The New York Times: Three-Quarters of U.S. Adults Are Now Overweight or Obese
By Nina Agrawal
Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to a sweeping new study. The findings have wide-reaching implications for the nation’s health and medical costs as it faces a growing burden of weight-related diseases.
The study, published on Thursday in The Lancet, reveals the striking rise of obesity rates nationwide since 1990 — when just over half of adults were overweight or obese — and shows how more people are becoming overweight or obese at younger ages than in the past. Both conditions can raise the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, and shorten life expectancy.
The study’s authors documented increases in the rates of overweight and obesity across ages. They were particularly alarmed by the steep rise among children, more than one in three of whom are now overweight or obese. Without aggressive intervention, they forecast, the number of overweight and obese people will continue to go up — reaching nearly 260 million people in 2050.
The research documented a particularly steep rise in obesity rates — reaching 29 percent in 2021, up from 10 percent in 1990 — among girls and young women 15 to 24.
Dr. Sarah Hampl, a physician from Children's Mercy Kansas City in Kansas City, Mo. said these findings are concerning both for young women themselves and for their potential future children. High maternal B.M.I. before conception, excessive weight gain during pregnancy and high infant birth weight have all been shown to increase the risk of obesity in childhood.
Read the full article via The New York Times