
Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S - arikr
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm
======
3pt14159
This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car
centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means
driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal
activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food.

Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and
of course Americans are going to be overweight. The worst part is it’s
becoming culturally acceptable for children to be overweight. I do not
advocate for fat shaming—but there is a limit to my tolerance. Children should
not consume anywhere near the amounts of sugar that they do and the pervasive
attitude of “just one [soda, ice cream, pop tart, pie slice, muffin, cupcake,
cookie] won’t hurt!” is incredibly damaging. Five grams of refined sugar a
day. That’s it. That is less than one tenth of a “personal” (16oz / 500ml)
bottle of Coca Cola.

We’re poisoning our kids.

~~~
izietto
I'm italian and I visited united states a couple of months ago. In my opinion
the biggest problem is that you don't have decent food at affordable prices.
Healthy food has nonsensical high prices and if you want something at a human
price you don't have much choice except fast food. What a shame.

~~~
adrr
Healthy food isn't expensive. You can buy chicken breast for $3 to $5 a pound.
You can buy a head of lettuce for $2. Oatmeal is dirt cheap. Most vegetables
are less than $3 a pound.

~~~
zaroth
It may be true that these ingredients are available in certain markets for
those prices, but that isn't accounting for a significant portion of the true
overall cost of healthful eating.

Healthy food tends to spoil, and if you're not able to go shopping multiple
times a week and have unpredictable availability for meal preparation, you're
going to see a lot of spoilage. If 30% of your fresh produce ultimately
spoils, your actual cost is 43% higher.

Healthy food requires a degree of planning and execution which takes time and
focus. Finding healthy options which are appealing for 3x meals a day is a lot
of work if you aren't happy with 1 or 2 standbys every day.

Healthy food is extremely hard to find on the go. If you don't have a kitchen
at your disposal generally you are shit out of luck for finding something that
is truly healthy. So for example, the quality of my diet is highly inversely
correlated with the amount of travel I am doing in a given month.

Making unhealthy choices more expensive through taxes is extremely regressive
for many of these reasons.

~~~
smn1234
you're suggesting that humanity has historically had easier access to healthy
(fresh) food as they went shopping multiple times a week? I doubt this. What
makes you think there was improved transportation options or significant
amount of free time ?

~~~
woodandsteel
Either they lived in a city with multiple food stands and stores within
walking distance, or they lived on a farm and grew it themselves.

------
mFixman
The interesting thing is that obesity and overweightness rates are very
different between States.

Most coastal States have regular rates among rich countries (albeit still
high). 23.1% of Californians are obese, which is a lower rate than France,
Ireland, and most of Western Europe.

There's a completely different story in the South, where more than a third of
Mississipi's population is obese.

------
CharlesMerriam2
Methinks that if 70% of you population is affected, something is effecting
them.

It's not just "low will power" even if that explanation makes 30% of people
smug.

~~~
Joeri
It's the food. I've visited the U.S. several times, and every time I'm shocked
by how hard it is to find affordable healthy food. Even so called "healthy"
options like salads are often loaded with egg yolks, fatty dressings, bacon
bits and all kinds of unhealthy ingredients. Portion size is also way off.

~~~
justboxing
... and salt, sugar and butter. I was surprised to learn that supermarket
chicken and meat is routinely injected with salt water and other chemical in a
process known as 'Plumping'....

Source:
[https://www.naturalnews.com/037153_food_industry_chicken_fil...](https://www.naturalnews.com/037153_food_industry_chicken_fillers.html)

~~~
peterwwillis
One of that article's sources is _cracked.com_. They're not really known for
the strictest journalistic standards. Here's a USDA website describing
conditions of meat in stores:
[https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-
safety...](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-
education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/water-in-meat-
and-poultry/ct_index)

------
bpicolo
Doesn't a 25 BMI seem like kind of a crappy metric for "overweight"? That
makes my 6'4" brother "overweight" at like 205 which seems nuts. That doesn't
feel overweight at all.

(Defined in the footnote on page 222)

~~~
graeme
BMI is _not_ meant as an individual health measure. It's a general population
measure valid over a large sample size.

6'4" is a statistically rare height. I believe BMI is less valid for the
extremely tall and extremely short. That doesn't mean it isn't useful when
viewing the whole population.

For an individual, BMI + a waist measure is a better indicator. Your brother
probably isn't overweight, unless he has low muscle mass and a large waist -
but that individual anecdote does nothing to argue against the population
level validity of BMI.

