this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
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190
Three-quarters of U.S. adults are now overweight or obese (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
40 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Summary

A new Lancet study reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, a sharp rise from just over half in 1990.

Obesity among adults doubled to over 40%, while rates among girls and women aged 15–24 nearly tripled to 29%.

The study highlights significant health risks, including diabetes, heart disease, and shortened life expectancy, alongside projected medical costs of up to $9.1 trillion over the next decade.

Experts stress obesity’s complex causes—genetic, environmental, and social—and call for structural reforms like food subsidies, taxes on sugary drinks, and expanded treatment access.

Non-paywall link

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[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 9 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I have noticed the general public is now very tolerant of sweet drinks. I know that is not the only problem. I was never allowed soda or coffee or sweet tea growing up, so don't have much of a tolerance for them now. But when I try popular coffees (pumpkin spice this or vanilla chai that) or cocktails at most restaurants, I am surprised that people don't send them back and ask for less sweetener.

As an infrequent treat, I can understand it. But if you are drinking that much sugar on a daily basis, it must seriously screw with your system. I am sure lots of people are drinking a huge amount of calories and don't register how different that is from past generations.

[–] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 60 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (3 children)

Not really surprising when all food is so processed and pumped full of all kinds of bullshit, from high fructose corn syrup to preservatives to you name it.

Fun anecdote - I moved to Europe from the states a year back, and lost almost 20 pounds in that time without explicitly doing anything different. Just from the better food quality, and walking more in daily life (walkable cities and good public transportation!)

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 4 points 53 minutes ago

The design of our cities and culture in north america definitely doesn't help. Sit in your metal box and drive to the front door (or drive thru and don't even leave the car), sit at a desk all day unless you're in the trades, go home and sit down to consume netflix/youtube/games, order fast food delivered to your door.

Sure nobody is forcing people to live like this but parts of our society certainly feels like it is encouraged. People look at me funny and friends have questioned me if I park and walk into a business with a drive thru, even though I usually get faster service that way

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 31 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

How is walking more not something different?

[–] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 44 points 9 hours ago

Well, I meant as in, without actively changing anything, like going to the gym more or whatever. Just passive environmental changes.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I took it to mean that they didn’t go out of their way to walk more, it was simply the better option to get around and so they just did that instead of driving a car. After moving from a car-centric city to one with a metro I totally get it and I do go for walks just for fun.

It’s not just about whether or not you can do something but about how available that thing is. Going for a walk can suck real bad in North America, surprisingly. Things like shitty food being the cheaper option, in a country racing to get its working class to be as disproportionately impoverished as possible, can make it hard to justify getting better quality stuff, too.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 49 minutes ago

Yea it sucks walking next to 6 lanes of high speed traffic and basically no noise restrictions on cars. Once I moved somewhere that I could walk to the grocery store down quiet, tree lined streets most of the way, it became my preferred way. The built environment influences how you travel a lot.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

And they bought different food too lol. You can buy clean vegetables, proteins and fresh non sugar bread in America. (Not that sliced sugar wonder bread shit). They just apparently chose the junk food (which is wildly available no question about that) when it was put in front of them.

When in a grocery with less of the junk (theres still junk in UK and EU Groceries), they chose better stuff.

Unless they want to make a claim that something like raw broccoli, raw grass fed beef, raw beans are substantially different in the eu. That wasn't my experience, it's just more prominent

Like, if you eat processed chips and cookies in America or the EU it's still junk

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 16 points 8 hours ago

Things like shitty food being the cheaper option, in a country racing to get its working class to be as disproportionately impoverished as possible, can make it hard to justify getting better quality stuff, too. Does help that the culture is also pretty bad around that stuff so maybe going to Europe was the moment they were finally taken out of the toxicity of their local community.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 1 points 5 hours ago

I had the opposite experience. I got fat while eating nothing but stone soup! We just put in some onions and celery for flavor, and potatoes for bulk. Add some bacon and a ham hock, and melt in cream cheese to thicken it.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 29 points 9 hours ago (4 children)

To be fair, I don't think many of us would recognize someone who is a BMI of 26 as "overweight." It technically is, but you've probably seen people regularly that are "technically" overweight but would never realize it. You yourself might be (and, statistically, are likely to be) overweight according to BMI and not realize it.

The really staggering thing is obesity. From 1960 until about 1992, it was between 15-20%. By 2000 it was 30%. These days it's getting close to 45%.

[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.world 1 points 5 minutes ago* (last edited 1 minute ago)

Yeah right now I weigh 170, I'm in pretty good shape (would be in better shape if I didn't injure my foot and could start running again). But for me 180 is overweight? Even if that's just fat that means my muscles become less visible. Hell it feels like my thighs are bigger now after getting in shape that when I was 180. And I started to look really skinny when I got down to 165.

I'm sure people would keep calling me skinny at 180. What we need are easier ways to measure body fat percentage. Because it is true that holding onto lots of fat for a long time is what's bad for you.

The easiest way to check on body fat percentage right now is just to take weekly pictures of yourself in your underwear. You can see the muscle vs fat pretty well.

