March 28, 2018
Obesity rates are climbing at an alarming rate, leading experts to look for a new way to advise people of the health effects of having a high body mass index (BMI) and the benefits of losing weight, data released in March 2018 reveal.
Nearly 40 percent of American adults were obese in 2015 and 2016, according to the latest statistics, which were published in an article that appears in the March 2018 edition of JAMA. That translates to an increase of more than 14 percent when compared with stats from 2007 and 2008, when 33.7 percent of American adults (age 20 and older) were obese.
Severe obesity among this age group is escalating at an even higher rate, rising from 5.7 percent to 7.7 percent during the same period. For adults, obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 or more, and severe obesity was defined as a BMI or 40 or more.
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The large-scale federal survey collected patient information from 2015 and 2016 back to 2007 and 2008. Data from 16,875 youth ages 2 to 19 and 27,449 adults were included, and classified according to sex, age, race, education, income, and smoking status in an effort to spot trends in weight gain.
The Atlanta-based lead author, Craig Hales, MD, MPH, a medical epidemiologist in the division of viral diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says no matter how you look at it, the results were consistent across the board. “The prevalence of obesity increased in both men and women, and in older and younger age groups. The trends were still seen after adjusting for changes … that is, population changes in demographics, including education and income, did not explain the observed trends,” he says. Hales went on to say that although the study was not set up to determine the causes behind the increases, his team would continue to monitor obesity trends in the next few years to see if any new trend emerges.
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William Yancy, MD, the director of the Duke Diet Fitness Center, based in Durham, North Carolina, says that although the recent results weren’t surprising, they uncover a false assumption that was made based on earlier data.
“In 2011–12 it appeared that the prevalence [of obesity] had decreased in some of the subgroups, such as boys and men,” he explains. “There was quite a bit of attention to obesity in the news around that time with the establishment of the American Board of Obesity Medicine [and] Medicare starting to cover some obesity management services and some new weight-loss medications that were approved by [the Food and Drug Administration].” Dr. Yancy suggests there may have been a belief that society was making progress in the battle against obesity, when in reality, prevalence of the health condition continued to grow even though statistics at the time weren’t showing that growth.
Young people appear to have sidestepped the surge in weight gain, with the 18.5 percent of obese youth and 5.6 percent of severely obese youth rates rising only slightly from the rates of 2007 to 2008 — a statistically insignificant increase, the study authors report in their paper. Researchers defined youth obesity using percentile BMI for age and gender rather than a set number.
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Slowing down obesity’s rise from near nonexistence (as a phenomenon or a health risk) pre-1980s to the preeminent health crisis of our time is a major focus in the medical community. Not only is obesity growing despite increased health efforts and public awareness, but it also exacerbates countless health issues Americans face.
“The obesity epidemic is the most serious health crisis in the U.S. right now,” says Yancy. “It’s increasing the prevalence of diabetes and slowing down the progress that has been made at reducing heart disease. There are so many other health problems related to weight (for example, sleep apnea, inadequate sleep, arthritis, high blood pressure, cancers) that can be avoided by weight maintenance or improved with weight loss.”
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Recent studies suggest that at least so far, the message isn’t getting through to the majority of people. One such article, published in June 2010 in Obesity, suggests more people “accept” fat in this decade than in the mid-’90s, leading more overweight and obese people to describe their weight as “about right” rather than problematic for their health. Another article, published in March 2017 in JAMA, revealed then that fewer overweight or obese people were trying to lose weight than in years prior.
Although growing research suggests that there is no “one-size fits all” weight loss solution, there is consensus that it comes down to the energy balance equation: a person needs to burn more calories than they consume to lose weight, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For those people who find calorie counting a chore with little improvement, research published in February 2018 in JAMA shows you may be able to ditch that food diary or calculator and still shave off pounds. The study showed that people who focused on eating vegetables and whole foods while avoiding sugar and processed food were able to lose weight — without limiting portion size or counting calories.
RELATED: 5 Tricks for Getting Enough Fruit and Veggies
Article source: https://www.everydayhealth.com/obesity/diet/obesity-rising-among-adults-stagnant-among-youth/