In a rather shocking new study, it seems Americans aren’t getting any fatter. Four years ago, one in three Americans was obese. Today, one in four Americans is still obese. 25% of the country being forty or more pounds overweight is nothing to brag about for sure, but to have only 25% is at least a bit of breathing room for those in the medical community who felt strongly the United States was headed toward almost complete obesity.

Obesity
Currently, 72 million adults in the United States are obese. To be considered obese, your body metric index must be 30 or higher. The body metric index, or BMI, is a calculation that considers your height and weight. There are many resources available to help compute your BMI, if you don’t already know it.

To be overweight, your BMI must be higher than 25, and to be considered morbidly obese, you’re looking at a BMI of more than 40. Many who are technically considered obese have been told by their doctors that they are only “overweight.” Overweight has much less stigma attached to it. It’s not too bad to be overweight; after all, more than two thirds of Americans are already overweight (or obese). Being overweight makes you “normal.” (more…)

The United States is once again facing a pretty serious AIDS epidemic. Some of the top researchers who tracked and promoted AIDS awareness in the 1980s have noted a disturbing new trend and once again are trying to get Americans to pay attention. AIDS is back.

The Return of an Epidemic
Of course AIDS never went away, but it did fall from the media spotlight in the United States. After all, there were fewer cases that we heard about, everyone was aware of it, and those who unfortunately did contract the disease had plenty of medical options that helped them keep full-blown AIDS away for years or even decades. Even then, while there is no cure for AIDS, it seemed a manageable disease.

So why is it back? The short answer is because Americans, particularly young homosexual males, just didn’t really think about it anymore. In the 1980s, the gay male population was devastated by the disease. Almost every gay male or those who ran in the same social circles knew a friend or lover who had contracted HIV and eventually died from AIDS.

The New AIDS
The disease of 2007 is no difference from the disease of the 1980s. But the treatments are different. Few young people know anyone who’s died of AIDS. Those that do have it simply treat it with a medical regime. There is no cure for AIDS, although many researchers are working hard to find one. But there are a plethora of pills and treatments that can help keep the disease at bay while the HIV positive individual goes on living a seemingly normal life.

That normal life is what lets the new generation of young men, and in many cases women, relax. After all, many of them reason, what’s the worst that can happen? They’d have to take some drugs? (more…)