Percentage of Overweight, Obese Americans Swells
Percentage of Overweight, Obese Americans Swells
Feb. 10, 2010 -- More Americans are becoming overweight or obese, exercising less, and eating unhealthy foods.
That’s the finding of the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which shows that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009.
That was a small but measurable increase from 62.2% the previous year. The survey finds that 36.6% of Americans are overweight and 26.5% obese.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index findings are based on telephone interviews with 673,000 adults in January 2008 to December 2009. About 90,000 surveys were done each quarter, and the margin of error for the quarterly results is +/- 0.3 percentage points.
The survey finds that:
Here’s a breakdown of groups that ate the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables three to seven days per week:
Body mass index (BMI) is a common measure of body fat based on height and weight.
(Calculate your body mass index at www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus.)
A BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese, overweight if it’s between 25-29.9, normal if it’s 18.5-24.9, and underweight if it’s less than 18.5.
People who are obese are far more likely to report being diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or to have had a heart attack.
The survey found that:
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Percentage of Overweight, Obese Americans Swells
Americans Are Eating Poorly, Exercising Less, and Getting Bigger, Survey Finds
Feb. 10, 2010 -- More Americans are becoming overweight or obese, exercising less, and eating unhealthy foods.
That’s the finding of the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which shows that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009.
That was a small but measurable increase from 62.2% the previous year. The survey finds that 36.6% of Americans are overweight and 26.5% obese.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index findings are based on telephone interviews with 673,000 adults in January 2008 to December 2009. About 90,000 surveys were done each quarter, and the margin of error for the quarterly results is +/- 0.3 percentage points.
The survey finds that:
- 59.2% of obese Americans exercised at least one day per week, compared to 69.9% of overweight people, and 73.8% of normal-weight people.
- Obese people are less likely than people in every other weight category (overweight, normal weight, underweight) to have eaten five servings of fruits and vegetables on at least three days of the past seven.
- Obese Americans also are less likely to say they ate healthy “all day yesterday.”
Here’s a breakdown of groups that ate the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables three to seven days per week:
- 71.6% of normal-weight people
- 69% of underweight people
- 68.9% of overweight people
- 67.2% of obese people
Body mass index (BMI) is a common measure of body fat based on height and weight.
(Calculate your body mass index at www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus.)
A BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese, overweight if it’s between 25-29.9, normal if it’s 18.5-24.9, and underweight if it’s less than 18.5.
People who are obese are far more likely to report being diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or to have had a heart attack.
The survey found that:
- Of people with high blood pressure, 46.2% were obese, 31.1% were overweight, 19.3% were of normal weight, and 17.2% underweight.
- Of people with high cholesterol, 36.8% were obese, 30.1% overweight, 19.2% normal weight, and 14.1% underweight.
- Of people with diabetes, 21.1% were obese, 9.8% overweight, 5% normal weight, and 4.2% underweight.
- Of people reporting heart attacks, 6.3% were obese, 4.8% overweight, 3.3% normal weight, and 4.4% underweight.
- Of depressed people, 23.3% were obese, 15.3% overweight, 15% normal weight, and 20% underweight.
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