The Latest Statistics on America’s Obesity Epidemic

The recent IHRSA/ASD Obesity/Weight Control Report publishes “real” research statistics on America’s growing obesity epidemic. These alarming statistics reveal a dangerously overweight U.S. population.

Obesity in proliferating in the United States: 3.8 million people are over 300 pounds, over 400,000 people (mostly males) carry over 400 pounds and the average adult female weighs an unprecedented 163 pounds!

Until now, the publication of the most crucial and powerful statistics on obesity -- raw bodyweight averages for the American population -- had scrupulously been avoided by the most faithful keepers of the public health record, the CDC. While the CDC has the most comprehensive and widely disseminated public health statistics on dieting, weight loss research and obesity in America, their focus on the polite abstraction of Body Mass Index (BMI) rather than actual bodyweight has hindered America’s war on obesity.

The National Center for Health statistics has been tracking America’s obesity problem for over four decades. The following statistics support the growing concern regarding the obesity problem in America.

-- Between 1962 and the year 2000, the number of obese Americans grew from 13% to an alarming 31% of the population.
-- 63% of Americans are overweight with a Body Mass Index (BMI) in excess of 25.0.
-- 31% are obese with a BMI in excess of 30.0.
-- Childhood obesity in the United States has more than tripled in the past two decades.
-- According to the U.S. Surgeon General report obesity is responsible for 300,000 deaths every year.

For further statistics and information on America’s obesity epidemic, visit American Sports Data, Inc (ASD). The IHRSA/ASD Obesity/Weight Control Report is derived from the Superstudy® of Sports Participation, conducted in January 2004 by ASD.