Building Wealth Doc's note: Americans are getting fatter. That seems like common knowledge at this point. But the truth is, obesity isn't just an American problem... it's a global one. It's also a problem that a new technological breakthrough is trying to solve.
That's why I'm sharing an essay from the November issue of Dave Lashmet's Stansberry Venture Technology today. Dave explains why we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic and how we might finally beat it. Dave has his finger on the pulse of the biotech world, and better still... he knows how to profit from it...
It's the ultimate test of strength and endurance...
A 2.4-mile swim... 112-mile bike ride... and 26.2-mile run.
On October 14, some of the world's best athletes gathered in Kona, Hawaii to complete all three legs of the women's 2023 Ironman World Championship.
And Lucy Charles-Barclay took the lead the minute she jumped into the ocean...
You see, Lucy is a born swimmer. She has been winning swim championships since she was nine years old.
With her unique half-butterfly swim stroke, her hands easily clear the ocean waves... and she doesn't need to rotate to breathe side to side. This is such an advantage that Lucy's rivals call her "the mermaid." So it was no surprise when Lucy came out of the water first.
Then it was on to the 112-mile bike ride... and the 26.2-mile run.
Eight hours, 24 minutes, and 31 seconds later, Lucy became the women's 2023 Ironman world champion. The second-place finisher was three minutes behind. And only 15 other pros finished the course in less than nine hours.
There's no athletic event as physically demanding as an Ironman triathlon.
To compete, Lucy eats up to 3,500 calories a day. That's a ton for someone who only weighs 128 pounds.
Before a big race, Lucy eats more protein to build muscle, plus fat to store extra energy. During a race, she consumes fruit, water, carbohydrates, and salt tablets. Lucy's energy balance is what fuels her performance.
Lucy might seem like an anomaly... but all our bodies work this same way. They're driven by what we eat.
Unfortunately, most of us aren't burning 3,500 calories on any given day. Instead, we're sitting in offices or on the couch at home. Meanwhile, we're eating more and more... So we're growing in the wrong direction.
In 1980, 12% of American adults – one in eight people – were obese. Today, around half of American adults are obese. And it's not just the U.S. The rest of the developed world – including Europe and Japan – also has skyrocketing obesity rates.
Obesity is a public health crisis. Being overweight taxes your heart, lungs, and mobility. Given its scale, the national obesity epidemic could break our health care system.
Here's why moving less and eating more is fueling the obesity epidemic...
At the most basic level, we burn sugar to power our muscles and our brain... That's called cellular metabolism. The bigger picture is basal metabolism, which is all our cells' energy needs bundled together.
This sets what we need to eat. Besides sugar, our cells use protein as the building blocks for growth and repair. We add in water for heat control and to guard against dehydration, plus key vitamins and minerals.
Overall, the balance between what we eat and what we burn sets our energy storage levels. In times of plenty, we store energy as fat. In lean times, we burn this fat for power. But in today's world, most of our energy expenditures are nearly idle.
There's a specific measurement for this: one metabolic unit. It measures oxygen consumed, or what you burn. It's logged when you're awake, and it's the energy we need to breathe, digest food, or to make it to the bathroom.
However, chocolate, sugared coffee, corn syrup, french fries, and steak don't help this balance. As we double up on calories eaten and cut energy expenditures to the daily minimum, we store fat.
Half of American adults are obese – not just overweight. That's self-reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But there's a solution...
After 50 years of false promises and dangerous frauds, suddenly there's a solution... safe and effective weight-loss drugs.
The market opportunity is billions of people worldwide. We're at the start of a health care revolution.
If this sounds hard to believe, listen to this real story – straight from a 10-year Stansberry Research employee who has never appeared on camera – about the weight-loss medicine that saved his life.
Click here to hear his story and learn exactly what's happening.
Good investing,
Dave Lashmet