Obesity
continued to increase dramatically during the late 1990s for Americans
of all ages, with nearly one-third of all adults now classified as obese,
according to new data from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey published today in the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
The
data show that 31 percent of adults 20 years of age and over – nearly 59
million people -- have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, compared
with 23 percent in 1994, according to the data collected and analyzed by the
National Center for Health Statistics, part of HHS’ Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile,
the percent of children who are overweight (defined as BMI-for-age at
or above the 95th percentile of the CDC Growth Charts) also continues to
increase. Among children and teens ages 6-19, 15 percent (almost
9 million) are overweight according to the 1999-2000 data, or triple what
the proportion was in 1980.
“The
problem keeps getting worse,” said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
“We’ve seen virtually a doubling in the number of obese persons over
the past two decades and this has profound health implications.
Obesity increases a person’s risk for a number of serious conditions,
including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and some
types of cancer.”
The
findings show more adult women are obese (33 percent) than men (28
percent), with the problem greatest among non-Hispanic black women (50
percent) compared with Mexican-American women (40 percent) and non-Hispanic
white women (30 percent). There was practically no difference in
obesity levels among men based on race/ethnicity.
In
addition, over 10 percent of younger preschool children between ages
2 and 5 are overweight, up from 7 percent in 1994.
“One
of the most significant concerns from a public health perspective is that
we know a lot of children who are overweight grow up to be overweight or
obese adults, and thus at greater risk for some major health problems such
as heart disease and diabetes,” said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding.
“One critical answer to this problem is that we all must work together
to help our children make physical activity a life-long habit.”
The
data on children also show:
Non-Hispanic
black and Mexican-American adolescents ages 12-19 were more likely to be
overweight (24 percent) than non-Hispanic white adolescents (13 percent).
Mexican-American
children ages 6-11 were more likely to be overweight (24 percent) than
non-Hispanic black children (20 percent) and non-Hispanic white children
(12 percent).
Preschool-aged
non-Hispanic black children were less likely (8 percent) than younger
Mexican-American children (11 percent) and non-Hispanic white children (10
percent) to be overweight.
In
addition, the data show that another 15 percent of children and teens ages
6 to 19 are considered at risk of becoming overweight (a BMI-for-age from
the 85th to the 95th percentile).
More
information on the study is available on the CDC/NCHS
Web site.
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NOTE: The BMI
is a single number that evaluates an individual's weight status in
relation to height. BMI is generally used as the first indicator in
assessing body fat and has been the most common method of tracking weight
problems and obesity among adults. BMI is a mathematical formula in
which a person's body weight in kilograms is divided by the square of his
or her height in meters (i.e., wt/(ht)2. The BMI is more highly correlated
with body fat than any other indicator of height and weight. The
criteria for obesity is the same for both men and women. Someone who is
5'7" is obese at 192 pounds and a person who is 5'11" is obese
at 215 pounds. More on this at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/index.htm