“Obesity Epidemic is Growing”
More Americans are obese and diabetic than ever before, according to the latest data from the CDC, based on the largest health survey in the United States. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, where BMI is calculated by dividing weight (in kilograms) by height (in meters) squared. Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 to 29.9. In 1997, 19.4% of adult Americans were obese and today that figure is 30.4%. Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that 35% of American men, 40% of women and 17% of children and adolescents are obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Two states, Mississippi and West Virginia, rose above 35%. Even worse, nearly 10 percent of women and 5.5% of men fell into the class 3 obesity category, with a BMI of 40 or higher and this same trend is true on a global scale. Worldwide, obesity has increased from 105 million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014. Globally, obese individuals now outnumber people who are underweight from starvation, and by a significant margin. Disturbingly, diabetes rates are also on the rise, with 9.5 percent of Americans ages 18 and over reporting having diabetes in 2015.
