From The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation Fact Sheet:

Today’s epidemic of overweight and obesity threatens the historic progress we have made in increasing American’s quality and years of healthy life. The hard facts:

• Two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese.
• 70% of American Indian/Alaskan Native adults are overweight or obese.
• The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. more than doubled (from 15% to 34%) among adults and more than tripled (from 5% to 17%) among children and adolescents from 1980 to 2008.
• An obese teenager has over a 70% greater risk of becoming an obese adult.
• Obesity is more common among non-Hispanic black teenagers (29%) than Hispanic teenagers (17.5%) or non-Hispanic white teenagers (14.5%).

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Learn more about The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Fit and Healthy Nation.