Word: half
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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GIRTH OF A NATION Just look around: Americans are getting fatter. And now a government report confirms not only that more than half of us are overweight but also that the number who are obese--at least 30% heavier than the ideal weight--has skyrocketed from 12% of the population in 1991 to 18% today. Who is likeliest to put on pounds? Surprisingly, 18- to 29-year-olds and folks in the South, where the hot climate easily wilts enthusiasm for exercise...
Talk about wishful thinking. One might as well ask if there will be a war that will end all wars, or a pill that will make us all good looking. It is also a perfectly understandable question, given that half a million Americans will die this year of a disorder that is often discussed in terms that make it seem less like a disease than an implacable enemy. What tuberculosis was to the 19th century, cancer is to the 20th: an insidious, malevolent force that frightens people beyond all reason--far more than, say, diabetes or high blood pressure...
...growth of new capillaries. The idea behind this new class of drugs is that tumors cannot grow bigger than a few hundred thousand cells--about the size of a peppercorn--without growing their own blood-supply system. Researchers and patients, not to mention the owners of stock in half a dozen biotech companies, are eagerly awaiting results of clinical trials of antiangiogenic factors, which might be used in combination with chemotherapy to knock down big tumors and then prevent any surviving tumors from growing enough to do further damage...
...again to technology), physical exertion is no longer a part of most people's lives; most of us have to drag ourselves away from our computer or TV to burn off the excess calories. The result is inevitable. In 1950 one-quarter of Americans were classified as overweight; today half...
...seems likely that for a while at least we'll keep getting fatter. We can't undo evolution, and we haven't found a way to fool Mother Nature--yet. But before the 21st century is half over, with the body's fat-centric metabolism laid bare and the ability to manipulate genes part of medicine's standard tool kit, the trend may finally stop. Chubbiness may not disappear, but it could become optional. A future without Richard Simmons' commercials would be a wonderful future indeed...