More Americans too fat for X-rays, scans

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It appears that more Americans are getting to "big" for the existing scanners and xray machines. The amount of radiation has to be increase to penetrate properly and I think that is really dangerous.


More and more obese people are unable to get full medical care because they are either too big to fit into scanners, or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate, radiologists reported Tuesday.

With 64 percent of the U.S. population either overweight or obese, the problem is worsening, but it represents a business opportunity for equipment makers and hospitals, said Dr. Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I guess with over half the population being affected, they will either build bigger scanners and xray machines, or come up with something else that works.

Maybe the scanner that they use on Star Trek. Or maybe its time to get in shape.


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[edit on 26-7-2006 by UK Wizard]

This is an issue all over the place. They need specially modified ambulances to take these people to the hospital, bodybuilders to lift them up off the steel-reinforced stretchers, bungie cords to secure them to gurneys...

Soon, doctors will have to perform surgery suspended from the ceiling, because their arms aren't long enough to cover the massive expanse of flesh lying on the operating table in front of them.

It's pretty ridiculous...

And, look, I'm a pretty big guy - at 6'5" and 350 lbs, give or take, I'm no twig. I also have to squeeze into tiny desks at college (the same damn desks I've been sitting in since middle school, there's something seriously wrong with that...), tiny seats at movie theaters, and creaky, flimsy chairs at the local eateries. I have some sympathy for these people..but not a whole lot.

If they're so corpulent that the ambulance crews can't get them to the hospital for treatment, I think it's a fair bet that they're not healthy enough to have a long life expectancy, even with treatment. Maybe they should eat less, to improve their chances on all fronts? Do a few sit-ups every morning? Take some steps to reduce their weight to the point where they don't need the services of heavy machinery to move around. And if the doctor has to turn the X-Ray up to dangerous levels to penetrate their..uhm..insulation, I think it's time to seriously reconsider certain lifestyle choices. No more KFC until they can see their feet and I can see their neck.

I guess it doesn't hurt the small folks any, in terms of comfort, to make everything larger, it doesn't really inconvenience them any to have extra room in a movie theater seat, or wider airplane seats, or a bigger, sturdier operating/X-Ray table.

I'm all in favor of making things bigger, in general, but it costs more, in materials, and in terms of shipping and labor. I think that's something we're just going to have to deal with, unless we're ready to completely change our values and our habits overnight.

Still a shame though, that the whole society has to be inconvenienced because of this lack of willpower and good nutrition.

Well I only need to look around to see that we are an expanding society . . .

Now air lines wants to put a minimum to weight per seat, if you pass the minimum then you will have to pay extra for the weight, because they can not cut anymore on the luggage weight.

I guess the luggage is becoming lighter than the pasangers.

But I wonder what happen if everything becomes super size and then we have a depression or shortage and people starts thinning out?

Then we will have facilities becoming obsolete because they are to big

I guess we can not win any way we put it. right? been big or small.

[edit on 26-7-2006 by marg6043]

Originally posted by marg6043
Well I only need to look around to see what we are an expanding society . . .

Now air lines wants to put a minimum to weight per seat, if you pass the minimum then you will have to pay extra for the weight, because the can not cut anymore on the luggage weight.

I guess the luggage is becoming lighter than the pasangers.

But I wonder what happen if everything becomes super size and then we have a depression or shortage and people starts thinning out?

Then we will have facilities becoming obsolete because they are to big

I guess we can not win any way we put it. right? been big or small.

I don't think a Depression would cause Americans to lose weight...over here in Europe we joke about how America's homeless often weigh more than our regular people, hehe. Obviously an exaggeration, but somewhat based in reality.

Mariella

I agree that even the poor and needy seems to be bigger and healthy looking.

But when you are in the big majority of people that are in a higher weight you see everybody just fine . . .

But when you are in the smaller size group then you tend to notice more the differences.

Sure, they look like they're 'well-fed' but in actuality they're terribly malnourished. A depression would just make things worse. I shudder to think what would happen to this country if we were forced to survive on twinkies and spam for a year or more...

