Americans— Too Fat to Protect the Nation?
The Obesity Epidemic and its Impact on Homeland Security
For years, obesity has been considered a health care crisis in America. About 78 million adults and 13 million children in the U.S. are considered obese and another third of the population is considered overweight. If our trends stay consistent, by 2030, 51% of Americans will be obese and another quarter will be overweight. This condition is linked to numerous chronic diseases and disorders including, cancer, diabetes, depression, stroke, and cardiovascular issues. The health care industry estimates that 20% or $200 billion dollars are spent annually on weight related costs alone. But it’s not just our health that is being affected; our expanding waistlines are adversely impacting the missions of our armed forces and first responders.
The Military
In Unfit for Service: The Implications of Rising Obesity for U.S. Military Recruitment, John Cawley discusses how the obesity epidemic is causing recruitment problems for the military. Obese children are growing up to become obese adults. Currently, one in three applicants is too heavy to enlist. According to Major General Allen Batschelet, excess weight and/or drug usage are among the leading causes of military ineligibility. In 2015, only 72,000 out of 195,000 applicants qualified for service; a quarter of the applicants were disqualified specifically due to excessive weight or body fat. Furthermore, Batschelet predicts that within the next decade the weight related disqualification rate could approach 50% making it extremely difficult for the armed services to replenish their ranks. But it’s not just potential recruits that are struggling with their weight. There has been a 70% increase in the number of soldiers discharged from the military due to their inability to maintain their weight within the required limits. Our obesity crisis is quickly becoming a national security issue as we run out of eligible applicants. The military could potentially lower the physical agility standards and increase the maximum allowed weight of its soldiers, bringing additional healthcare costs and less healthy soldiers.
Law Enforcement
Donut eating cop jokes aside, law enforcement definitely has an obesity epidemic. According to an FBI study, 80% of American police officers are overweight or obese. In fact, police officers are 25 times more likely to die from a cardiac related event than from the actions of a criminal. Policing today, however, is more physically demanding than ever. Every police officer in the country is now expected to run toward the sound of gun fire and quickly neutralize an active shooter and assist downed victims. Obese police officers become winded more quickly, are slower, and make much bigger targets for the bad guys.
Firefighters
The turnout gear and SCBAs worn by urban firefighters weigh about 60 lbs. The addition of halligans, axes, and other tools easily add another 20 pounds. When you factor in the weight of an incapacitated adult, you can see how physically taxing the demands of the job can be even for the fittest individuals. So, you’d expect the majority of firefighters to be in peak physical condition. But a recent study conducted by the CDC found that of the 1.2 million firefighters in America, 70% are overweight or obese — a rate slightly higher than the general population. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that among the leading causes of line of duty deaths for firefighters are cardiac related events following strenuous activity. Most fire academies maintain rigorous physical training, but very few departments around the country mandate ongoing physical agility testing once the cadet graduates from the academy. The combination of high stress, shift work, and poor eating habits quickly leads to weight gain placing the firefighter and their crews at greater risk in extremely dangerous environments. Equally important, unhealthy firefighters can also impact the safety of the people they are trying to rescue since they fatigue quicker.
Generation Z or Generation XXL
Currently, there are approximately 24 million overweight American children that will grow up to become overweight adults. Consequently, diseases previously associated with the middle aged, are now increasingly seen in adolescents. In addition to escalating medical costs and lost productivity due to health related absenteeism, this generation will have a shorter life expectancy. So what do we do about it? Well, that’s the question no one has been able to answer. It’s clear that at a minimum we need to attack the weight issue at a very early age and foster healthier life styles and eating habits in our kids. But there’s more to it than pulling out the fast food and soda machines from schools. Often, the least nutritious, fattiest foods are among the cheapest and most readily available — particularly to those with limited economic resources. And although food deserts certainly don’t help the matter, plenty of Americans with access to nutritious healthy options struggle to maintain a healthy weight as well. Further complicating the issue, restaurant portions have quadrupled in size since the 1950s.
Ultimately, despite the availability of information and healthy food options the problem only seems to be getting worse with no end in sight. What is clear though, is that if we as a country do not actively engage and reverse this trend, we not only face a public health crisis, we run the risk of crippling our ability to effectively provide healthy resources to the organizations that we rely on for public safety response and national defense.
This story was produced by The Watch in the Homeland Security Publication.
