Obesity Trends 1960-2000

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Tuesday, August 03, 2004 11:08 am Email this article
A new paper from the American Cancer Society contains a nice graph of the obesity trend in men and women in the U.S. from 1960 to 2000.

The authors note that:

“The graph shows trends in the prevalence of obesity for adults aged 20???74 years in the United States from 1960???2000 as percentage of the total population.

“The data was collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

“The prevalence of overweight (body-mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25) and obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 30) in adults aged 20???74 was relatively stable from 1960???1980.

“This situation changed markedly in the 1980s and 1990s when large increases in the prevalence of both overweight and obesity occurred nationally in men and women.

“By the year 2000, 64.5% of adults in the United States were overweight or obese, and 30.5% were obese. Within the population of adults, 4.7% were morbidly obese (BMI greater than or equal to 40kg/m2).”

REFERENCE

Calle E, Kaaks R. Overweight, obesity and cancer: epidemiological evidence and proposed mechanisms. Nat Rev Cancer. 2004 Aug, 4(8):579-91.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

E. Calle
American Cancer Society
1599 Clifton Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30306, USA.

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• Prevalence of Obesity