ArcaMax

ATTENTION! There is Language in the 25th Paragraph That Some Readers May Find Offensive. Thank You For Your Attention.

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that in seven states, the adult obesity rate was 35% or higher. Six years later, it's now 23 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, with obesity rates of 35% or higher.

All 50 states have adult obesity rates above 20%.

Obesity rates are greater in the Midwest and South and lower in California, New York and much of the Northeast. Only Colorado and the District of Columbia reported obesity rates under 25%.

There were racial differences too: Asian adults did not have an obesity prevalence over 35% in any state, while Hispanic and Black adults hit the 35% threshold in 34 and 38 states, respectively.

Kids Too

The obesity rate is rising in children as well. One in five U.S. children and adolescents have obesity, triple what it was in the 1970s. The growing problem has prompted the American Academy of Pediatricians to shift their guidelines regarding childhood obesity from "watchful waiting" through youth to considering the "highest level of intensity appropriate for and available to the child," including bariatric surgery, GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and intensive behavioral treatment.

Body of Knowledge

The greater omentum is a double-layered apron-like structure that varies in size and hangs from the lower border of the stomach. It is composed of fatty tissues that act like a protective covering for abdominal organs. It also plays a role in immune response and helps to isolate and contain infections or inflammation within the abdomen.

Get Me That, Stat!

In a poll of 1,000 people by Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 37% said they have been vaccinated in the past but don't feel they need flu and COVID-19 vaccines this year.

Slightly over half (56%) said they had gotten or plan to get the flu shot this season, while less than half (43%) had gotten or will get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Doc Talk

Orthostatic hypotension: Becoming dizzy from standing up too fast

Mania of the Week

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliomania: Excessive and persistent use of long words like hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliomania

Never Say 'Diet'

In recognition of Thanksgiving, the Major League Eating speed-eating record for whole turkey is 9.35 pounds in 10 minutes; jellied cranberry sauce (13.23 pounds in 8 minutes); green beans, French cut (2.71 pounds in 6 minutes) and pumpkin pie (20 pounds, 13 ounces in 8 minutes).

Eaten sequentially, that's more than 45 pounds of food consumed in a little more than half an hour, or about as much time as it takes Uncle Hank to explain why everything has gone to hell. Oh, and pass the peas: 9.5 pounds in 12 minutes.

Food for Thought

Gypsum is a soft mineral widely mined and commonly used as a fertilizer and the main constituent in building materials like drywall and plaster. It's also found in tofu, where it serves as a coagulant, and in bread doughs as a conditioner. In both cases, it simultaneously serves as a good source of dietary calcium.

Best Medicine

Why did the urologist lose his license?

He got in trouble with his peers.

Observation

"I wish people would stop making fun of fat people. They have enough s--- on their plates." -- Comedian Eddie Murphy

Medical History

This week in 1989, a team of doctors at the University of Chicago hospitals implanted part of Teri Smith's liver in Alyssa Smith, her 21-month-old daughter, in the world's first successful living donor liver transplant.

The donated liver portion then regenerated to normal volume over subsequent weeks. The liver is the only internal organ capable of regeneration. It does not grow back like a salamander's tail; rather, the remaining tissue grows larger.

Ig Nobel Apprised

The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that's hard to take seriously and even harder to ignore.

In 2004, the Ig Nobel Prize in psychology went to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Harvard University for demonstrating that when people pay close attention to something, they can overlook everything else (inattentional blindness). In this case, it was a woman in a gorilla suit.

Med School

Q: What does the epiglottis do?

A: The epiglottis is a small cartilage "lid" that covers the trachea or windpipe. Its job is to close when you swallow to prevent food or liquid from entering the lungs. It is not that little punching bag-looking bit of tissue dangling at the back of your throat. That is the palatine uvula. It keeps food and liquids from backing up behind your nose when you swallow but also produces abundant saliva to keep your throat moist and lubricated.

Curtain Calls

In 2020, a 54-year-old construction worker in Massachusetts suddenly suffered fatal cardiac arrest. Though he reportedly had a poor diet, the deadly culprit turned out to be his penchant for eating one and a half bags of black licorice daily.

The active ingredient in black licorice is glycyrrhizic acid, which in high amounts can cause hypertension, hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, fatal arrhythmias and renal failure. Now there's a death story with a twist.

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To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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