Obesity seems to have reached a state of crisis in the United States: it's more harmful than smoking, junk food is as addictive as heroin, and the latest wave of reality shows are all about helping people lose weight to save their lives. Here's the good news — according to new data from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), obesity rates in America are not getting worse. But the bad news is that the rates have remained alarmingly high for the last decade.
To determine this obesity trend, in 2008 researchers collected the body mass index (BMI) of almost 6,000 adult men and women living in the United States. These numbers were then compared to prior data collected by the CDCP. According to the data, the percentage of obese adults in this country has been constant in the last decade at about 34 percent. In addition, 68 percent of adult Americans are considered overweight. (An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. An adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.) Keep in mind that BMI is not the be-all and end-all of measuring a person's true health, and many argue it's a much too simplistic approach.
To hear what researchers think this data means, read more
