Breaking Medical News: Obesity Statistics Worsen

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Breaking Medical News: Obesity Statistics Worsen

 

 

PCRM Breaking Medical News 10/9/02

 

Latest Statistics on Weight: 65% of Americans Now Overweight, 31% Obese

 

Two articles published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association

give the most dismal statistics yet on obesity in America. The first shows

that, while 55.9% of adults were overweight (defined as a body mass index of 25

or greater) in surveys done between 1988 and 1994, the figure increased to 64.5%

in a sample of 4,115 adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition

Examination Survey conducted in 1999 and 2000. During this same time interval,

obesity (defined as a BMI of 30 or greater) rose from 22.9% to 30.5%. At the

extreme end of the scale, the percentage of adults with BMIs greater than or

equal to 40 jumped from 2.9% to 4.7%.

 

In the second report, the percentage of children who are overweight (defined as

having a BMI above the 95th percentile) leapt from 7.2% to 10.4% for children

aged 2 to 5 years, from 11.3% to 15.3% for 6- to 11-year-olds, and from 10.5% to

15.5% for those aged 12-19.

 

Also noteworthy: Annual per capita cheese consumption increased from 15 lb to 30

lb per person between 1975 and 1999.

 

Here are the references:

 

Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in obesity

among US adults, 1999-2000. JAMA 2002;288:1723-7.

 

Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in overweight

among US children, 1999-2000. JAMA 2002;288:1728-32.

 

For more information on nutrition and health, please visit www.PCRM.org and

www.CancerProject.org.

 

 

 

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