In response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ report of January 12 detailing the epidemic of national obesity, Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council President and CEO Steve Love was interviewed by Bill Hethcock of The Dallas Business Journal . The interview was detailed in Hethcock’s blog posted August 14.

“If you want a vivid picture of the obesity problem in the United States, all you have to do is find a high school yearbook from the late 1960s and compare the pictures to those in an annual today,” Love said. “This epidemic has catastrophically hit this country.”

Love was reacting to the study, titled “Prevalence of Obesity in the United States, 2009-2010,” showing 12 states, including Texas, have an obesity rate of more than 30 percent. Texas, at 30.4 percent, ranked 10th on the list.

“Americans are becoming some of the unhealthiest people in the world,” he said. “At the same time, medical advances have increased life expectancies to 17 years longer than when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law.”

Hethcock is the health care, law, education and nonprofits reporter for The Dallas Business Journal. The blog can be found here.