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Obesity

How common is obesity?

Obesity is common in adults and children.

About 1 in 3 adults in the United States are obese.

Source:
Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

Source:
Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, et al.
Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000.
Journal of the American Medical Association 2002; 288: 1723-1727.

Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults: United States, 2003-2004.
October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

³ That's about 75 million people. The same number again are overweight.

³ The number of people who are overweight or obese had been going up for many years.

³ It went up from 23 in 100 people in 1994 to 32 in 100 people in 2004.

Source:
Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, et al.
Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000.
Journal of the American Medical Association 2002; 288: 1723-1727.

Source:
Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.
Journal of the American Medical Association 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

⁴

The average American puts on about 20 pounds between the ages of 25 and 55.

Source:
Jequier E, Tappy L.
Regulation of body weight in humans.
Physiological Reviews. 1999; 79: 451-480.

⁵

Obesity is more common in certain groups of people.

Obesity is slightly more common in women than in men.

Source:
Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

¹

Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults: United States, 2003-2004.
October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

³

Source:
Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson, CL, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999-2002.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004; 291: 2847-2850.

⁶
It's especially common in Mexican-American women and African-American women. About half the women in these ethnic groups are obese.

Source:
Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

¹

Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults: United States, 2003-2004.
October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

³

Source:
Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson, CL, et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999-2002.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004; 291: 2847-2850.

⁶
People from all backgrounds can get obese. But obesity is more common in people with lower incomes.

Source:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Surgeon General's call to action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity.
January 2007. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity (accessed on 20 April 2009).

⁷

Many American children also have serious weight problems.

Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NHANES data on the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2003-2004
October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

⁸

Almost 9 million children and teenagers are overweight. That's about 1 in 7 children.
About 1 in 10 preschool children (ages 2 to 5) are overweight.
Three times as many children and teenagers are overweight compared with 25 years ago.

Each year, about 300,000 people in the United States die from conditions related to obesity.

Source:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Surgeon General's call to action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity.
January 2007. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity (accessed on 20 April 2009).

⁷ It's the second biggest cause of preventable death in the United States.

Source:
Satcher D.
Surgeon general's column.
Commissioned Corps Bull. 2002; 16: 1-2.

⁹ (Smoking is the biggest cause.)

Sources for the information on this page:

Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, et al.Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000.Journal of the American Medical Association 2002; 288: 1723-1727.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults: United States, 2003-2004.October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al.Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004.Journal of the American Medical Association 2006; 295: 1549-1555.

Jequier E, Tappy L.Regulation of body weight in humans.Physiological Reviews. 1999; 79: 451-480.

Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson, CL, et al.Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999-2002.Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004; 291: 2847-2850.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.The Surgeon General's call to action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity.January 2007. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity (accessed on 20 April 2009).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.NHANES data on the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2003-2004 October 2006. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/hestats.htm (accessed on 20 April 2009).

Satcher D.Surgeon general's column.Commissioned Corps Bull. 2002; 16: 1-2.

This information was last updated on May 01, 2009

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