Food is worse than crack

More obese people in 49 states

A new report says that 49 of the 50 U.S. states had higher obesity rates in the latest reporting period vs. the previous period.

Some 22.7 percent of American adults were obese in the 2002-04 period, up slightly from 22 percent for 2001-03, says the advocacy group Trust for America's Health, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alabama had the biggest increase. There, the obesity rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent.

Eight states came in under 20 percent: Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Montana, Utah and New Hampshire. But their figures were all rising. Oregon held steady at 21 percent.

Weight gain linked with breast cancer

This story describes a study in which women who gained weight after age 50 had a greatly increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Women who had gained more than 33 pounds since age 20 were similarly at a 60 percent increased risk for postmenopausal disease, but it was the extra pounds put on after 50 that appeared to play a more significant role, study author Marilie D. Gammon said.

Atkins bankrupt

Now that Atkins Nutritionals is bankrupt, various folks are explaining why it happened.

Harry Balzer, vice president of market researcher NPD Group, follows Americans' eating habits. ''They asked you to change your behavior forever, to get rid of dessert, don't eat bread,'' he said. ''It's too hard. If it was easy we'd all be thin.''

Few of these folks (Marion Nestle is one) were advising against Atkins all along.