~~~
longerthoughts
>It's a general population measure valid over a large sample size

This assumes a relatively symmetric distribution of heights and weights
though, right? I'm curious if the tails for which BMI is individually invalid
are equally populated. Basically, are short, fat people as common as tall,
thin people?

------
dexwiz
These numbers aren’t shocking. Many people are “casually” fat, meaning they
carry an extra 30-40lbs around their gut. Probably accumulated slowly by
2-3lbs a year. They don’t fit the classic image of an obese person but they
are obese according to BMI.

I moved to SF which is a relatively fit city. Going back home in the Midwest I
am shocked by the number of people who are overweight. Fat is normalized
there. It wasn’t until I lived in a health conscious area and checked my own
BMI that I realized how skewed my image of a healthy person was. In the
Midwest if you are active you are considered healthy, even if you are
overweight. It’s not until you are 100lbs overweight are you considered fat.
And this doesn’t even touch the HAES mentality.

~~~
yodsanklai
As a non-american, I'm wondering how a fit person is considered in the
midwest? Is it seen as a good trait or rather something odd?

~~~
Bartweiss
It's not necessarily odd - obesity rates are high, but not so high that a
healthy weight is exceptional. Being generally muscular or trim isn't a
negative, and probably isn't going to get anyone dismissed as a fitness nut.

That said, an average to low-normal BMI can certainly get comments. I'm smack
in the middle of the healthy BMI range, and not exceptionally muscular or
anything else that would distort that. Living in and visiting friends in
flyover country I get comments like "you're too skinny", "you need to eat
more", and so on. No one is particularly judging me, there's just a shifted
sense of average where BMI ~21 feels like the low end of the range.

(And of course they're not exactly wrong; eating Midwestern food and living in
a driving-centric suburb had the predictable effect on my weight, so on some
level thinner people there _are_ behaving unusually.)

------
Avshalom
Of course "overweight" has as-good or better long term health outcomes so...
Meh?

[https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/35/1/55/849914](https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/35/1/55/849914)

~~~
Bartweiss
This is an interesting paper, particularly the sections on _how_ Americans
have gained weight. "Obesity is up!" is much less informative than specifying
which populations have gained how much like this does.

That said, the section on health outcomes is not hugely compelling. The
"normal weight has worse outcomes" studies (particularly the famous NEJM one)
have a significant set of problems.

NEJM simply didn't use the same bucketing as common parlance, so bucketed
comparisons (as opposed to BMI ones) are basically meaningless.

More broadly, these studies are generally correlational, which produces
serious issues regarding patients suffering from diseases. Eating disorders
have very high mortality and often cause low weights, while conditions like
cancer and neurodegenerative disease often cause both mortality and low
weight. Without correcting for that, you're actually noticing trends like
"late stage cancer patients are both skinny and sick".

I'll have to go and dig up references, but I thought the current state of
research suggested that among otherwise-healthy patients, especially men in
middle age or older, health outcomes noticeably worsened beyond the middle of
the overweight category?

~~~
Avshalom
I mean I don't know what's come out in the last months, that's just the famous
one because it's such a large group but you can go poke around Wikipedia all
the smaller studies seem to go back and forth though so if there is a negative
effect it's probably a weak correlation or a weak effect
[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Body_mass_index&i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Body_mass_index&ictd%5Bmaster%5D=vid%7Ebf66b9f4-81bf-4b84-a086-ea695ef9d0e7&ictd%5Bil726%5D=rlt%7E1441195210%7Eland%7E2_4755_seo_b8085c8cba90fd4c39b7aca234576e4a#Variation_in_relationship_to_health)

------
cproctor
And it's changing quickly. Here's the same statistic from the last 30 years:

1988–1994 54.9

1999–2000 64.1

2001–2002 65.6

2003–2004 66.5

2005–2006 67.3

2007–2008 68.3

2009–2010 69.2

2011–2012 69.0

2013–2014 70.7

[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2016/053.pdf](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2016/053.pdf)

------
scarface74
How many of these people are actually "overweight" as far as health and how
many are "overweight" according to BMI?

When I was in the best shape of my life from my mid 20s to my mid 30s, working
out 12 hours a week (part time fitness instructor and a runner) with a body
fat of 12% (measured with calipers) and a 29-30 inch waist, I was according to
the BMI calculations 30 pounds overweight. Even now weighing 10 pounds more
and I'm considered "obese", I wear a size 30 regular cut pants.

Where exactly am I suppose to lose 40 pounds from? Realistically, I need to
lose about 15.

~~~
lotsofpulp
I know it's anecdotal, but from NY to FL to TX to CA, I don't find myself
commonly walking amongst people who are too fit to throw off BMI.

