‘Obesity is at a crisis point’: Study predicts that 260M in U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2050 – CTV
Nov. 15, 2024
In a little over two decades, almost 260 million people in the United States are predicted to be overweight or obese, according to a new study.
The study, published in the medical journal the Lancet, is one of the first to project what the nation’s obesity epidemic will look like as far out as 2050. Specifically, it suggests that 43.1 million children and adolescents and 213 million adults will be overweight and/or obese. In 2021, 36.5 million children and adolescents and 172 million adults had overweight and obesity.
The new forecast would mean hundreds of millions of people in the US could be facing health complications associated with a high body mass index or BMI, including diabetes, cancer, heart problems, breathing issues and mental health challenges.
The health costs of obesityin the U.S. are substantial, the study notes. In 2016, health-care costs attributed to obesity alone were between $261 billion and $481 billion.