I'd guess that the weight problem in this country could be cut by a third just by reducing the average daily intake of salts. We don't just eat sodium, man, there are half a dozen different variations on the salt theme in all this junk food, not to mention the beverages.

And it's all you can buy in many places! Many people in my neighborhood do their grocery shopping at the convenience stores, there are two of them nearby, as opposed to a mile walk each way to get to the grocery store.

And even if you walk to the grocery store you'll find that there's a major price difference between healthy foods and unhealthy foods (in bulk). You can get two or three times the amount of food for the same ten dollars, if you buy stuff that's unhealthy.

These people think they're getting a terrific deal, they feel full and the food tasted good (thanks to all that MSG by any other name, or similar compounds that 'trick' the brain), so they don't think anything of it.

And going one step further, even if you make the tough decision and spend your ten dollars on some beans, some bananas, some meat, and some potatoes - guess what? The fruits and veggies are practically devoid of necessary nutrients because of commercial farming practices that rob the soil and starve the plants, and the meats are bursting with..SALT water.

You can't win, seriously, the only option is take supplements or eat food grown/raised to very high standards. I don't even know what's in those multivitamins, maybe they're for real. I suspect there's a bit of a deception surrounding those things, but I really don't know. But, again, they cost a fair bit of money, and for people in economically depressed areas, they simply can't see how it's a good investment.

Can you blame them? Average minimum wage paycheck, full-time, is maybe 250, or a little more if you have children and can claim exemptions. That's about 1000 a month, give or take. Rent is hovering around 600 bucks in most places I've been, less for real hovels, and a lot more for just a closet in a major city ( the studio in midtown Manhattan where I stayed for a while had a murphy bed, a nook that passed as a kitchen, and a bathroom the size of a linen closet, and it cost 2500 a month to live there - great views of the Chrysler and Empire state buildings though ).

That doesn't leave much for food, nevermind all the other expenses we have to deal with, like car payments, credit cards, medical bills, insurance, gas, heat, electric, water...

There are so many overlapping problems crippling this country, it's hard to know which ones to fix first. I doubt if you can even approach the layered problems in a methodical fashion, because so many of these issues reinforce one another in various ways.

I mean, if you try to improve nutrition by increasing awareness, that doesn't solve the money problem. And if you increased wages and instituted price controls to keep food cheap people would just eat more, because of their greed. And if you tried to change the culture of greed, you would find people are not receptive to morality when their basic needs are not being met. And so on, and on, and on. It's really quite the artful trap...

It's simple really, eat until the first signs of feeling "full", then stop. It's all about MODERATION.

I run 3 miles every other day & drink tons of water. Lift light weights, lots of reps. And eat pretty much whatever I want.

By the way - 6'1". 215 lbs. Not a picture of fitness, but in great shape for an American!

This overweight trait used to be from Italians, hispanics, etc. I really dont see why there is such an overweight problem here now.
I walk 2 miles every day. Under any kind of weather. If i didnt, i'd be big, and i dont understand why. I dont eat healthy, but I dont overeat either.
I hate to sound crazy, but anyone ever watch "To Serve Man"?

Now there's a question that's right up my alley!

If you wanted to raise people for the slaughter, you wouldn't want them overweight. Human fat has a consistency something like creamed corn, I think. It's disgusting. You would want people with lots of good lean muscle, which would require healthy eating and regular excercise.

If I was an alien that feasted on humans, I would eat nothing but farmers, they tend to have good musculature, because their work is physically demanding, and their diet is more natural, and therefore less likely to produce an abundance of nasty fat inclusions, and water pockets in the body cavity.

So..yeah. If some alien race is fattening us up, they're going to be disappointed, I think, when they realize what this diet is doing to us. Who knows, maybe they need all the additives and salts and the disgusting fat. Maybe it's a delicacy to something with four tentacles and seventeen eyes.

[edit on 26-7-2006 by WyrdeOne]

Wyrdeone, you've given this some thought.

Well, we need to consider everything, after all, we're a conspiracy board.
You're right, unless they're absolutely obsessed with fat, we will be a royal dissapointment to them.
That's interesting what you have to say about farmers too. I wonder what the statistics on missing farmers are?

Sorry- i know this is a bit off topic.