Obesity In America Rising Despite Aggressive Promotion of Healthy Living

Obesity is among the leading health concerns in America. However, despite the major efforts in encouraging the people to take healthy foods, the obesity rate is still growing.

For decades, the government has been active in encouraging the people to practice healthy eating and watch their weight. But, on Thursday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the obesity rate climbed to nearly 38 percent of adults in 2013-2014 from only 32 percent about 10 years ago, ABC News reported.

"This is a striking finding," said Dr. William Dietz, an obesity expert at George Washington University. He suggested that a situation which was thought as stable is getting worse.

A study published in Journal of American Medicine revealed that over one-third of adults and 17 percent of youth in the United States are obese. Obesity is "common, serious and costly" per Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The obesity-related condition includes heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the US was $147 billion in 2008 while the medical cost for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

Another authority, the University of North Carolina's Barry Popkin warned that the sample selected for the study may not have been representative of the nation as a whole.

Experts cannot tell why the obesity rate has been rising. Meanwhile, the study also showed that more women are now obese than men. Obesity rates between men and women were roughly the same in the past decade. But, the new report showed that this time obesity rate among women is significantly higher at 38 percent compared to men with 34 percent.

The widening gap between men and women were driven by what's happening among blacks and Hispanic, lead author CDC's Cynthia Ogden said. The obesity rate among white men and women remained close. But, for black women, obesity rate soared to 57 percent against 38 percent for men. The case is similar to Hispanic, 46 percent for women, 39 percent for men.

The new figure came from a regular annual government survey that involved about 5,000 participants. In interviews, people understated their weight and overstate their height, but participants are actually weighed.

This report came after years of government's campaigns against obesity, which encouraged the people to eat a healthy diet and exercise. The community has been supportive of this movement. Soda consumption has dropped in the past years while fast-food chains adopted healthier menus. New federal rules were also adopted to support this cause like the removal of artificial trans fats from the grocery store and requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts.

CDC measures obesity by calculating BMI, a ratio of weight to height.