More Americans than ever are overweight or obese. A new study in JAMA found that approximately 35% of men and 40% of women are now considered obese. Another large proportion of the population is overweight. The data came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2013-2014.
More Women Are Overweight:
Although men seem to have plateaued, the latest data suggest that women are gaining weight at unprecedented rates. A separate study found that 17% of children and teens are now considered obese.
Extra pounds make people more vulnerable to diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and some types of cancer. All of these may contribute to premature death.
How Can Excess Weight Gain Be Prevented?
Experts are perplexed about how to reverse these trends. The obesity epidemic in this country has been raging for three decades, and what we have been doing so far has not had great success.
Conflicting Advice on Weight Control:
An editorial published in the same journal calls for prevention of overweight, beginning in the womb. Part of the problem has been conflicting advice: for years, parents were urged to give their children only skim milk and that is what is provided in the School Lunch Program. A recent study showed, however, that kids who drink whole milk seem to gain less weight.
The authors of the editorial suggest that “it is time for an entirely different approach, one that emphasizes collaboration with the food and restaurant industries that are in part responsible for putting food on dinner tables.”
We have discussed this urgent topic with several nutrition experts. You might wish to listen to our interviews with Dr. David Ludwig of Harvard, author of Always Hungry? or Dr. Mark Hyman of the Cleveland Clinic, author of Eat Fat, Get Thin. Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell, author of Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life, also has some fascinating and important ideas on this topic.
