between the early 1960s and the start of this decade – from 173.48 to 176.28cm for men aged 20 to 74, and 160.27 to 162.56cm for women of similar age – Americans have gotten a lot heavier. The average weight of adult men during the same, four-decade period swelled almost 15%, from 75.3kg to 86.6kg. The mean female weight increased from 63.5 to 74.4kg, a jump of more than 17%.
This mirrors a news story I heard here in Washington state, where the state ferry system has also changed how many passengers are allowed on the ferries due to the increasing weight of the average American. Previously, they were estimating the average weight to be around 130 and now they are using 180 as the standard. If we thought the wait times for ferries was long before, it has just gotten worse.
Seems like it’s either hormones or Twinkies driving the ferry adjustments. I would assume that their average weight estimate contemplates kids and even infants looking for a realistic average.