American Obesity Rate Levels Off

It might not be cause to celebrate with a second slice of pie, but according to a pair of newly released public health studies reported by the Los Angeles Times, the obesity rate of American adults has leveled off after an alarming upward trend over the past several years.

Both sets of findings were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and appear to bolster previous and recent analyses that suggested the increase in obesity had only recently started to slow down.

As reported by the Times, researchers have not discerned the precise causes that have brought about the halt in the trend, but they suggest that stepped-up public communication regarding wiser dietary choices may have hit the mark.

The broadly shared hard work is still before us if we want the trend to not simply stop the upward climb, but to head in the opposite direction. Americans are still the world's heaviest, with 68 percent of the adult population weighing in as overweight or obese.

And researchers suggest that the best hope for achieving improvement in this key public health measure is to continue to reach out to the young. The importance of nutrition education and modeling good dietary behavior for our children is identified by researchers as holding out best promise for raising a new generation of adults more likely to actively seek good health through making good choices when mealtime rolls around.

Photo courtesy of alancleaver_2000, via Flickr