Facts of Obesity

Facts About Obesity in the United States
Fact: Obesity rates are soaring in the U.S.
• Between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled among adults. About 60
million adults, or 30% of the adult population, are now obese.
• Similarly since 1980, overweight rates have doubled among children and
tripled among adolescents – increasing the number of years they are
exposed to the health risks of obesity.
Fact: Obesity is already having an adverse impact on young people
• Type 2 diabetes – once believed to affect only adults – is now being
diagnosed among young people.
• In some communities almost half of the pediatric diabetes cases are type 2,
when in the past the total was close to zero. Although childhood-onset
Type 2 diabetes is still a rare condition, overweight children with this
disease are at risk of suffering the serious complications of diabetes as
adults, such as kidney disease, blindness, and amputations.
• Sixty-one percent of overweight 5- to10-year-olds already have at least
one risk factor for heart disease, and 26% have two or more risk factors.
Fact: Most people still do not practice healthy behaviors that can prevent obesity
The primary behaviors causing the obesity epidemic are well known and
preventable: physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. Despite this knowledge:
• Only about 25% of U.S. adults eat the recommended five or more servings
of fruits and vegetables each day.
• Less than 25% of adolescents eat the recommended five or more servings
of fruits and vegetables each day.
• More than 50% of American adults do not get the recommended amount
of physical activity to provide health benefits.
• More than a third of young people in grades 9–12 do not regularly engage
in vigorous physical activity.
Fact: Obesity-related costs place a huge burden on the U.S. economy
Direct health costs attributable to obesity have been estimated at $52 billion in
1995 and $75 billion in 2003.
Among children and adolescents, annual hospital costs related to overweight and
obesity more than tripled over the past two decades – rising to $127 million
during 1997–1999 (in 2001 constant U.S. dollars), up from $35 million during
1979–1981. Among adults in 1996, one study found that $31 billion of the treatment costs (in
year 2000 dollars) for cardiovascular disease – 17% of direct medical costs – were
related to overweight and obesity.