The study defined obese as a body mass index of 30 or higher and overweight as a B.M.I. In the United States, 12.5 percent of children were obese, up from 5 percent in 1980. Combining children and adults, the United States had the dubious distinction of having the largest increase in percentile points of any country, a jump of 16 percentage points to 26.5 percent of the overall population. After the United States, other countries with particularly significant jumps in percent of the population who are obese included Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt. That has been somewhat mitigated in the United States “and other developed nations” with the use of drugs.

Source: New York Times June 12, 2017 13:30 UTC