A new study found that by 2035, almost 50% of Americans will be medically obese. In 1990, that number was just 20%. Nonwhite Americans are much more likely to suffer.

On Wednesday, a new study published in JAMA by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle projected that by 2035, nearly half of all American adults, about 126 million individuals, will be living with obesity.

The study draws on data from more than 11 million participants via the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and from the independent Gallup Daily Survey.

The projections show a striking increase in the prevalence of obesity over the past few decades in the U.S. In 1990, only 19.3% of U.S. adults were obese, according to the study. That figure more than doubled to 42.5% by 2022, and is forecast to reach 46.9% by 2035.

  • homura1650@lemmy.world
    2·
    3 hours ago

    Talk to your doctor. BMI is a crude metric that doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle. For understanding population level statistics, this is good enough. But for individuals it can be highly misleading; particularly those that do strength training.

    If you wanted to lower your BMI, there is a good chance that stopping all weight lifting would do that for you. But that would probably make you less healthy, despite “improving” your BMI.