Almost three-quarters of US adults are overweight or obese, according to a new study.
That leaves just an estimated 86million people with a healthy BMI of under 25, a situation the researchers described as ‘an epidemic’.
The new study, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, compiled data from more than 100 different surveys, polls and studies that have been conducted since 1990.
They found about between 72 and 75 percent of American adults were overweight or obese, meaning they had a body max index (BMI) of above 25 and 30, respectively.
For children, they found more than a third of children and adolescents up to age 25 were overweight or obese.
Using these trends from the past three decades – the researchers predicted that the number of overweight and obese adults will reach 213million by 2050.
That means that two in three adults alone will be obese, not even accounting for overweight people.
However, separate CDC research published recently has suggested that the tide might be turning, and rates might actually be falling as part of an ‘Ozempic effect.’
The CDC’s September 2024 report was part of a national survey which was conducted from 2021 to 2023 to get information on different health trends, called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Their September issue had data from 2022 to 2023 and compared trends as far back as 2013. The rates they calculated come from them applying the survey they took to the whole country, which means its an estimation based on the most recent ten year trends.
It also only included people with a BMI over 30, who are considered obese, and didn’t consider people in the overweight range, from 25 to 30.
By contrast, the Lancet paper took in data up to 2021, and considered studies as far back as 1990.
They combined the surveys used by the CDC with other measurements from private universities and polling companies to add more data to the sample.
Obesity is of concern to public health officials largely because there are a large number of health conditions associated with being overweight – including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
The study authors said this has a striking affect on both the individual dealing with health problems, and on the wider economy and healthcare system. In 2016, healthcare costs associated with obesity totaled as much as $481billion.
The researchers suggest that a confluence of factors may be contributing to this epidemic, including the fact that healthy, fresh food, tends to be more expensive and less accessible than highly processed foods that are high in sugar and fat.
Their study, published in the journal The Lancet, pulled data from 134 different sources from 1980 to 2021 to create their dataset.
This included CDC surveys, Gallup polls and long term studies like Women’s Health Across the Nation.
There were over 100 different scientists from international organizations participating in the research, forming a group called the GBD 2021 US Obesity Forecasting Collaborators.
Combining the information from these different sources, they created maps for obesity prevalence from 1990 to 2021, based on age and gender.
They then used a model to apply the trends they’d observed over the past three decades to the next 25 years.
They sorted people into three groups: children, aged five to 14, adolescents aged 15 to 24 and adults aged over 25 years. They also placed them into different groups based on weight.
Perry started out in 2016 with mukbangs of a different nature – more tame serving sizes often times accompanied with his pet parrot
In this video from Summer 2022, Mr Perry is celebrating his ‘400 Pound Milestone’ with food from the Cheesecake Factory
Tess Holliday, 35, a model and influencer, has openly shared her struggles with weight and an eating disorder online
Overweight people had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or over and obese adults had a body mass of 30 or more.
For example, a person who is five feet and four inches tall that ways 150 pounds would have a BMI of 26.
A person who is five feet and ten inches tall that weights 245 pounds is obese.
They found that in 2021, roughly 15.1million children, 21.4million adolescents and 172million adults were overweight or obese.
The state with the highest rate of male adolescents who were overweight or obese was Texas, with an estimated 52 percent, and the state with the highest rate for female adolescents was Mississippi, with an estimated 63 percent.
From 1990 to 2021, the percentage of male and female adolescents across the US with obesity specifically increased by 158 percent and 185 percent respectively.
In adults, the percentage increased 123 percent in men and 99.9 percent in women.
What they found suggested that the amount of people overweight or obese will continue growing over the next 25 years.
By 2050, their model predicts there will be 43.1million obese or overweight children and adolescents and 213million obese or overweight adults.
That means that one in three adolescents and two in three adults will be obese.
The most concerning part of the paper, the study authors wrote, is the trends in children.
Children who develop weight problems are more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and psychological or social issues, according to 2023 research from the University of Illinois.
They are also more likely to die young than average weight children.
Jaelynn Chaney, 27, is a plus size travel influencer (she is pictured here on vacation in Lake Oswego, Oregon)
Brittany Sauer tragically passed away at age 28 from complications due to Type 2 diabetes. Shortly before her death, she spoke tearfully to the camera, saying that she had ‘ruined her life’ with food and binge eating
Currently, over weight creators who post videos of themselves eating food are at an all time high.
Muk-bang creators like Nicholas Perry, better known by his username Nikocado Avocado, make videos of themselves binging on massive amounts of food, regularly consuming more 10,000 calories in front of the camera.
In his 7 years as a food creator, Perry has gained at least 150 pounds and garnered a net worth of $2million, a DailyMail.com investigation revealed.
People have also watched as their favorite creators lives have ended in tragedy as a result of their weight – as was the case of TikToker Brittany Sauer’s, who died at age 28. In some of Sauer’s final videos she said she felt she had ‘ruined her life’ with binge eating.
Critics of this content have previously told the Daily Mail that content that shows binge eating online ‘normalizes overeating’ in an unhealthy way.
Though recent gains have been made in weight loss – particularly as more and more people become users of GLP-1 inhibitors like Ozempic, the researchers said that there needs to be broad institutional change to curb obesity.
This includes expanding insurance coverage to cover weight loss procedures, cracking down on the amount of sugar and fat allowed into products and issuing regulations to make healthy options more affordable.
This could include implementing a tax on sugar sweetened beverages, for example.
The researchers said: ‘Without major reform, the forecasted trends will be devastating at the individual and population level, and the associated disease burden and economic costs will continue to escalate.’