|
Defining Obesity Down
One in three American adults is obese, a national level that has stayed the same in recent years, said US data released on Tuesday.About one in six children and teenagers are also obese, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association report which showed that obesity remains a significant problem in US society despite efforts to combat it. "Obesity prevalence shows little change over the past 12 years, although the data are consistent with the possibility of slight increases," said the article. Obesity is defined as a body mass index, or a formula based on height and weight, that is 30 or higher. Examples would include a six-foot tall man weighing more than 222 pounds (1.82 meters and 100 kilograms) or a five-foot-seven-inch tall woman weighing 192 pounds (1.70 meters and 87 kilograms). According to the JAMA report, 35.7 percent of US adults are obese and so are 16.9 percent of children and teenagers age two to 19. When overweight people are added to the adult tally, the prevalence of overweight and obese people jumps to 68.8 percent of the US population. Apparently this is based on the old Metropolitan Life Insurance height/weight table. The US Army originally adopted it, and soon discovered that it is near impossible for a physically fit person to *not* be "overweight", according to that scale. On that scale, the maximum weight for a 6', "large frame" male is 188 pounds, and a 5'7", "large frame" female is 163 pounds. Posted by: Anonymoose 2012-01-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=337346 |