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Over Half of Americans Are Overweight or Obese
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Obesity
Obesity The excessive accumulation of body fat can cause serious medical conditions.

Over Half of Americans Are Overweight or Obese

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ProCon Debate: Should Obesity Be Treated as a Disease?

ProCon Issue in the News: A Nov. 2024 study published in The Lancet found that nearly three-quarters of American adults were overweight or obese in 2021. The study predicted the rate would increase to over 80% by 2050.

Almost half of American children were found to be overweight or obese. Particularly concerning to the authors is their forecast that more than 50% of female teens and young women (15–24 years) were expected to be overweight or obese by 2050 in Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Alabama.

“I would consider it an epidemic,” says co-author Marie Ng of the University of Washington School of Medicine, who noted that newer GLP-1 drugs, like Wegovy and Zepbound, are “not going to be the magic bullet to address the problem.”

The authors conclude, “Existing policies have not shown adequate effectiveness. Future strategies must involve a multifaceted, whole-system approach, taking into consideration the complex drivers of obesity. Stronger governance is necessary to enact meaningful policy changes. Prevention remains the primary focus given the chronicity of the condition, with emphasis on children and adolescents. Meanwhile, regulations need to be put in place to eliminate barriers to accessing new-generation obesity clinical treatments, ensuring the availability and affordability of these options to the broader population. To protect population health, avoid overwhelming the health-care system, and mitigate mounting health-care costs, deliberate concerted action is needed to disrupt the epidemic of overweight and obesity.”

Discussion Questions

  1. How could you address obesity in your family or at your school? What policies would you implement and why?
  2. What government policies might reduce overweight and obesity levels nationwide?
  3. How should we treat obesity medically? As a disease for which medications exist, or as a personal problem? Explain your answer.

Sources

  • Nina Agrawal, “Three-Quarters of U.S. Adults Are Now Overweight or Obese,” nytimes.com, Nov. 14, 2024
  • Marie Ng et al., “National-Level and State-Level Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Children, Adolescents, and Adults in the USA, 1990–2021, and Forecasts up to 2050,” The Lancet, thelancet.com, Nov. 14, 2024