The obesity epidemic -- is it getting better?

[jld]

I thought I had read recently that experts think obesity is levelling off in the U.S. Do you think this is true? Why?

[Snickerdoodle]

Leveling off is not the same as getting better.

 

Where did you read that?

 

 

Here is the CDC page for obesity rates in America. The first article listed says that obesity rates may be slowing with data taken from the 1999-2008 NHANES. Aren't those surveys self reporting (ie answering a telephone survey) or do they actually look in patient files?

 

Wondering...

[jld]

I don't remember, Snickerdoodle, and it may have just been a headline I saw. Thanks for giving a little background on those figures, too. I just read a little blurb and thought, oh, there must be a natural limit to this obesity problem, and we've hit it. But maybe not.

[Perry]

...data taken from the 1999-2008 NHANES. Aren't those surveys self reporting (ie answering a telephone survey) or do they actually look in patient files?

 

Wondering...

NHANES uses face-to-face interviews and physical exams.

[Snickerdoodle]

NHANES uses face-to-face interviews and physical exams.

 

Thanks!

[Just Robyn]

All the studies I clicked on there used BMI to determine whether or not someone was obese or overweight. I would prefer to see data based on body fat percentage measured with skin calipers or whatever the best method is these days, not that I would bother to look for such information, so I guess I'm technically "just sayin'."

[Perry]

All the studies I clicked on there used BMI to determine whether or not someone was obese or overweight. I would prefer to see data based on body fat percentage measured with skin calipers or whatever the best method is these days, not that I would bother to look for such information, so I guess I'm technically "just sayin'."

NHANES did do that, although I haven't looked at their publications to see how they report their results. I think for statistical purposes, BMI is the standard measure.

 

NHANES III

 

Research Methods and Procedures

 

Study Population

 

NHANES III was a cross-sectional survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized, U.S. population conducted from 1988 to 1994 (17). After excluding 288 women who were pregnant and 3677 participants with missing data, the final sample for the current set of analyses included 12,608 NHANES III participants 20 years of age. Among the subgroup of participants who were assigned to a morning examination and fasted 9 or more hours before their study visit, 5550 had complete data and were included in the subgroup analyses.

Data Collection

 

The NHANES III data were collected during an in-home interview and a subsequent visit to a mobile examination center (17). During the in-home interview, demographic information including age, race, and sex was collected using a standardized questionnaire. Additional data collected during the in-home interview that are relevant to this analysis included anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetes, and cholesterol-lowering medication use, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity.

Adiposity Measures

 

Five measures of adiposity were analyzed, including waist circumference, BMI, TBF, % BF, and skinfold thickness. Waist circumference was measured at the iliac crest to the nearest 0.1 cm. Height was measured with a stadiometer. Weight was measured with an electronic digital scale while the participant was wearing foam slippers and paper shirt and pants. Height and weight measurements, used to calculate BMI (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), were obtained to the nearest 0.1 cm and 0.01 kg, respectively.