~~~
jcadam
Yes, applied to large populations it can be a useful measure. Applied to
individuals, it's fairly useless.

------
darkstar999
Interestingly, based on that same dataset, high cholesterol decreased from 20%
in 1988 to 11% in 2014. Any ideas?

[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus16.pdf#053](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus16.pdf#053)

~~~
learc83
Statins

~~~
wjn0
Yup. Highly effective and widely prescribed.

~~~
HarryHirsch
What do the meta-studies have to say about statins and life expectancy? Back
then, before we had statins we had clofibrate. It decreased cholesterol levels
just fine but overall mortality went up.

Also, why isn't dietary adjustment the first-line treatment for high
cholesterol?

~~~
wjn0
> What do the meta-studies have to say about statins and life expectancy?

For long term maintenance, they're definitely recommended. Near EOL is a bit
different, but I don't know the guidelines.

> Also, why isn't dietary adjustment the first-line treatment for high
> cholesterol?

It is, but only in conjunction with medication. It seems that having a poor
diet (e.g. high saturated fats) has long-lasting effects on cholesterol
levels, and short-term dietary changes do little to "repair the damage", so to
speak. Additionally, we know very little about what other factors affect
HDL/LDL levels. For example, for a long time, there was concern that dietary
cholesterol had an impact on serum levels, but I believe now the consensus is
that this is false.

Cholesterol is complex, and while its role in disease is what gets attention,
it's a vital compound with a number of downstream effects. In most cells, it
acts as a modulator of membrane structure and function: absolutely crucial
aspects of every cell's job, regardless of what tissue they're in. My point is
twofold: first, statins likely have unknown "off-target" effects on
cholesterol synthesis throughout the body (which potentially speaks to the
life expectancy issue); and second, the comorbidity of high cholesterol and
obesity is likely more complex than "bad diet."

Of course, keep in mind that having a "good diet" in the cholesterol sense
(low saturated fats, possibly low dietary cholesterol) has been shown to be a
good idea regardless. It's temporary changes to diet that seem ineffective, at
a population level.

------
martingordon
When you're poor, you prioritize calories over nutrition, and Americans are
becoming increasingly "poor". From
[https://twitter.com/hugwins/status/963282840292032512?lang=e...](https://twitter.com/hugwins/status/963282840292032512?lang=en):

> When you are in a place where it's eat food that gives you no vitamins, no
> protein, no micronutrients, etcetera, or eat food that does not give you
> enough basic breakdown of glucose to get your body through another day, you
> do not have the luxury

~~~
pascalxus
But McDonalds and fast foods are much more expensive than healthy foods like
rice, beans, rolled oats and potatoes, onions (all can be had for less than 1$
per pound). They should allow people to purchase those foods, and maybe even
publish a guide on how to stretch each dollar farther.

as i said before, Beans especially are very well balanced, super high in
fiber, protein and micronutrients.

~~~
watwut
I can't feed yourself on onions. And diet based on rice and potatos is not all
that better for you. And you have to know hoe to prepare these so that they
are remotely tasty.

------
nicolashahn
Anyone have statistics on what % of those overweight adults are actually
healthy, or at least have an acceptable body fat %? Many athletes and
weightlifters would be considered overweight by BMI due to muscle mass. And
according to the "Adults" PDF, that's the metric they're using. It's probably
not a large percentage but I get ticked off a bit to know that you can be in
the "overweight" BMI category and have clearly defined abs.

I've also noticed that the muscle-building culture is much, much smaller in
the rest of the world than America. So while I'm sure we have a lot more fat
people, we also have a lot more buff people, both of which are contributing to
this percentage.

~~~
stevekemp
"Healthy" is such a nebulous term it is hard to reply in a serious fashion.

Many HAES-advocates, for example, would claim they're extremely healthy
despite weighing 300lbs+. Any poor effects are just coincidental, and the
weight is not a cause.

The best way of discovering how healthy somebody is? Perform an autopsy.
Beyond reporting on aches, pains, lumps, worn out joints, the simple fact is
people can appear very healthy right until they drop dead. Blood tests, CT-
scans, etc, can be used to look at very narrow metrics, but they don't tell
give a useful "healthy vs. non-healthy" response.

~~~
LinuxBender
What is the deepest most complete diagnostics we can run on humans without
them having to be dead? I would be interested in such a lab exercise even if
it cost a lot.

