Think obesity is bad now? Wait until 2030! The CDC is predicting that about 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030, increasing obesity rates to 42 percent of the population. The new report also predicts that the proportion of Americans who are severely obese – more than 100 pounds overweight – will double!
The study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine analyzed data collected from each state and made projections based on numerous factors influencing obesity rates, including the cost of healthy and unhealthy foods, gas prices and Internet access. No one variable showed up as causing obesity, but the authors did say that the rise could have to do with the two-thirds of Americans who are currently overweight moving into the obese category in the next 10 – 20 years.
One of the authors of the report, Eric Finkelstein, said it’s an alarming discovery, since efforts aimed at helping people lose weight continue to prove relatively ineffective.
“Their weight continues to increase. Over the last 10 years, it has gone up tremendously,” he said in a press conference. “This is a group at great risk of health complications, and yet they are increasing at an even greater rate than the rate of obesity.”
Dr. William Dietz, author and director of the CDC’s division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, noted that children who are currently overweight or obese will likely be a major source of the increasing rates.
“We know that about 50 percent of severe obesity in adults is consequence of obesity in childhood,” he said.
If that weren’t upsetting enough, such a rise in obesity would create $550 billion of obesity-related health care costs. That’s quite a price tag for something that’s killing people everyday.
