The Obesity Epidemic
We have already established that the populations of the advanced countries of the world are literally getting fatter every year.
In the USA, that means that the average citizen is getting heavier by one to two pounds every year, and that within the next couple of years, more than one in four of the population of the USA will be clinically obese!
That is, over 40% of the entire population will be at least 30 pounds over their ideal weight according to body weight and type.
A further significant percentage will be defined as overweight too, that is between 10-30 pounds more than they should be.
And, although there is little doubt that the obesity epidemic is seen at its absolute worst in the USA, it is a ‘plague’ that is sweeping most countries of the Western world.
For example, the incidence of obesity has tripled in many European countries since the 1980s, according to the World Health Organization.
And the numbers of those blighted continues to rise at an alarming rate, especially amongst young adults, adolescents and children, suggesting that there is a clear pattern of becoming grossly overweight at a young age, accepting that as the norm and then staying that way!
Obesity is responsible for eating up 2-8% of the money that is expended on health care and is a direct causative factor in 10-13% of deaths in different countries throughout the European region.
So, without making too many unnecessarily cruel puns, obesity is a huge problem, one that is growing at an alarming rate and it is unlikely to go away overnight.
We have already established that no amount of dietary supplementation is going to make anyone less obese on its own.
It really does not matter how much you add additional vitamin C or E to your diet, or how much additional calcium you ingest, without making many other fairly dramatic and drastic life changes, you are not going to lose significant amounts of weight.
On the other hand, you also already know that, particularly where obesity is related to diabetes, supplementation will help human metabolic processes to work more efficiently, helping in turn to offset some of the worst effects of the condition.
Nevertheless, whether a person is obese, significantly overweight or just looking to lose a few pounds, dietary supplements are not going to do the job for them without a great deal of additional effort and input.
What supplements can do, however, is help someone stay in an optimum state of physical health whilst they embark on a structured weight loss diet plan that is designed to help shed the excess poundage that they have decided they no longer want or need to retain ownership of!
So, if you are overweight or obese, can supplements actually help you to lose weight?
No, unfortunately not. You can take as many supplements as you like, and, without other far more drastic life style changes, not one ounce of flesh will budge!
But, what they certainly can do is to give you the nutritional support that you need whilst you are doing so