------
mcfunk
We're not doing enough to understand the environmental factors in a trend like
this. As fashionable as it is for each generation to shit on the next, "will
power" is clearly not explanatory for a shift of this magnitude.

I have to wonder if our sedentary lifestyle, processed foods (with additives
examined under an ignorant lens), stress (income inequality, constant
stimulation, glowing objects being the center of our lives), are wrecking our
microbiomes and other broader systems from a VERY young age, or causing other
systems-level changes that make it hard to correct with behavior changes in
adulthood.

Because ultimately, even when people get educated, get active, eat better, etc
-- the trends aren't reversing.

------
dudul
Holy shit, this is the scary part to me:

* Percent of adolescents aged 12-19 years with obesity: 20.6% (2013-2014)

* Percent of children aged 6-11 years with obesity: 17.4% (2013-2014)

* Percent of children aged 2-5 years with obesity: 9.4% (2013-2014)

~~~
maxxxxx
It will get worse. You rarely see fat children with skinny parents. But a lot
of fat parents have fat kids too. Once these grow up it will be more and more
likely that their children will get fat too.

Also when you grow with a lot of fat people around you you don't even know how
normal weight looks. I noticed this last time in Paris. I had completely
forgotten how normal weight looks.

~~~
graeme
It's worse even than that. Over 40% of people in France are overweight now -
the numbers have increased rapidly over the past 20-30 years.

Paris is leaner than the French average, but you were probably still seeing a
population with a fair amount of overweight people. Just, less overweight than
what you're used to.

Seeing Paris 110 years ago would be a shock. (On many levels, but certainly on
the average body composition level).

I have a book by Georges Hebert, who was an influential fitness instructor in
France about 100 years ago. In it, he has pictures of French peasants
shirtless, and some African tribesmen and women. They are in a form that today
would be considered "unrealistic".

I can't find any of the peasant pictures online, but here are a couple of
examples of the Africans:

[https://actionlondaise.blogspot.ca/2016/03/georges-hebert-
ce...](https://actionlondaise.blogspot.ca/2016/03/georges-hebert-cet-illustre-
inconnu-35.html)

[http://ayeparkour.blogspot.ca/2012/02/tracuers-of-legend-
geo...](http://ayeparkour.blogspot.ca/2012/02/tracuers-of-legend-georges-
hebert.html)

(The top photo on the second link is Hebert)

~~~
maxxxxx
George Hebert certainly is "shredded"!

------
Azeat
Some here say nutritional misinformation is one of the primary culprits,
however, the reality is if you go tell someone "stop drinking soda, it's
unhealthy", they will tell you "I don't care."

If people are not motivated to eat healthy, what are you supposed to do?
Perhaps this goes back to educating your family on healthy eating,
consequently if everyone were doing that, we'd see a trend of increased
concern for healthy eating.

------
xinyhn
I am certainly not suggesting it's the right answer but in threads like these
rarely do I see industrial seed oils with high omega-6 polyunsaturated fat
content being suggested as a culprit. The use in food correlates as well as
anything else that is being suggested with the rise in obesity rates and
metabolic conditions.

------
longerthoughts
If you read the fine print you'll see they're using BMI to determine if people
are overweight or obese. BMI is a tragically flawed metric
([https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215.php](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215.php))
and I would approach the 70.7% figure with caution. The more compelling story
in the stats is the trend showing a gradual rise from 54.9% in the period
between 1988-1994 to the more current figure of 70.7% in the period between
2013-2014. I'm skeptical of the raw figures given issues with BMI but highly
doubt such a massive increase came from US adults getting significantly taller
or more muscular (both factors that can inflate BMI for healthy individuals).

------
arikr
This might be a good YC "request for startups."

Virta Health is one I've seen.

And the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation is working on this cause:
[https://www.rwjf.org/en/our-focus-areas/topics/childhood-
obe...](https://www.rwjf.org/en/our-focus-areas/topics/childhood-obesity.html)

\--

Diet seems crucial.

Obesity isn't really helped by exercise.
([https://www.vox.com/2018/1/3/16845438/exercise-weight-
loss-m...](https://www.vox.com/2018/1/3/16845438/exercise-weight-loss-myth-
burn-calories))

"Significant weight loss was observed with any low-carbohydrate or low-fat
diet. Weight loss differences between individual named diets were small. This
supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to
in order to lose weight." (Many diets work. Most important is optimizing for
one that will be continued long term / rest of their life)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25182101](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25182101)

\--

Overweight-obesity is also a top 3 preventable cause of death for US people
(and many other nations).

[https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/smoking-
hig...](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/smoking-high-blood-
pressure-overweight-preventable-causes-death-us/)

About 1 in 12 of _total_ deaths each year in the US can be attributed to the
person being overweight or obese.

~7x more Americans die each year due to obesity/overweight than due to
opioids. (Though opioid deaths are rising much faster.)
[https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-
statistics/o...](https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-
statistics/overdose-death-rates)

\--

What causes obesity?

The "greatest contributor to weight gain" is eating more calories than are
burned.
([https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/obesity/conditioninf...](https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/obesity/conditioninfo/cause))

It seems that food types do play into this - in part because eating 1000
calories of sugar will leave you much hungrier than eating 1000 calories of
fat, so while in theory you've eaten the same amount of calories, in reality
the sugar eating person will probably eat more the rest of the day.

