Turning the Corner on Obesity

Posted on Jan 14, 2010

Flickr / Mr Padraig

Nearly seven in 10 American adults still fall into the overweight or obese category.

An assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found the obesity rate among Americans to be leveling off or even slowing down. But experts warn against premature celebration, as the country’s overweight/obesity level still sits at an unhealthy 68 percent of adults. —JCL

Los Angeles Times:

Americans may not be collectively doomed to die in their recliners after all, one hand in the chips bag, the other stretching for the remote. Obesity levels seem to be leveling off or slowing across most of the population, according to two new comprehensive studies of the nation’s heft.

The assessments, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are a welcome respite from the seemingly endless reports of Americans getting fatter and fatter. The latest of several to find an obesity plateau, they suggest that those earlier findings were not aberrations but that Americans may truly have turned a corner.

But it’s not time to reach for the cookie jar yet. Though abundant messages about eating smaller portions and getting regular exercise may finally be registering, health experts say there’s more to be done before the fattening trend is not merely halted but reversed—more policy changes, community programs and support groups.

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