A study of trends in obesity, abdominal obesity, physical activity and caloric intake by adults, between the years of 1988 to 2010, using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data reveals that is isn't eating that is making adults heavier, it's the lack of physical activity, states the research abstract.
"Our analyses highlight important dimensions of the public health problem of obesity, including trends in younger women and in abdominal obesity, and lend support to the emphasis placed on physical activity by the Institute of Medicine," states the report which notes that the numbers of women reporting no physical activity increased from 19 percent in 1994 to nearly 52 percent in 2010.
For men the increase during the same timeframe was 11 percent to 43 percent. Mexican-American and African American women had the biggest dips in exercise activity.
"Our findings do not support the popular notion that the increase of obesity in the United States can be attributed primarily to sustained increase over time in the average daily caloric intake of Americans," lead investigator Dr. Uri Ladabaum, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a journal news release.
Researchers focused on an adult average body mass index, and found the biggest increase in BMI to be among females ages 18 to 39.
"Although the overall trends in obesity in the United States are well appreciated and obesity prevalence may be stabilizing, our analyses highlight troublesome trends in younger adults, in women, and in abdominal obesity prevalence, as well as persistent racial/ethnic disparities," Ladabaum said.
As Tech Times has reported in the past several months, a great number of studies regarding obesity reflect a growing concern about weight gain by Americans and on a global scale, specifically among children.
One of the most recent reports claims the abundance of food, and especially not healthy food, plays into obesity.
A report by CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians reveals easy access to unhealthy fast food, a shortage of access to healthy foods, and suburban sprawl all play into the issue obesity among Americans.
"The high cost of healthy food may not be the problem as far as obesity is concerned, rather it is the excess availability and affordability of all types of food," Roland Sturm, PhD, study report's lead author, says in a statement.
