U.S. obesity rates level off: government study

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After 25 years of successive increases, obesity rates in the United States are holding steady, government health officials said on Wednesday.

But Americans are still plenty fat, with more than a third of U.S. adults found to be obese in 2005-2006, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That amounts to about 72 million people in the United States, about the same as a 2003-2004 report.

"What we can be optimistic about is we haven't seen a giant increase in the last couple of years," said Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist for the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. "But we aren't seeing any decrease, that's for sure."

The CDC defines obesity as a body mass index -- calculated from a person's weight and height -- of 30 or greater.

Ogden said women in the past were more likely to be obese than men, but that picture appears to have changed.

"It's a different story for men and women," she said in a telephone interview. "It used to be that women were more likely to be obese than men. Now, that is not true anymore."

Ogden said obesity rates in women have changed little since the 1999-2000 survey, but obesity rates in men have continued to rise. "Men are catching up to women," she said.