title: How much energy is locked in the USA? Alternative metrics for characterising the magnitude of overweight and obesity derived from BRFSS 2010 data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Four metrics to characterise population overweight are described.
  
  
  METHODS
  Behavioural Risk Factors Surveillance System data were used to estimate the weight the US population needed to lose to achieve a BMI < 25. The metrics for population level overweight were total weight, total volume, total energy, and energy value.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 144 million people in the US need to lose 2.4 million metric tonnes. The volume of fat is 2.6 billion litres-1,038 Olympic size swimming pools. The energy in the fat would power 90,000 households for a year and is worth around 162 million dollars.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Four confronting ways of talking about a national overweight and obesity are described. The value of the metrics remains to be tested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Public Health, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 46150, Bandar Sunway, Selangor DE, Malaysia, daniel.reidpath@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Reidpath
authors.forename: Mohd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masood
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allotey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
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