The Good News and Bad News of Obesity Statistics

摘要

The latest findings from the Centers for Disease nControl (CDC) announce no change in obesity namong adults in the United States between 2003–n2004 and 2005–2006.n1n This is a very different story from nthe one we have become accustomed to hearing. Over nthe past 25 years, obesity has increased dramatically and nwithout pause, cutting a wide swath through the U.S. npopulation, including men, women, and children. Yet nthe seemingly unstoppable increase in the prevalence of nobesity has come to a halt for certain groups in America, nmost notably, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women. nTheir obesity rates have leveled off and stayed steady nsince 1999,n long enough to call the trend a plateau (Table n1). This paper discusses the significance of this trend, nreviews the costs and implications of failure to arrest the ngrowth of obesity in certain segments of the population, ndescribes strategies used by those who successfully man-