Printable PDF

ADULT OBESITY

The adult obesity rates have risen dramatically from 1960 to today; rates of overweight (BMI >30) have doubled, rates of obesity (BMI 30-39.9) have nearly tripled and rates of extreme or morbid obesity (BMI >40) have nearly increased seven fold.

ADULT (age 20-74) Prevalence ¹

Overweight (BMI 25-30) Percentage

1960-1962 31.5%

2005-2006 33%

Obese (BMI>30)

1960-1962 13.4%

2005-2006 35.1%

Extreme or Morbid Obese( BMI>40)

1960-1962 0.9%

2005-2006 6.2%

The rates of obesity only tell half the story. During this period, the total US population has also increased. Therefore, the raw numbers of Americans affected have also increased. Looking at the numbers of people affected, the overweight population has doubled, the obese population has increased 5 fold and the population with extreme or morbid obesity as increased by a factor of nearly 12!

Number of Americans Overweight in 1960: 56.5 million

Number of Americans Overweight in 2006: 94.5 million

Number of Americans Obese in 1960: 24 million

Number of Americans Obese in 2006:
40 million

Number of American with extreme or morbid obesity in 1960:
1.6 million

Number of Americans with extreme or morbid obesity in 2006: 18.6 million

Since 1960-61 to 2006, the number of American adults who became obese or extremely obese*: 61.1 million

Average number per year: 1.3 million

Average number per month: 110,779

Average number per day: 3,693

Average number per hour: 153

Average increase per minute: 2.5

Since 1960-61 to 2006, the number of American adults who became  extremely obese*: 11 million

Average number per year: 240,217

Average number per month: 20,018

Average number per day: 667

Average number per hour: 27

Adolescents Obesity age 12-19 ³

Percent overweight/obese 2005-2006 18%

Young adult Obesity
Ages 18-29

Percent obese 1971-1974 8%

Percent obese 2005 24%

Childhood ²

Ages 6-11 15%

Ages 2-5 11%

Year at which each group will reach 80% obesity ⁴

All 2072

Men 2077

Women
2058

African American Women 2035

African American Men 2079

Mexican American Women 2073

Mexican American Men 20 91

White Women 2082

White Men
2073

Adipose Tissue (Fat Cells) ⁵

Age at which typical body has acquired its full number of fat cells: 13

Number of fat cells in average American Adult: 23-65 billion

Number of fat cells in persons with morbid obesity: 37-237 billion

Number of fat cells lost in weight-loss efforts: 0

 

Daily Calories Needed and Available ⁶

Recommended calories per day by typical American adult:

Men 2,400 to 2,800

Women 2,000 to 2,200

Mean (meaning half were above and half below) adult daily calorie intake per day ⁷ :

Men

1971 2,450

2001-2004 2,593

Women

1971 1,542

2001-2004 1,886

Percent increase in food available for consumption per person from
1970 to 2003: 16%

Amount of food available for each person increase from
1.67 pounds in 1970 to 1.95 pounds in 2003

Daily caloric intake has grown by 523 calories from 1970 to 2003. Leading the way were fats, oils, grains, vegetables and sugars and sweeteners.

U.S. Government Biomedical Research ⁸

2008 Budget of National Institutes of Health $29.6 billion

NIH Spending 2008 on selected diseases:

Cancer
$5.6 billion

HIV/AIDS funding $2.9 billion

Cardiovascular Disease
$2.0 billion

Heart Disease $1.2 billion

Obesity
$664 million

U. S. Government Infrastructure on Combating Obesity

Name of coordinator of U.S. global anti-obesity efforts:

(Trick question: no such position exists)

Name of White House coordinator of federal anti-obesity efforts:

(Another trick question: no such position exists)

Name of coordinator of Department of Health and Human Services***anti-obesity efforts:

(No such position exists)

*Calculations were made by taking the CDC prevalence figures for 1960-1962 and 2005-2006and multiplying them against US census data for 1960 and census data for 2006,respectively. See Census Bureau Home Page

**Available in this context means the total US calories available for consumption, less spoilage and waste. See ERS/USDA Data – Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System)

*** Department of Health and Human Services includes the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, Office of the Surgeon General, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality among others.)

Notes

1. N C H S – Health E Stats – Prevalence of overweight, obesity and exreme obesity among adults: United States, trends 1960-62 through 2005-2006

2. FASTSTATS – Overweight Prevalence

3. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf

4. Studies of human adipose tissue. Adipose cell size…[J Clin Invest. 1973] – PubMed Result

5. Will all Americans become overweight or obese? est…[Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008] – PubMed Result. In this estimate, by 2030, 86.3% of adults will be overweight or obese and 51% obese; black women at a level of 96.9% will be the most effected, followed by Mexican-American men (91.1%). By 2048, all American adults would be overweight or obese but black women would reach that milestone by 2034. In children, the authors estimate, rates will nearly double by 2030.

6. http://www.usdaplate.com/

7. http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November05/pdf/FindingsDHNovember2005.pdf

8. NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT) – Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC)