JAMA Publishes Startling Data on Prevalence of Obesity in America

Twitter Summary: 75% of men + 67% of women overweight or obese, what needs to happen to curb the #obesity crisis in America?

JAMA Internal Medicine has published an article reinforcing the alarming rates of obesity in the US. Analyzing data from adults 25 and older between 2007-2012, the researchers found that 75% of men and 67% of women in the US are either overweight (BMI over 25) or obese (a BMI over 30), rising from 63% and 55% from data collected between 1988-1994. That translates to over 65 million men and women who are overweight and over 67 million men and women who are obese in the US.

We applaud JAMA for continuing to highlight the high rates of obesity in this country. Here at diaTribe, we hope to see more urgency in the broader public regarding obesity. Current estimates for global spending on obesity are hovering at $2 trillion annually (that would make obesity the eleventh largest economy in the world, nearly the size of India’s entire economy), with estimated total lifetime costs of obesity at nearly $100,000 per person affected. Like any challenging public health problem, tackling obesity will require many different approaches, perhaps including policy, urban design, drugs, digital solutions, public awareness campaigns, and more. We hope to see even more pilots to figure out what works and what doesn’t so that we can use our time and resources effectively and improve health outcomes.