[–] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 3 points 47 minutes ago

That's the thing 40 years ago you would realize that they were overweight.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Yup. I was talking to a guy whose doctor told him that he needed to lose weight. He didn’t look big - he’s tall, but apparently his bmi was 30.

I’ve always had a scale and I’ve always used it. My weight now is less than my weight in hs. I was 130.

[–] brezel@piefed.social -5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Someone with bmi 26 is absolutely overweight o.O

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 15 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes, technically, they are. But it's unlikely you would see someone with a bmi of 26 walk by you on the street and think "that guy is overweight."

This guy has a BMI of 26. If he had clothes on, few people are going to assume he's overweight, even though technically he is:

[–] oxjox@lemmy.ml 8 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

I’ve got about 10lbs on this guy. I’m obese. I know it. I’m ashamed of it. My body knows it and tries telling me every day I need to lose 30lbs.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 38 minutes ago

This is the more important part, even if you don't look unhealthy, if you are overweight there are health conditions that become more likely and it is likely poor lifestyle and diet is influencing it. Just because you don't look unhealthy doesn't mean you are perfectly healthy. Even people who are a healthy weight and exercise regularly could benefit from removing processed, oilly and sugary foods from their diets. People who eat amazingly healthy might not be getting as much exercise as they should. Our bodies require high quality nutrition and movement to stay in shape and most of us aren't meeting those needs between lifestyle choices, work, finances, and education.

[–] shittydwarf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 hours ago

If you or anyone else is actually interested in getting yoked, a great place to start is the fitness wiki. It does a good job of condensing everything down and lists various effective routines which will do a good job of getting you looking the way you want.

Fitness influencers specialize in baffling people with bullshit. The recipe to getting in good shape is really simple. Follow an established routine, adjust your diet (the does not have to be drastic, you only need subtle changes) and improve your sleep. You could lift 40 minutes two days per week, walk 30-60 minutes another two days per week and you'd look and feel like a new person in a year

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

It's never too late, I managed to lose 20lbs simply not going after seconds on my tasty pasta dinners. Took like 6 months but my stomach got used to it. Granted, this last week has been hella tempting to stress eat, but just seeing progress is enough to keep me going. Just get the ball rolling and be happy with really subtle losses. Like, impossible to notice day to day loses.

[–] wax@feddit.nu 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Where can I learn more about these tasty pasta dinners that you speak of? :⁠-⁠)

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.zip 1 points 25 minutes ago

We're talking about losing weight, not bulking up!

[–] oxjox@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah. I was actually fifteen pounds lighter this time last year. It’s been a rough year. I cut out all bread, pasta, cheese, and beer, and walked an average of 15 miles a week.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

It's really mostly about doing something sustainable. I tried keto once and lost 20lbs only to regain it immediately after. Portion control seems to be working better for me since I will still eat whatever I want during the day (helps that my diet is mostly normal food I cook and not processed)

[–] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder how recent semaglutide (ozempic, wegovy, etc) will affect this. It's just come into mainstream recently and it seems like it actually does have positive outcomes for weight loss and addiction. When availability increases and eventual price comes down with patent expiration in the next decade we might see a huge change in this data.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 25 minutes ago

I see once again we're going for the "just give me some magic pills" approach rather than actually changing the things that are making us fat. People want the wonders of medicine to save them from themselves.

Good for the shareholders I guess.

[–] aviationeast@lemmy.world 45 points 10 hours ago

Don't worry congress is going to make Obese 50% body fat in response to the crisis...

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 24 points 10 hours ago

Can confirm. 3/4 of my body is fat while the rest of it is skinny AF.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 15 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

In 1990 half were overweight or obese? That's the real news, I would have thought much lower.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 8 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Why is that the news? Using NHANES data for standardized numbers, in 1990 it was roughly 44% of Americans. That's lower than 1980 (~47%), 1970 (~48%), and 1960 (~46%). Did you think Americans were unusually thin in 1990 or something?

The 1990s are actually when the numbers jump. By 2000, it's 65%. 2010, it's 68%. And in 2020 to the most recent yearly data (2023), its 74%.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

People were thinner in the 1930s. We should figure out what their secret was and copy it.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Oh, don't worry. We are.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Depressing, but having seen my Missouri friend eat in not surprised. I'm glad he's taking ozempic now cause I swear the Midwestern diet it inherently an eating disorder. (Also thinking of a Texan friend who drinks coke like it's water, oooof).

[–] oxjox@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 hours ago

It’s called freedom, libtards. We want the freedom to order a gallon of soda with our king size fries without the government telling us how to eat or food producers how to make their food. And we certainly don’t want the government to work on our behalf to lower the cost of insulin. We want a free market to shop around for the best price.

[–] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

I've been seeing these commercials about losing weight. They briefly show a 💉 needle and state, "with the same active ingredient as ozampic". It's sort of messed up. It's funny (dark humor), right?

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

I'm at least a quarter by myself hahahah....ha

[–] Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world -1 points 9 hours ago

So is Joe!