~~~
jacquesm
I did a small investment in a food oriented start-up and I really hope they
will succeed in their dream of feeding people healthy stuff. Many companies
claim to want to 'change the world for the better' when actually they are just
looking to make bank. These guys are driven because of their ideals, they're
super nice and have a good idea + track record. Time will tell if it works
out.

~~~
adrr
Its not about eating healthy food, obesity is about the over consumption of
food. You can maintain a healthy weight eating hamburgers and fries every day.
The problem is portion size.

~~~
jacquesm
It's a combination of:

\- food quantity

\- genetics

\- physical activity or lack thereof

\- food quality and make-up (plant / animal for instance)

\- and an addictive element thrown in for some individuals

~~~
TheAdamAndChe
I'm curious, what makes you say genetics is an important factor? And what
would make our genes change en masse in the last 50 years?

~~~
jacquesm
Our genes did not change but some people are simply more predisposed to
obesity than others on account of their genetic heritage.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787002/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787002/)

------
nostromo
While this might be true, the CDCs “healthy weight” ranges are laughably
inaccurate for anyone that does weight resistance training. And in my circle
of friends, this is becoming the more common form of working out.

The CDC calculations basically assume 100% of us are sedentary.

------
b3b0p
Maybe it's not a problem, but I don't think it helps is when asking and/or
researching what to go do, enjoy, see, explore, experience when traveling or
moving to a new city. The most common responses almost exclusively and only
mention food and local places to eat or drink. As if it's the only thing to do
and enjoy? Anyone else notice this or is it just me?

I don't know about other people, but I only spend a small percentage of my day
actually eating, needing, or hungry enough to sit down and eat. I've got a
whole day not including sleep to do so much more! Food is good, but I want to
have some fun, see things, explore, meet people, relax and not eat.

------
matte_black
IMO the only way for this number to go down is to educate future generations
better on nutrition and the importance of taking care of their bodies. I have
no faith that the vast majority of people currently overweight will ever weigh
much less than what they do today, and studies have backed this up. 95% of
people who lose significant weight gain it back after a year. The few stories
of people who keep weight off for good does not scale out to the general
population. Indeed, it still seems the best way to lose weight is to go back
in time and never gain it in the first place. It is never too early to talk to
your children about responsible food consumption.

------
deviationblue
I have a very unpopular opinion on this: if someone is overweight, and isn't
sick or malfunctioning in any way that negatively impacts themselves, their
loved ones, or society, then who gives a shit?

The libertarian and contrarian in me doesn't care what someone weighs, or how
they choose to life. So extrapolating to a larger population, or society, I
still fail to see how being collectively overweight is a negative in and of
itself if there were no damaging burdens created because of that.

