Sept. 24, 2024 – Severe obesity is becoming more common in the U.S., according to a new CDC report. Nearly 1 in 10 adults have severe obesity, and women are more likely than men to have the health condition.
Yet from 2013 to 2023, the overall rate of obesity held relatively steady around 40%.
Obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. A BMI of 40 or higher identified people with severe obesity. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
Understanding obesity rates is important because the condition can raise your risk of other complex health problems, and also because of interest in whether new and expensive obesity treatments like GLP-1 drugs may have long-term and meaningful impacts on a broad scale.
The new report is based on data from the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected from 2021 to 2023. The survey includes an in-home interview that is followed up by a health examination in a mobile screening center.
The new figures show that about 100 million adults in the U.S. have obesity. Being diagnosed as obese with a BMI of 30 is equivalent to being 220 pounds and 6 feet tall, or to being 185 pounds and 5 feet, 6 inches tall. A 6-foot-tall person with severe obesity weighs nearly 300 pounds or more, and a 5-foot-6-inch person with severe obesity weighs at least 245 pounds.
The report authors acknowledged that BMI has limits as an indicator of obesity, since it does not directly measure body fat or evaluate body fat distribution.
“The distribution of excess body fat, especially visceral fat, contributes to the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease,” the authors wrote. “Despite these limitations, BMI is a simple and inexpensive screening tool for conditions that may increase the risk of certain chronic diseases.”
Visceral fat is stored deep in the belly area and can have toxic impacts on the organs that it surrounds.
A federal health goal, as part of the Healthy People 2030 initiative, is to lower the national adult obesity rate to 36%. This latest report showed obesity was most common among people ages 40 to 59 years old, and lowest among people with at least a bachelor’s degree level of education.
Treatment options for obesity include lifestyle changes like diet and exercise, behavioral counseling or coaching, medication, and surgery. Research consistently shows that losing 5% to 10% of body weight can lead to significant health changes, including improved cholesterol levels, reduced diabetes risk, and better heart health.
