Chubby & Tubby: Adults in the U.S. Just Keep Right on Putting on the 'Lardage'

Well, the jury is back and the view from the rear ain't pretty. Adult-folk in this country are packing on the pounds. Results of a recent health study reveal that out of any 10 people walking toward you in the mall, 4 of them are overweight to the point of being obese. We'll gleefully do the math for you: that's 40% of us tipping the scales towards serious lardage.

And not only are we growing - literally - chubbier as a society, we are gaining weight at a rate that can only be described as scary. We are bulging out of our gingham undies, swelling, wider and thicker and quicker, considerably faster than at any time in our history.

This, as published this week in the most recent edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association - JAMA.

Now, there is very little need to shout any of this from the rooftops really, that pounds and pounds of subcutaneous fat accelerate diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Who hasn't already heard this? Millions read this stuff as they gobble their frenzied French fries.

The findings were the end result of a broad-spectrum study that examined trends in overweight adults from 2007-2016. In the earliest years of the study, 34% of people over the age of 21 were, "clinically obese". The study involved citizens with a body mass index - BMI - of 30+ as obese, and those with a BMI of 40+ as "severely obese". Today it is far, far higher.

The medical investigators reported that educating the public about poor diet health risks is not making a serious impact in lifestyle behavior, They said they were, "alarmed by the continuing rise in obesity among adults,"

The research found the numbers of obese children and teenagers are also rising.

“Most of us already know that being overweight is unhealthy, and eating too much contributes to being overweight. But just telling people there’s a problem doesn’t solve it.” (Doctor James Krieger, Professor of Medicine, University of Washington)

It's lunchtime. Think we'll go fetch a big, juicy hamburger, to keep from getting depressed.