Obesity Poses a Greater Threat to Public Health Than Smoking: Agree?

Your statement is over-reaching, over-simplified, and innaccurate (and I'm putting that nicely). Smoking has sooner systemic impact on multiple systems and parts of the body (eg. even second-hand smoke has been linked to bladder cancer), and smokers have a higher early mortality rate

Obesity kills the person . Smoking kills innocent people that do not smoke. Look at the statistics of how many people die from smoke related deaths A DAY !!. It is staggering . I think maybe the cigarette company is putting out these polls .

You can't prove it....except by CDC statistics which are manipulated extrapolations.....CDC so-called statistics are NOT the records of real people, dead or alive. The lying SOBs!

on the contrary, you're regurgitating band-wagon propaganda from the tobacco industry

ok???????

I was going to say smoking is a greater threat because you're smoking will affect the people around you if you're smoking in the car with people, you smoke in your house, etc... but then I realized most obese people were influenced or are influencing others to make the same choices.

Obesity doesn't kill others . 2nd hand smoke can kill others just ask Dana Reeves (Christopher Reeves wife). Didn't smoke a day in her life but died of lung cancer.

How can you blame Dana Reeve's lung cancer on second-hand smoke? Her late husband, Christopher Reeve, did not smoke. Many people get lung cancer and other forms of cancer even though they never smoke.

Smoking physically hurts others that the smoker is around. Obesity only physically hurts the obese person. Kind of reminds me of the Golden Rule of doing unto others.

I basically agree with you but want to add one thing. Bad eating habits are often learned through the family. So, the bad food habits of one person can harm others.

According to my cardiologist yes ... quitting was one of the hardest things i ever did and it's still 1 day at a time ... and it's been years

They are both horrible thing to have and both are addiction. Alought of obese people are addicted to food.

It sure LOOKS worse! lol I know a lotta hotties who smoke!

fashion has misdirected your impressions

Smoking.. terrible (I can attest to that after 35 years and losing kidneys; did quite 5 years ago); but obesity is more prevalent and effects just as many, if not more, systems in the body than smoking. You name it, obesity has something to do with harming it. From strokes and heart attacks to worn joints and bad backs.

They are both a threat to health. But smoking is a threat that can be involuntarily imposed on people in close proximity making it worse.

Absolutely! One of the reasons I have never stopped smoking is because I know I will gain weight rapidly if I do. My dad successfully stopped smoking, but gained 40 pounds in 3 months. His doctor told him to start smoking again, because the weight was going to kill him before the cigarettes did.

I do not know what kind of doctor would say that . That is horrible advice. If you look at the facts and health risks associated with both smoking is far worse. Society may hate the look of obese people so it bothers them more. I hate walking out of a building and into a cloud of smoke . Or sitting next to a smoker at the movies and all you can smell is cig. smoke I have never smoked my weight goes up and down .But at 50 I can run circles around any one i know that smokes . I know a women aged 42 and she cant walk a flight of steps without gasping for air. I fly up and down them all day.
BTW doctors call even 25 lbs over weight obese .

He was a cardiologist, and he believed the obesity would bring about my father's death before smoking would. There is much evidence to support this. Since you think smoking is worse, don't smoke. However, I think statistics bear out that obesity is now the major killer in the U.S. Many people who smoke never get cancer or other debilitating lung diseases, and live very long lives (into their 80s and 90s). Everyone is different, and frankly anyone who gets any kind of cancer is genetically predisposed to cancer. I have kept myself well conditioned, and I can walk all day if I need to and certainly walk faster and farther than any obese person I know without getting short of breath.

40 pounds of excess weight might not have a significant effect on the health of a person .... the question is how much higher than 27 is their body mass index (27 is the value at which an individual begins to have higher risk of health problems due to excess weight)

I've never had a high body mass index. I've always exercised regularly and been very active.

The big difference between the two is that obesity is a health issue to a particular individual. Smoking affects the health of others around the smoker as well.

It is a much exagerated threat to others health promoted in the alarmist media.

IT DOESN'T ONLY EFECT THE SMOKER, SECOND HAND SMOKE IS JUST AS LETHAL, I CAN'T GET FAT BY STANDING NEXT TO SOMEONE OVER WEIGHT!!

When you capitalize all the letters, does that means, you are yelling

generally yes, but many folks wont read an entire statement and the author might capitalize a term or phrase to be sure the reader gets that as being key to the statement

Yes!

And you make a good point

People develo lung cancer because of smoking. If we smoke less, we',ll still have obesity as a threat, but at tleast it's better than smoking.

yes, and if not, it is just as bad...either is un-healthy

If you are a big fat smoker, you are really gonna die!Listen all you pot heads who smoke it too!!! At least if you are obese and do not smoke, you are not bothering others with the nasty smoke that suffocates the air and makes everyone around you miserable.

Everything in moderation. This includes food and tobacco. Over-do either, and you could be in trouble.

Look around, almost everyone you see is fat and getting fatter. Diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease are at epidemic levels. People make bad choices when they are free to choose. The government must tax and regulate everyone's diet and exercise habits very soon. Smoking, food, alcohol, and guns must be all be controlled by the government to protect us from ourselves. This is what happens when people are free to make choices. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should become the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Food, and Exercise. The enforcement arm of the FDA, CDC, and NIH.

You need to read a book entitled "1984"..........your kind of people make Adolph Hitler look like a patsy when it comes to controlling the people with CDC Storm Troopers.

I read 1984 when I was in high school (long time ago). I was trying to be sarcastic in my comment. Looks like I missed.
That said, I do believe the government is heading in the direction I indicated. I go to the CDC, NIH, and FDA websites often. Right now they have recommendations based on studies. I fear that eventually these will become the basis for tax policies or legislation.

As for smoking - depends what you're smoking :)

Actually they are both a threat to public health, but obesity seems to have more ratification's to it.America is one of the most obese countries in the world.

I knew they would find another group of people to attack when they were done with the smokers!

Hey fat people get ready for outrageous taxes and prepare to be treated like 2nd. class citizens.

Though I feel that America's obesity problem is the top health threat to millions of Americans, I cannot in good conscience let smokers off the hook on this.

Smokers pollute the air we breathe and subject us to their health hazard via second hand smoke.

BUT; obesity has now become so widespread, that it has overshadowed the remaining smokers (their numbers are dwindling steadily through common sense and death). America's food plan has gotten out of hand and obesity has already affected our children.

Another reason for making this America's number one enemy; is that obesity leads to a wide range of diseases (diabetes, coronary, etc) which are taking a huge bite out of our already bloating health care dilemma.

So far I see no end in sight......America MUST wake up to this latest threat by adjusting our food plans and eliminating or limiting access to those items that lead to obesity (sugared sodas for one). Perhaps placing a tax on these items will discourage Americans from over indulging. Cigarettes have already been placed in this category, so why not unhealthy food groups.

I think it would be easier to quit smoking for good than to lose enough weight and keep it off.