Obesity Surges among US Women -- 40% Now Obese

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

In the last 10 years more and more American women have become obese. Yet obesity among men has not increased.

In your opinion, what factors are causing this gender difference?

From The Week:

Obesity surges among women

More than 40 percent of American women are obese, a 5 percent jump over the past decade, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

"It's a really alarming figure, and it's alarming that it's continuing to go up despite government calls to action on weight loss and healthy eating," UCLA Medical Center dietitian Dana Hunnes tells The Guardian (U.K.).

Obesity is calculated by measuring a person's body mass index, a ratio of weight to height. For example, at 5-foot-4, the average height for U.S. women, someone who weighs 174 pounds or more is considered obese.

The condition is more common among African-American women, 57 percent of whom qualify as obese, compared with 47 percent of Hispanic women, 38 percent of white women, and 12 percent of Asian women.

The rate of obesity among men remains 35 percent, with no increase since 2005.

After analyzing information compiled on more than 5,000 adults, the CDC found no explanation for why women struggle more than men do with this serious health issue, which is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.

What's clear, however, is that the billions of dollars spent on weight-loss devices, drugs, research, and community programs have done little to curb the nation's 30-year-long obesity epidemic.

Researchers suggest no progress will be made until the food and restaurant industries apply their marketing skills to promote healthier options.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Here's a little more information about the study from a different source:

1. For men, current smokers were more likely to be obese. This same association was not seen in women.

2. Women with an education beyond high school were significantly less likely to be obese.

3. For all U.S. children ages 2 to 19, the prevalence of obesity in 2011-2014 was 17 percent.

4. Over the past 25 years, there has been a positive shift in the very youngest Americans — perhaps signaling that efforts such as first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to get kids to move more are working — with the obesity prevalence decreasing among those ages 2 to 5 and leveling off in children ages 6 to 10.

5. Unfortunately, it has increased among adolescents ages 12 to 19.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/06/08/troubling-shift-in-american-obesity-women-surge-ahead-of-men-40-percent-now-obese/

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Just hazarding a guess, but poverty and lack of access to things like well paying jobs and childcare probably have a lot to do with it.

If you have to work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet, and have to raise a family, you don't have a lot of time to exercise, etc.

Women in this country are disproportionately impacted by low wages, etc.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Agree with @@Inner Surfer Girl -- women earn less than men, but are more likely to be single head of household with children depending on them, thus depleting their financial resources even more. They also, even when partnered with a man, spend more time on childcare and house care than men do. So, they have less money to buy healthy food, and less time to exercise or to devote to education. Also, being poor and being primary caregiver for a child are both significant causes of stress. Being stressed and living in poor neighborhoods can cause a lack of sleep. If you are working two or three jobs, probably some of them are at night, also messing up your sleep. Stress levels and poor sleep are also known to contribute to weight gain.