Depressing Study Suggests Most People Will Become Overweight

Posted on October 4, 2005

MSNBC.com reports on an obesity study that followed 4,000 white adults aged 30 to 59 years for over 30 years. That study found that 90% of men and 70% of women will become overweight at some point in their lives.

Just when we thought we couldn't get any fatter, a new study that followed Americans for three decades suggests that over the long haul, 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will become overweight.
Even if you are one of the lucky few who made it to middle age without getting fat, don't congratulate yourself -- keep watching that waistline.
Half of the men and women in the study who had made it well into adulthood without a weight problem ultimately became overweight. A third of those women and a quarter of the men became obese.

The article does not say what criteria was used to determine whether a person is overweight. Some experts are very critical of the often used BMI index because it rates athletes like Michael Jordan as overweight. However, the study does indicate that people need to always try and follow a healthy lifestyle because weight gain is always a risk even for people that have remained lean into their 30s or 40s.

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OBESITY