Yesterday one of my internal medicine patients came in for a physical and stress test and he was telling me that his business represents a Native American tribe in Maine. He informed me that obesity is rampant on the reservation and the average life span in the tribe is 57 years. I was stunned...57??? This is a life expectancy one would expect from the 1700's when plague and other infectious diseases had no cure. The reason? Clearly some genetic predisposition to diabetes and premature heart disease but most definitely the obesity contribution is a very large contributing cause. We discussed the possibility of bringing the Serotonin-Plus program into their health clinic and this would be incredibly challenging and fun to try to make a big difference there.
We most often think of our weight problems as being more of anesthetic issue, but hearing about a 57 year life expectancy for a group of people in the United States gives us pause to think about just how important weight impacts on our overall health and chances of living a long, healthy life.
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