Fat Forecast: 42% of Americans Obese by 2030
Baku, May 8 (AZERTAC). About 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030, upping obesity rates to 42 percent of the U.S. population, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report also predicts that the proportion of Americans, who are severely obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, will reach 11 percent, about double the current rate.
The report’s authors give a sobering price tag for these predictions: such an increase would create $550 billion of obesity-related health care costs.
The report was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and was released at the CDC’s Weight of the Nation conference today, a gathering focused on the impact of the obesity epidemic. The authors analyzed data collected from each state and made projections based on a number of factors influencing obesity rates, including the cost of healthy and unhealthy foods, gas prices and Internet access.
Although recent data suggest that rates of obesity have reached a plateau, current rates of obesity are still alarmingly high. About 34 percent of adults are currently obese, creating a whole host of expensive, chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Currently about 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese.
Anti-obesity measures such as better urban design, access to recreational facilities, workplace health promotion and new drugs could help reign in the problem, the authors noted.
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