U.S. Adult Obesity Rate Tops 42 Percent; Highest Ever Recorded

[Demovictory9]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. adult obesity rate passed the 40 percent mark for the first time, standing at 42.4 percent, according to State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America released today by Trust for America's Health (TFAH). The national adult obesity rate has increased by 26 percent since 2008.

The report, based in part on newly released 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BFRSS) and analysis by TFAH, provides an annual snapshot of rates of overweight and obesity nationwide including by age, race and state of residence.

Demographic trends and the conditions in people's lives have a large impact on their ability to maintain a healthy weight. Generally, the data show that the more a person earns the less likely they are to have obesity. Individuals with less education were also more likely to have obesity. Rural communities have higher rates of obesity and severe obesity than do suburban and metro areas.

Socioeconomic factors such as poverty and discrimination have contributed to higher rates of obesity among certain racial and ethnic populations. Black adults have the highest level of adult obesity nationally at 49.6 percent; that rate is driven in large part by an adult obesity rate among Black women of 56.9 percent. Latinx adults have an obesity rate of 44.8 percent. The obesity rates for white adults is 42.2 percent. Asian adults have an overall 17.4 percent obesity rate.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-adult-obesity-rate-tops-42-percent-highest-ever-recorded-301132778.html

[BlueStater]

1. Makes sense to me.

A lot of people are depressed and confined to their homes. People tend to eat when they’re bored and/or sad.

[llmart]

2. These people didn't just get fat since March.

Can't blame it on the pandemic. I would guarantee that if you factor for the people who are overweight but not technically obese, it's closer to 70%.

[BlueStater]

4. Yeah, I know.

But the pandemic certainly isn’t helping with things.

[Throck]

8. part of the comorbidity equation.

[BigmanPigman]

3. Not surprising for anyone with eyes.

Just look at people...they are enormous. This costs the US billions every year. It leads to diabetes, heart attacks, etc. It also makes Covid worse if you get it. The companies and govt pushing crap food (sugar and salt is in everything) it to their advantage. Crap food is cheap, making those who are low income even more likely to become obese.

[llmart]

6. At some point we have to admit that there is an element of personal responsibility involved.

We can't just blame it on outside forces all the time. We all pay for the health problems due to overweight/obesity in increased costs for both health insurance and medical care. Mrs. Obama tried her best to educate the public and encourage people to change their eating habits. Americans like to take the easy way out.

[BigmanPigman]

9. I used to teach nutrition to my first graders

even though it wasn't in the curriculum. Every day we we t over the school breakfast and lunch menus and gave the items thumbs up or thumbs down. Everything had salt, sugar or fat in it. The students had to tell me why the choice was good or not. Then I stood with them (during MY lunch time) to make sure they made good food choices and thanked the cafeteria workers. I like to think that at least I tried to do my part.

I also allowed only healthy snacks and we had a healthy snack party each year and the kids loved it. Parents at conferences either liked me or hated me for doing this. Some bitched that they couldn't afford healthy snacks. I told them the prices of bags of carrots or pretzels and that shut them up. I also made my 6th graders move at recess time instead of standing around with their friends.

[llmart]

10. Sounds like you were a terrific teacher.

My two children had a cafeteria in their schools while growing up but they never liked the food, so they always took lunch from home. I think on special occasions if the class had a pizza party they would buy pizza, but they didn't even like the school's pizza. When they were in high school they packed their own lunches. I taught both of them to cook from the time they were little (one boy, one girl).

Now I have a granddaughter in kindergarten and one day when I was babysitting I had a conversation with her about nutrition and I asked her if she was learning about nutrition in school. She said, "Grandma, that was last week. This week we're learning about pets." LOL

I worry that she'll pick up bad eating habits from her father, who did not grow up with eating healthy foods. I'm hoping my daughter has more sway over her in that department since she's the cook in that family.

Wish we had more teachers like you.

[BigmanPigman]

12. You really have to drill it in and practice it long term.

I wonder how many of my former students continued to make good choices. Teaching was cool if the admin and bureaucracy would stay out of the picture.

We also voted all the time and they loved doing that. We voted on all sorts of things that were issues concerning them...like which game to play during rainy day recess. They used privacy boards, blank pieces of paper, one vote, no name and their votes were collected amd tallied on the white board by fellow students. That covered writing and math...in case I got "caught" by the admin. during a sneak visit. Afterwards they all got "I Voted" stickers that were in 4 different languages (I took the kids to the polls in the cafeteria every Nov so they could see grown ups vote on big privacy boards) and the poll workers always gave me tons of stickers to use throughout the year. I still have them. I was in a multi lingual area so I actually needed stickers in Tagalog, etc.

[GulfCoast66]

5. I'm not considered big by most people I know.

But when I travel to Europe I realize how big I am.

I think this is a real reason we have lost so many to Covid. We are not healthy.

[Demovictory9]

13. Europeans are so skinny compared to Americans

Willowy

[appalachiablue]

14. They eat healthier, walk & bike much more unlike

fat Americans living in suburbia who drive everywhere, the last 20-30 years in particular.

[Throck]

7. Obesity is a comorbidity factor with Covid

Seems part of of problem we've owned for years. Too much sugar, carbs, fat whole other nations starve.

[Blue_true]

11. We love our cookies.

Last edited Wed Sep 23, 2020, 05:39 PM - Edit history (1)

That is why trying for herd immunity to SARS-COV-2 would be an absolute disaster in this country.

[Demovictory9]

15. We do. Lol

[Buckeyeblue]

16. Soda, snacks and excercise

Part 1 is eliminate the first two and do more of the third. It doesn't take long. 5 days a week do a combination of walk/run for 30-40 continuous minutes or do resistance work outs (you don't even need weights).

Part 2 is one small plate of food for meals and avoid fast food.

Part 3 is significantly reduce alcoholic beverages.

Do these three things over 3 months and you will lose weight smart and feel a lot better.

[triron]

17. Probably correlates with stupidity.