A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that obesity rates have remained steady, but health experts say it’s not time to declare victory against the epidemic just yet.
34 percent of adults obese
According to the figures, nearly 34 percent of American adults are obese. That’s double the percentage who were obese 30 years ago, but it’s a number that’s held pretty steady for the last 10 years.
Among children, the rate has tripled, to 17 percent, but that figure also seems to be holding. In fact, the obesity rates among women and children have been on a plateau for nearly a decade, the figures say.
The numbers, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, came from two different studies among adults and kids. The adult study looked at a sample of 5,555 people and compared the obesity rate — which was 33.8 percent — to similar studies done from 1999 to 2006.
The study involving children included 3,281 kids ages 2 to 19 and 719 infants and toddlers. About 10 percent of infants and toddlers were found to be obese, as well as 17 percent of older kids.
News isn’t all rosy
The one exception to the holding steady of obesity rates is among the heaviest boys ages 6 to 19, whose weight is still growing. It’s thought that boys who were already heavy live in an environment full of unhealthy food and a lack of physical activity that is keeping them heavy and making them gain even more weight.
Beyond environmental differences, there are also racial disparities when it comes to the obesity rate. African Americans have the highest rates of obesity, at 37 percent of men and almost half of women. Forty-three percent of Hispanic women are obese.
Hispanic and black children both have higher obesity rates than white children.
And when obesity and overweight are looked at together, a staggering 68 percent of adults fit in one of those categories.
More understanding could have led to halt
Experts say more people these days — particularly moms, who tend to control the food coming into their homes — are more aware of the problems associated with obesity and are doing more to help stem the tide, which could account for part of the stalling of obesity rates.
Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, suggested to the New York Times that we may have reached the biological limit of obesity, meaning that all the people who are susceptible — genetically or because of their behavior — may already be obese.
Not exactly something to celebrate.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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Obesity rates level, but battle isn’t over