Almost 90 Percent of Americans Will Be Overweight or Obese by 2030

A new study in Obesity shows that if the steady increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity continue through the year 2030, 86.3 percent of adults will be overweight or obese, the prevalence of childhood overweight will double, and 1 of every 6 health care dollars will be used to pay for overweight and obesity-related costs. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health based these projections on trends from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) data collected over the past three decades. By 2030, the prevalence among African American women and Mexican American men will be 96.9 percent and 91.1 percent, respectively. If trends continue unchecked, 100 percent of American adults will be classified as overweight or obese by 2048.

Wang Y, Beydoun M, Liang L, Caballero B, Kumanyika S. Will All Americans Become Overweight or Obese? Estimating the Progression and Cost of the US Obesity Epidemic. Obesity advance online publication, 24 July 2008 (DOI 10.1038/sj.oby.2008.351).

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