US Obesity Rate Surpasses 30 Percent: CDC

The proportion of Americans who are clinically obese has passed 30 percent for the first time ever, according to new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest numbers — based on figures from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey — are taken from polls conducted between January and September of 2015, MedPage Today reports.

The figures, posted on the CDC website, indicate:
30.4 percent of Americans are obese — up from 29.8 percent in 2014 (defined as a body mass index of 30 or more).
More than 45 percent of black females ages 20 and over are obese — compared to nearly 28 percent of white females and more than 33 percent of Hispanic females.
Nearly 35 percent of black males are obese, compared to about 30 percent of whites and 31 percent of Hispanics.
For both sexes combined, the prevalence of obesity was highest among adults ages 40–59 (34.9 percent), followed by adults ages 60 and up (30.1 percent), and ages 20–39 (26.7 percent).
By comparison, in 1997, the prevalence of obesity among adults ages 20 and over was 19.5 percent.
There was some good news reported by lead researchers Tainya C. Clarke, of the National Center for Health Statistics in Atlanta.