Nearly 4 in 10 US adults are now obese, CDC says
Americans' obesity rates have reached a new high-water mark. Again.
In 2015 and 2016, just short of 4 in 10 American adults had a body mass index that put them in obese territory.
In addition, just under 2 in 10 American children _ those between 2 and 19 years of age _ are now considered obese as well.
The new measure of the nation's weight problem, released early Friday by statisticians from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronicles dramatic increases from the nation's obesity levels since the turn of the 21st century.
Adult obesity rates have climbed steadily from a rate of 30.5 percent in 1999-2000 to 39.8 percent in 2015-2016, the most recent period for which data were available. That represents a 30 percent increase. Children's rates of obesity have risen roughly 34 percent in the same period, from 13.9 percent in 1999-2000 to 18 percent in 2015-2016.
Seen against a more distant backdrop, the new figures show an even starker pattern of national weight-gain over a generation.
_Los Angeles Times
