Posted on 01/09/2009 4:09:44 PM PST by traumer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government.
Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are "extremely" obese.
"More than one-third of adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006, the NCHS said in its report.
The numbers are based on a survey of 4,356 adults over the age of 20 who take part in a regular government survey of health, said the NCHS, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The figures come from the 2005-2006 survey and are the most current available.
"During the physical examination, conducted in mobile examination centers, height and weight were measured as part of a more comprehensive set of body measurements," the NCHS report said.
"Although the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled since 1980, the prevalence of overweight has remained stable over the same time period," it said.
Obesity and overweight are calculated using a formula called body mass index. BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Someone with a BMI of 25 to 29 is classified as overweight, 30 to 40 counts as obese and people with BMIs of 40 or more are morbidly obese.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
One week we’re all starving because we’re all poor and it’s the fault of Bush, the next week we’re all too fat and waste food. If somebody is fat because they eat too much so what. Let em enjoy life and food, glorious food.
I must compliment my wife...that dinner was good in both directions.
Gov’t employee here: female, 5’5”, 123 lbs. Not all of us are fat!
But you are right; many are. We are also an aging group; perhaps that’s the problem too. In my office I’m the youngest, the baby, and I’m 40 this year.
My coworkers are largely overweight, pretty elderly (well, lots in their 60s), or both.
But how about this one?
Oh Look. Here he is at Hooters!!
Ya’ll got astroturf in the back of that there truck?
The obesity of Americans in general is the first thing I notice whenever I go home for a visit from Japan . That , and police cars everywhere .
LOL That was funny.
Sorry. I just realized that you have to look at that picture every time you access your ping page. I have to remember that skinny people have a gag reflex as opposed to the people in those pictures.
I only read the title.
WHen in the past did the really fat weight less than the slightly fat?
The government bans hard liquor advertising, cigarettes and tobacco, but allows McDonald’s and other junk food.
Who is killing who?
LOL That Plug a Leak picture is funny.
"It's 'wafer thin.'"
Actually, I haven't spoken to my wife in over three months.
We're not fighting, or anything...I just don't like to interrupt.
The future of air transportation doesn’t look too encouraging based on these pictures.
I wish everyone who rags on me when I make a negative comment about fatties would read this thread and check these photos.
Fat people like to whine about how it’s their glands, or people who are mean to them, or their arthritic joints that keep them from exercising, so therefore they’re so fat they can’t wipe their own ass. Look at these photos, people!
They’re digging their grave with their teeth. And they want pity.
Is that who my wife's been talking to?
Are the definitions of overweight and obesity the same as they were 10 years ago? If the standards have changed, that will help explain part of it.
Royal. Flush.
I'm ok with it as long as they don't start making fun of old farts with gray beards.
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