How Obese Will Americans Be in 2030?

We’ve seen the statistical future and it doesn’t look good. Studies show that an alarming amount of Americans will be considered obese in 18 years.Duke University and CDC researchers predict that by 2030, a whopping 42 percent of Americans will be obese, with 11 percent classified as “severely obese.”

But wait, it gets worse. These numbers are conservative, according to the research team.

Eric Finkelstein and his team calculated self-reported height and weight from subjects in the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Since people often underestimate their weight, the research team adjusted its data to take this fact into account.

State trends, the number of fast food establishments per person and the cost of unhealthy, high calorie foods versus that of healthy foods were also factored into the study.

There is a spot of good news that came out of his grim research, though. Adult obesity in the US appears to be leveling off. Previous research indicated that around 50 percent of Americans would be obese by 2030, so the numbers have gone down.

In 2012, one out of every 20 Americans is severely obese. By 2030, more than one in 10 will be classified as such, according to this study, which is published in the ‘American Journal of Preventive Medicine.’

[WebMD]