Obesity could affect 260 million Americans by 2050, study warns

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A new study predicts that more than 260 million Americans will be overweight or obese by 2050.

The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet, which published the results last week.

According to researchers, by 2050, the total number of overweight and obese children and adolescents will reach 43.1 million. They also estimate that the total number of overweight and obese adults will reach 213 million by 2050.

The study also indicates that in most states, one in three adolescents and two in three adults are expected to struggle with obesity. They noted that southern states like Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia and Kentucky may have a higher prevalence of obesity. Colorado and Utah could see the highest percentage change in obese adults starting in 2021, researchers say.

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“Over the past several decades, the epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States has resulted in a significant health and economic burden,” the study authors said.

(Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

The researchers said they analyzed self-reported and measured data from more than 130 sources. They analyzed data including body mass index, or BMI. They also looked at historical trends in overweight and obesity from 1990 to 2021.

The results showed that in 2201, 15.1 million children and young adolescents were overweight, 21.4 million older adolescents were overweight, and 172 million adults were overweight.

The purpose of this story was to motivate the country to develop policies to combat obesity, according to the researchers. They believe that making more Americans overweight will add burdens and increase economic costs.

Obesity on the rise

The obesity rate in the United States is about 40%, according to a survey of about 6,000 people conducted from 2021 to 2023. Nearly one in ten people surveyed reported severe obesity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women were nearly twice as likely as men to report severe obesity.

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The overall obesity rate appears to be decreasing compared to the 2017-2020 survey, but the change is not considered statistically significant; the numbers are small enough that there’s a mathematical chance they haven’t actually gone down.

But most tellingly, the results show that the overall obesity rate in the United States has not changed significantly in a decade, even though the rate of severe obesity increased from nearly 8% during the decade. 2013-2014 survey at almost 10% in the most recent. A. Before that, obesity had increased rapidly in the United States since the 1990s, according to federal surveys.