Photo: martin.mutch, flickr (CC BY 2.0)March 23, 2018 (Phys.org) -- Obesity rates have continued to climb significantly among American adults, but the same hasn't held true for children, a new government report finds.
Obesity among adults increased to about 40 percent in 2015-2016, up from 34 percent in 2007-2008, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers. That means two of every five adults now struggle with obesity.
Meanwhile, about 18.5 percent of kids were obese in 2015-2016, compared with 17 percent in 2007-2008.
"It's a different story for adults than it is for youth," said report author Dr. Craig Hales, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. "In adults, unfortunately, we see a continuing increasing trend. But in youth, we see over the last 10 years, there has been this flattening out of the obesity and severe obesity prevalence rate."
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