Obesity is high and holding steady in the U.S., but the proportion of those with severe obesity — especially women — has climbed since a decade ago, according to new government research.
The U.S. obesity rate is about 40%, according to a 2021-2023 survey of about 6,000 people. Nearly 1 in 10 of those surveyed reported severe obesity, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Women were nearly twice as likely as men to report severe obesity.
The overall obesity rate appeared to tick down vs. the 2017-2020 survey, but the change wasn’t considered statistically significant; the numbers are small enough that there’s mathematical chance they didn’t truly decline.
That means it’s too soon to know whether new treatments for obesity, including blockbuster weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound, can help ease the epidemic of the chronic disease linked to a host of health problems, according to Dr. Samuel Emmerich, the CDC public health officer who led the latest study.
I’ve made it a habit to read the nutrition labels on the stuff I buy at the grocery store and it’s insane how almost everything has added sugars and/or HFCS in it even when it isn’t necessary. And if you want to avoid it, you’re gonna be spending much more for the items that don’t. Then add the typical american diet kids are fed (i.e. cereal and pancakes for breakfast), it’s not surprising how obesity is an epidemic.