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The public-health and healthcare communities are stepping up their efforts to heighten awareness of the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Is there any evidence that the increase in obesity prevalence has abated? To find out, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to characterize the trends in obesity among Americans from 1999 through 2008. Obesity was defined as a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher.
According to the 2007–2008 NHANES, the age-adjusted prevalence of obesity is 32.2% among men and 35.5% among women. The prevalence of obesity increases with age, but even among adults aged 20–39, 27.5% of men and 34.0% of women are obese. The rates are highest for…