Yahoo – AFP,
17 Sep 2014
Washington (AFP) - The average American's waistline has expanded over the past decade, adding about one inch (2.5 centimeters) of belly fat among the general public from 1999 to 2012, researchers said Tuesday.
Washington (AFP) - The average American's waistline has expanded over the past decade, adding about one inch (2.5 centimeters) of belly fat among the general public from 1999 to 2012, researchers said Tuesday.
The
findings in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) are the
first to show how the nation's obesity epidemic has translated to added paunch
in recent years, and the study said the trend toward larger waistlines was
"significant."
About one
third of American adults -- 34.9 percent or 78.6 million people -- are
considered obese, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, a condition that raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer
and diabetes.
Those
figures are based on body mass index, a ratio calculated from weight and
height. Recent research has shown no change in obesity rates according to BMI
between 2003-2004 and 2011-2012.
But when
CDC researcher Earl Ford and colleagues examined data about waist circumference
from the same national health registries, dating from 1999-2012, they found
that there was a definite trend toward bigger bellies in the United States.
"Our
analyses using data from the same surveys indicate that the prevalence of
abdominal obesity is still increasing," said the report.
"The reasons
for increases in waist circumference in excess of what would be expected from
changes in BMI remain speculative, but several factors, including sleep
deprivation, endocrine disruptors, and certain medications, have been proposed
as potential explanations."
For the
purposes of the study, abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference
greater than 40.2 inches (102 centimeters) in men and greater than 34.6 inches
(88 centimeters) in women.
From a pool
of nearly 33,000 men and nonpregnant women ages 20 years or older, "the
overall age-adjusted average waist circumference increased progressively and
significantly, from 37.6 inches in 1999-2000 to 38.8 inches in 2011-2012,"
said the study.
Men gained
on average 0.8 inches and women added 1.5 inches, it said.
"The
overall age-adjusted prevalence of abdominal obesity increased significantly
from 46.4 percent in 1999-2000 to 54.2 percent in 2011-2012," the study
added.
Men and
women saw "significant increases," with male abdominal obesity
increasing from 37 to 44 percent, and women going from 55 to 65 percent.
The gains
were highest among African Americans and Mexican Americans, the researchers
found.
"Our
results support the routine measurement of waist circumference in clinical care
consistent with current recommendations as a key step in initiating the
prevention, control, and management of obesity among patients," said the
study.
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