Here’s something to chew on as we enter the holiday-food binge: Maryland is among six states where more than half of all residents will be obese by 2018. That’s according to a new report based on findings from Emory University health care economist Ken Thorpe, who heads up the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.

No pun intended, but that’s huge.

Thorpe finds that if trends continue, then 43 percent of American adults, or 103 million people, will be obese, and the costs associated with obesity would quadruple to $344 billion in 2018. But he says that the U.S. can save $200 billion if obesity levels hold steady at 31.3 percent.

With all the talk in Washington about cutting health care costs, it sounds like obesity should be a big target for Congress.

If Thorpe’s predictions are correct, 52.1 percent of Maryland adults will be obese in 2018, with related health care costs of $7.9 billion. In 2008, 31.2 percent of the state’s adults were obese and $1.4 billion in related costs were spent.

People that have body mass indexes above 30 are considered obese. (Go here to calculate your BMI).

Oklahoma is projected to be the worst off in 2018, with 56.1 percent of adults falling into the obese category. Ohio would have the highest related costs at $16.2 billion. (Oklahoma has 3.6 million residents compared to Ohio’s 11.5 million).

Which state would fare the best? Colorado, known as the leanest state in the nation, would have the fewest adults who are obese at 29.8 percent, but Connecticut would have the lowest associated costs at $2.9 billion. (Colorado has 4.9 million residents compared to Connecticut’s 3.5 million).

Thorpe doesn’t offer much in the way of advice on how to stop obesity levels from increasing in his report — he briefly mentions that including calorie and fat count on restaurant menus has the potential to cut obesity growth in half and that taxing high-calorie sodas can help.

But in a piece on the Huffington Post, he identifies four ways to attack the issue:

1. Convince Americans that obesity is a serious medical condition that increases other health risks (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease), not a lifestyle choice.
2. Make sure the stigma attached to obesity doesn’t overshadow the need to combat it.
3. Get employers invested in wellness.
4. Reconfigure health care system to allow docs to treat obesity as a preventable health condition.

If none of those options work out, looks like The Biggest Loser might have to start accepting more contestants.

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In the last few months we’ve all been inundated with tips on how to avoid catching the swine flu, or the H1N1 influenza.

Wash your hands.

Sneeze into the crook of your arm instead of into your hands.

Avoid touching your face.

Now the folks at the nonprofit Maryland Children’s Oral Health Institute have collaborated with Valley Dental Pediatrics in Owings Mills to create a visual reference on keeping your toothbrush free of germs, called Project Clean Toothbrush: Important Tips to Help Prevent the Spread of Flu Germs (pdf).

It seems to make sense that if germs on your hands could wind up entering your system, then germs on your toothbrush have an even bigger chance of landing in your throat, courtesy of your twice-daily hygiene routine.

Here’s the drill (sorry, couldn’t resist the dental reference) on keeping your toothbrush germ-free:

1. Wash your hands before and after touching your toothbrush

2. Wash your toothbrush before and after every use. Start with hot water to soften the bristles and remove food particles, rub your finger over the bristles to get the rest of the gunk out, then run cold water over the bristles to regain firmness and possibly limit germ growth.

3. Disinfect your toothbrush daily in antibacterial mouthwash for 30 seconds.

Other germ killing options:

-Store your toothbrush in a hydrogen peroxide/water mix (1 tsp of peroxide to 1 cup of water); change mix daily

-Soak your toothbrush in vinegar once a week– but I’m thinking this could taste really gross with toothpaste next time you brush

-Use denture cleanser to sanitize your toothbrush

-And, the granddaddy of toothbrush cleaning methods, deep clean your toothbrush by securing it in the silverware rack the next time you run your dishwasher

A few more tips:

-Avoid side-by-side toothbrush storage; multiple toothbrushes should be kept inches apart

-Keep your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible to cut down on airborne bacteria from waste reaching your toothbrush. Always flush with the lid closed.

-Use toothpaste from a pump dispenser to avoid contact between the germs that might lurk on the toothpaste dispenser and the toothbrush

-Toss your toothbrush when you get sick.

It sounds like a lot of work to stay clear of the flu – regular or swine – but it beats trying to find the vaccine.

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Good stuff at the Maryland Association of Counties conference this morning. After a few days at the retreat, state and local leaders have let their guards down substantially, and have begun to joke around.

There were some good jokes between Del. Murray Levy, a Charles County Democrat, and economist Anirban Basu at a morning forum on the state’s economic outlook. I won’t repeat them here, but let’s just say they involved some serious double entendres having to do with the huge size of the federal stimulus package.

For U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat, a panel discussion on economic development could have been a respite from the harsh crowds he faced in his travels around Maryland to discuss the health care reform package now before congress.

He brought it up, though.”I almost didn’t find the [panel] because I was looking for protesters and didn’t know what to expect” he said.

Cardin also razzed Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian Johansson about his experiences in western Maryland, pointing out that his widely-covered health care forums in Frederick and Hagerstown provided those cities with more broad publicity than they’ve gotten from state promotional efforts in awhile.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley, accompanied by state health officials, addressed the media Monday about the emerging swine flu virus at the State Health Department’s Command Center in Baltimore City.  Watch the video below to see the command center–and to hear from O’Malley and state health secretary John Colmers about what the state is doing to confront the problem.

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The college application process is always a stressful time. I remember checking my mailbox every day during my senior year of high school, anxiously waiting to hear from my top schools.

Can you imagine the pressure medical students nationwide felt yesterday, knowing that they would be opening a letter that seals their fate for the next 3-5 years?

Yesterday, I attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s “match day” with fellow reporter Danielle Ulman.

Danielle illustrated the drama of the event well in the lede of her story in today’s paper. She wrote:

Thirty minutes and a velvet rope stood between medical students and their futures. As the clock ticked down to noon Thursday, anticipation seemed to bubble over in a room filled with fourth-year medical students…

Watch the video below to watch students’ reactions from beginning to end.

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The University of Maryland Medical Center Chamber Players will perform three concerts of holiday music for patients, staff and visitors at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The concerts are noon to 1 p.m., Dec. 18, 19 and 22. Here’s a bit of what you’ll see and hear:

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