National Overweight Trends
Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the average body weight of Americans increased considerably during the last decade. The term Body Mass Index* (BMI) is commonly used when discussing the obesity epidemic. It is a number that shows body weight adjusted for height and can be calculated with simple math using inches and pounds. For people twenty years of age or older, individual BMI falls into one of four categories: underweight, normal, overweight, or obese.
• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5 - — 24.9
• Overweight = 25 - — 29.9
• Obesity = BMI of>= 30 or greater
*To calculate your own BMI, you can either go to www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi
or use the formula BMI =(( weight/ height)/height) * 703. Weight is entered in pounds and height in inches.
For example, if your is weight 170 lbs, and your height is 5’4,” which equals 64,” you would calculate your as
BMI = ((170/64)/64)*703= 29.2
The percentage of U.S. adults who are obese (body mass index or BMI >30) increased grew from 12% in 1991 to 19.8% in 2000, a 61% increase. The prevalence of overweight (BMI >25) adults has also increased from 45% in 1991 to 56.4% in 2000. During the past twenty years, there has been a dramatic surge in obesity among U.S. citizens. In 1985, only a few states were participating in the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and providing obesity data. In 2001, twenty 20 states had obesity prevalence rates of 15%–19%, twenty-nine29 states had rates of 2%–24%, and one state reports reported a rate over more than 25%.
The trend of being overweight has exploded to alarming proportions. Federal statistics show more than half of all Americans are overweight or obese, an increase of more than 70 percent over the past decade. A study in the journal Health Affairs shows obesity-related health problems cost taxpayers billions of dollars annually. According to a survey conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, concentrating using a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population (October 2002), showed that two 2 out of every three 3 Americans are now considered overweight. The majority of us are gaining weight every year. The following table depicts this trend:
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Companies that specialize in weight loss management, such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, anticipate a growth rate in the coming years. So the question is: Why are we getting fatter when the diet industry is offering such a wide selection of products?
It is interesting to contrast the weight-gain trend with the growth of the diet industry. According to Marketdata Enterprises, a Tampa, Florida research group tThere are currently about 52 million U.S. dieters who fuel a weight-loss market worth $40 billion per year according to Marketdata Enterprises, a Tampa, Florida-based research group. Marketdata predicts that the diet industry will continue its annual growth of about 5.8%, with much of the business coming from baby boomers. Some examples of how the diet industry is segmented and its forecasted growth (in billions of dollars) are depicted in this table:
Companies that specialize in weight-loss management, such as Weight Watchers™ and Jenny Craig™, anticipate that the current growth rate of 5.8% per year would continue. So the question is: Why are we getting fatter when the diet industry is offering such a wide selection of products?
Although there isn’t an evil plot to keep us fat, there isn’t any evidence that the diet industry is having any success in helping Americans lose the weight permanently. What is conclusively obvious is that despite the billions of dollars spent every year in attempts to get thinner, Americans are getting fatter.
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