A new study on obesity and overweight in the United States warns that if there are no changes in current trends and patterns, in 2050 there will be a “devastating” 256.1 million people in the country with this obesity problem. health, of them 43.1 million children and adolescents.
In 2050, in most US states, one in three teenagers (ages 15 to 24) and two in three adults (age 25 and older) are expected to be obese, according to results from the research published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity at the national and state levels among children, adolescents, and adults in the United States, 1990-2021, and forecasts through 2050 is the title of a study that sheds light on one of the biggest public health problems in the country, to the point that it is described as an “epidemic.”
In 2021, the last year of the study period, there were 36.5 million children and adolescents in the US and 172 million adults who were obese or overweight.
The study collects data from previous ones according to which at the national level, it is estimated that one in two adults will be obese and four in five adults will be overweight or obese by 2030.
The forecasts available at the national level for 2030 for children and adolescents are more heterogeneous: the prevalence of overweight and obesity is estimated to increase to 29-33% for children (6 to 11 years) and 31-50% for adolescents (from 12 to 19 years old).
“Existing policies have failed to address overweight and obesity. If major reforms are not carried out, the predicted trends will be devastating at the individual and population levels, and the burden of disease and associated economic costs will continue to increase,” warns the study, which has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Foundation Gates.
Although southern states such as Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Kentucky are forecast to continue to have high obesity prevalence over the next two decades, the highest percentage changes from 2021 onwards are projected in states such as Utah for adolescents and Colorado for adults, the researchers indicate.
According to the research, a “stronger policy is needed to support and implement a multifaceted, system-wide approach to disrupting the structural factors that drive overweight and obesity at both the national and local levels.”
“While clinical innovations must be leveraged to equitably treat and manage existing obesity, population-level prevention remains critical to any intervention strategy, particularly for children and adolescents,” they add.