In fact, I think we need to subset the 70.7% population to weed out the
"innocously fat".

~~~
Kevin_S
Being overweight is bad for your individual health.

We know certain things in society have an impact on how overweight people get.

Identifying and fixing those things is worthwhile.

No one is insinuating that we should force people to become fit or anything,
as you imply here.

------
always_good
We have some bizarre cultural hangups around food in our country, that's for
sure.

I was made fun of at lunch in my youth for bringing things like whole carrots
and canned garbanzo beans and turnips/radishes.

------
RobLach
I think this one chart explains the situation succinctly.

[https://s9.postimg.org/vue47ugq7/image.jpg](https://s9.postimg.org/vue47ugq7/image.jpg)

------
dpflan
Because this article is on the front page and this one about having an active
lifestyle is too, I thought to link it here for discussion and reference:

 _Adopting a more active lifestyle could benefit your personality decades from
now (bps.org.uk)_

>
> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16447654](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16447654)

------
CryoLogic
Maintaining healthy weight cuts your risk for an enormous amount of fatal
illnesses including stroke, heart attacks, and many types of cancer.

Want lower blood pressure? Lower your weight.

Want higher testosterone and lower estrogen? Lower your weight.

Want lower cholesterol? Lower your weight.

Lower diabetes risk? Lower your weight.

Healthier gallblader, liver and kidneys? Lower your weight.

Reduce back pain? Lower your weight.

Aid sleep apnea? Lower your weight.

------
throwthisawayt
I work in health tech and I genuinely believe that this is an endemic problem
that can’t be solved by a startup. It is a social issue approaching a health
crisis and we need to have our policy, educator, and parents addressing this.
While private industry can help, the ultimate responsibility lies with our
democracy.

------
_Codemonkeyism
What I didn't know until recently, is how juice and fruits make you take on
more fat [1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose#Cardiometabolic_disea...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose#Cardiometabolic_diseases)

------
arikr
This seems directly related to diet.

[https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-
source/obesi...](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-
source/obesity-causes/diet-and-weight/)

------
JackFr
Real question here (US specific) -- how do the subsidies work, that they make
corn cheaper, and milk more expensive? Are they truly both subsidies or is one
another form of intervention that causes a different market result?

------
eikenberry
In case anyone else is curious about their definition of overweight. Found it
in the paper.

    
    
        Overweight is defined as body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25, based on the NHANES variable, Body Mass Index.

------
foepys
Is there any country where the percentage of overweight population is
decreasing?

------
ajcodez
It also sucks to frequently throw out spoiled produce. If you live alone or
with roommates, go to restaurants, etc chances are nearly half the produce
will go bad. It's not expensive so much as disheartening.

------
notadoc
Yes, you can see that quite clearly with any trip into a public space. But 70%
is a low estimate for many parts of the country. And morbid obesity is
becoming extremely common as well.

Obesity and the fat epidemic will bankrupt the US health care system.

Sooner than later, weight must be tied directly to out-of-pocket health care
costs, via premiums, taxation, tax credits, or some other financial incentive
and/or penalty combination for horrendous lifestyle decisions. Maybe go the
Japanese route with a metabo law too. Obviously merely being an unhealthy
glutton with high disease propensity and increased mortality is not a
motivator for the majority of populace, so make them pay for their bad choices
the same way someone who speeds frequently pays higher car insurance.

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TekMol
The majority of websites are overweight too.

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codedokode
I think it is important to diffirentiate between people who are born with
overweight body and cannot do anything with it and people who would have
normal weight but are gaining it because of unhealthy food or lifestyle.
Sadly, the page doesn't have such a table.

~~~
Kevin_S
As I understand it, the idea that people are "naturally" overweight and cannot
change that is a complete myth with no scientific backing.

In some cases, certain diseases/medications can cause a very small weight gain
but nothing significant.

~~~
codedokode
Yes, I don't know if it is checked scientifically, but people have different
figures. If we take several people of the same height and age and will give
them the same food and the same amount of physical load, they still will have
different body mass.

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NiklasMort
time to invest into some diabetes meds pharma stocks

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nnutter
29.3% of US adults are underweight

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zaroth
If this is based on BMI, I couldn't care less. It's a terrible metric which is
not _fit_ for its purpose.

"Obesity is defined as body mass index (BMI) at or above the sex- and age-
specific 95th percentile BMI (based on the variable BMXBMI) using cutoff
points from the 2000 CDC growth charts for the United States: Methods and
development. NCHS. Vital Health Stat 11(246). 2002. Available at:
[http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_246.pdf](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_246.pdf).
Excludes pregnant girls."

Almost everyone I know is "overweight" by this metric, which, as it turns out,
means they are healthier (in terms of less likely to die from any-cause
overall) than their thinner peers.

Show me the bell curve of longevity versus _body-fat percentage_ , and what
percentage of Americans are 1-sigma past the right side of the peak of that
curve. Even _body shape_ , for example, is a much better indicator of all-
cause mortality than BMI. E.g. [http://absi-calc.appspot.com/](http://absi-
calc.appspot.com/)

~~~
dibujante
BMI is a sufficiently sensitive metric for this. BMI can be relied on to
confirm overweight/obesity. It cannot be relied on to confirm normal weight
(that is to say, if your BMI says you're overweight, you're overweight. If it
says you're normal weight, that may or may not be true).

~~~
zaroth
If you spend 3 months body-building, you will know first-hand that this isn't
true.

~~~
dibujante
70% of the US population must be body-builders.

