The percentage of obese Americans has grown to its highest rate in at least five years. A new survey from Gallup shows that obesity has ticked up to 27.7 percent, up from 27 percent last year. The rate was 25.5 percent in 2008, when Gallup began tracking it.
Obesity, recently declared a disease by the American Medical Association, is linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. Across major demographic categories, obesity rates are higher or stable so far in 2014 compared with 2013, says Gallup. Among older Americans ages 65 and up, the obesity rate ticked up 1.6 points, to 27.9 percent, for the biggest increase among subgroups.
Currently, more than 22 million Americans – or 7 percent of the population – have diabetes. That number is expected to keep climbing, along with the costs of treating those with diabetes, the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.
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