Approximately 27 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese, according to a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey of 400,000 adults who self-reported their height and weight. That percentage is lower than that reported by the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which shows that 34 percent — nearly 73 million — of U.S. adults are obese.
The NHANES data indicates that obesity rates are stabilizing (as USA Today reported in January), while the new Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey results indicate that obesity is still increasing. The differing surveys are both performed by the CDC, putting the agency in the position of reporting that obesity is increasing and that it's not.
“The New York Times headline states that the ‘Obesity Rates Keep Rising,’ but we’ve actually seen the opposite — it’s stabilized,” points out ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.
Stier believes the real issue is in creating effective public health policies, and not the conflicting data on obesity statistics. “Many articles use these data to say current measures to combat obesity are not enough, but the real question should be: are the interventions currently being employed not enough or are they just not working?”
Whether obesity rates remain stagnant or increase, “continuing to implement more of the same programs that aren’t working won’t solve the problem,” Stier adds. “It’s very hard to obtain accurate obesity data over time, but these numbers don’t directly affect public policy. It’s the current approaches advocated by big government activists that aren’t working.”
