By 2050, the number of US children and teens with overweight or obesity is expected to reach 43.1 million (up by 6.74 million from 2021), and adults 213 million (an increase of 41.4 million), highlighting the urgent need for nationwide action to reverse these trends and address significant geographical and sex disparities,  according to a major new study from the Global Burden of Disease Study Collaborator Network, published in The Lancet.

Since 1990,  prevalence of obesity across the USA, almost doubled in adult men and women (aged 25 and older) and female and male adolescents (aged 15-24 years), with the number of people living with overweight and obesity reaching over 208 million in 2021—a trend set to continue in the coming decades without significant reform,

“Overweight and obesity can trigger serious health conditions—many of which are now occurring at younger ages, including diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, cancer, mental health disorders, and even premature death,” the study said. The soaring health system and economic costs will be equally pervasive, with over 260 million people in the USA, including over half of all children and adolescents, expected to be living with overweight or obesity by 2050.”

Especially high levels of overweight and obesity have already been reached in several US states in 2021, with over half (52%) of males (aged 15-24 years) in Texas and nearly two-thirds (63%) of females of the same age in Mississippi in 2021. Similarly, in adults (aged 25 or older), around 80% of men in North Dakota and women in Mississippi were estimated to be overweight or obese in 2021.

“Our analysis lays bare the decades-long failure to tackle the growing overweight and obesity epidemic in the USA. The catastrophic consequences of the surge in overweight and obesity among children are already evident in the rising prevalence of childhood hypertension and type 2 diabetes,” lead author Professor Emmanuela Gakidou from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, USA said.

Also read: 17 steps to combat obesity and diabetes: ICMR-NIN

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