Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 28 February 2020
About 40% of U.S. adults are obese, government survey finds

By MIKE STOBBE verely obese. Dietz faulted
AP Medical Writer the government for not
NEW YORK (AP) — About 4 pushing for more measures
in 10 American adults are to promote physical activ-
obese, and nearly 1 in 10 ity and better eating. Build-
is severely so, government ing more sidewalks and
researchers said Thursday. passing a national tax on
The Centers for Disease sugary beverages could
Control and Prevention make a big difference, he
findings come from a 2017- said.
18 health survey that mea- Obesity — which means
sures height and weight. not merely overweight, but
More than 5,000 U.S. adults seriously overweight — is
took part. considered one of the na-
The survey found that the tion's leading public health
obesity rate was 42% — problems.
higher than the 40% found It is measured by the body
in a similar 2015-16 study. mass index, or BMI, a figure
The severe obesity rate was calculated from a person's
more than 9% in the new weight and height. A BMI of
survey, up from the 8% fig- 25 or greater is considered
ure in the previous one. overweight, a BMI of 30
Those increases aren't con- and above is obese, and
sidered statistically signifi- In this Jan. 20, 2010 file photo, a subject's waist is measured during an obesity prevention study in a BMI of 40 or above is se-
cant: The survey numbers Chicago. Associated Press verely obese.
are small enough that A person who is 5-foot-
there's a mathematical Now it's 10 times more com- It also will be increasingly do that? Severe obesity re- 4, the average height for
chance the rates didn't mon. The obesity rate has difficult for doctors to care ally requires very intensive U.S. women, is consid-
truly rise. risen about 40% in the last for so many severely obese therapy," he said. ered obese at a weight of
But it's clear that adult obe- two decades. people, Dietz said. He has The CDC did not report new 174 pounds and severely
sity rates are trending up, The findings suggest that estimated that on aver- obesity numbers for kids obese above 232 pounds.
said the CDC's Cynthia Og- more Americans will get di- age, every primary care and teens. That may come A person who is 5-foot-9,
den, one of the report's au- abetes, heart disease and doctor treating adults has out later this year, Ogden about the average height
thors. A half-century ago, cancer, said Dr. William Di- about 100 severely obese said. In 2015-16, 18.5% of for men, is deemed obese
about 1 in 100 American etz, a George Washington patients. kids and teens were obese at 203 pounds and severely
adults were severely obese. University obesity expert. "How's a provider going to and just under 6% were se- obese at 270.q

Biggest explosion seen in universe came from black hole

By MARCIA DUNN It's five times bigger than 2016. Chandra images of
AP Aerospace Writer the previous record-holder. the Ophiuchus galaxy clus-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Astronomers used NASA's ter revealed an unusual
(AP) — Astronomers have Chandra X-Ray Observa- curved edge, but scientists
discovered the biggest tory to make the discov- ruled out an eruption given
explosion seen in the uni- ery, along with a Euro- the amount of energy that
verse, originating from a pean space observatory would have been needed
super-massive black hole. and ground telescopes. to carve out such a large
Scientists reported Thurs- They believe the explosion cavity in the gas.
day that the blast came came from the heart of the The two space observato-
from a black hole in a clus- Ophiuchus cluster of thou- ries, along with radio data
ter of galaxies 390 million sands of galaxies: a large from telescopes in Australia
light-years away. galaxy at the center con- and India, confirmed that
The explosion was so large tains a colossal black hole. the curvature was, indeed,
it carved out a crater in the Black holes don't just draw part of a cavity.
hot gas that could hold 15 matter in. They also blast "The radio data fit inside
Milky Ways, said lead au- out jets of material and en- the X-rays like a hand in a
thor Simona Giacintucci of ergy. glove," co-author Maxim
the Naval Research Labo- The first hint of this giant ex- Markevitch of NASA's God-
ratory in Washington. plosion actually came in dard Space Flight Center in
Maryland, said in a state-
ment. "This is the clincher
that tells us an eruption of
unprecedented size oc-
curred here."
The blast is believed to be
over by now: There are no
signs of jets currently shoot-
ing from the black hole. Associated Press
More observations are
needed in other wave- stand what occurred, ac- The findings appeared in
lengths to better under- cording to the team. the Astrophysical Journal.q