The american adults are becoming increasingly large

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QMI agency

Sunday, 25 march 2018 13:06

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Sunday, 25 march 2018 13:08

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Despite awareness campaigns, Americans have continued to grow over the last decade, to the point where less than two adults in five are now considered obese.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 33.7 percent of american adults were obese in 2007-2008. This proportion has risen to reach 39.6% in 2015-2016.

Morbid obesity has also gained ground in the United States, while 7.7% of adults suffered from it in 2015-2016, against 5.7 % a decade ago.

An adult is considered obese when his body mass index (BMI), calculated from the weight in kilograms divided by height in meter squared, is 30. A BMI called normal is within a range of 18.5 to 24.9.

The hope among youth

Despite these alarming data, the authors of the study noted that the United States could be on the right path, as obesity is increasing much less rapidly among the young than among their elders.

In fact, 18.5% of the miners were suffering from obesity in 2015-2016, an increase of only 1.7 %. The prevalence of obesity has also fluctuated in children 2 to 5 years, from 10.1% in 2007-2008 to 8.4% in 2011-2012, before coming back to 13.9% in 2015-2016.

In investigating the data by sex and by age groups, the researchers also noticed that obesity has improved more in women. For men, an increase was also observed, but it was not statistically significant. In terms of age, obesity has gained more ground among people aged 40 years and over that in the category of 20 to 39 years, where the increase was not statistically significant.

The researchers analyzed data from 16 875 young and 27 449 adults in the context of this study to be published Friday.