Study: Future Obesity Burden May Be Substantial

The obesity threat only looms larger as we age, according to findings from a study in the October 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (2005; 143 [7], 473–80). Researchers followed 4,117 normal-weight white adults, ages 30–59 years, who participated in the Framingham Offspring Study from 1971 to 2001. Within 4 years, 14%–19% of the women and 26%–30% of the men became overweight and 5%–9% of both groups became obese. Within 30 years, more than half of both groups became overweight and about one-third of the women and one-quarter of the men became obese. Study authors concluded that, for white adults in the U.S., the long-term risk of developing obesity is “very high.”