Obesity
Nearly two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese
Solution? Eat less, exercise more
The term “obesity” refers to people who are 50 to 100 percent, or 100 pounds above, their ideal body weights. Overeating and lack of exercise are the primary causes of obesity. It leads to diabetes, birth defects and heart failure. More than 20% of adults are obese in every U.S. state except Colorado, though in 1991, no state had an obesity rate greater than 20%.
It is expected that 86% of the American population will be overweight or obese by 2030 unless habits change. Measures are being taken worldwide, from New York State’s proposed sugar tax and posting of calorie counts in chain restaurants, to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $500 million public health initiative against obesity, to China’s “fat camps” for adolescents.
