CDC finds obesity at new high for youths but waning among adults

Obesity rates have hit new highs for children and teenagers, but could be waning among adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

A study from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics estimated that 21.1% of youths aged 2 to 19 were obese between August 2021 and August 2023, up from 5.2% of those the agency surveyed from 1971 to 1974.

That’s a new high in 50 years of data on youth obesity, which the CDC defines as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for each age and sex.

In a separate study, the CDC found that 40.3% of adults aged 20 and older were obese from 2021 to 2023. For adults, the CDC defines obesity as a body mass index of 30 or more.

That’s up significantly from 22.9% of adults classified as obese from 1988 to 1994, when the CDC added people older than 74 to the count. Yet it’s down slightly from 42.4% during the last survey between 2017 and 2018.

Responding to these findings, some health experts attributed the peak in childhood obesity to unhealthy diets and increased screen addiction.

“Kids today are eating more ultra-processed, high-calorie foods and spending more time sitting than ever before,” said Sarah Pelc Graca, a Michigan-based fitness and nutrition coach. “Many families don’t have easy access to healthy foods, and there’s a ton of marketing aimed at kids for less nutritious options.”

Doctors pointed to improved public health strategies and the increased use of GLP-1 medications as possible factors driving down adult obesity rates.

However, they warned that more data is needed to confirm what caused the recent drop, and whether it was a blip or a long-term trend.

“It’s probably an overstatement to attribute a national shift in obesity prevalence primarily to GLP-1s,” said Dr. Barry Davis, a physician and retired professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Several experts insisted that greater attention to obesity as a chronic disease, improved public health screenings, better cardiovascular health management and statistical fluctuations could also explain the dip.

“The prevalence of obesity went down slightly over the last few years, but the level of change is so small that you could argue that it is not actually declining, but merely an artifact of the data,” said John Lewis, a professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Originally designed to lower blood sugar for diabetics, GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic have also become popular as appetite suppressants.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Ozempic as an insulin-boosting treatment for Type 2 diabetes in 2017.

Subsequent reports of dramatic weight loss in patients led Novo Nordisk, the Danish company that makes Ozempic, to repackage it for weight loss.

In 2021, the FDA approved Wegovy, a version of the drug prescribed for weight management.

The FDA approved the rival GLP-1 drug Mounjaro for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in 2022.

Its maker, Eli Lilly & Co., reported an explosion in sales. The FDA approved Lilly’s Zepbound, a version prescribed for weight loss, in November 2023.

The percentage of obese and overweight adults getting a GLP-1 prescription increased nearly sixfold from 2019 to 2024, according to an analysis from the nonprofit FAIR Health.

But just a small share of adults use the pricey medications long-term, making their impact on obesity rates unclear.

KFF, an independent health policy think tank formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, estimated that 12% of adults surveyed nationwide had ever used a GLP-1 drug in 2024, including just 5% for weight loss alone.

“That is significantly less than half of all adults who have obesity,” said Adiana Castro, a New York City dietitian. “There is a correlation, but the decline could be attributed to the sample of people used for the CDC report.”

GLP-1 drugs are rarely prescribed for children and teens with diabetes or obesity, and only then for severe cases at ages 12 and older.

“I think GLP1’s should be the last line of defense, and they should never be encouraged for youth,” said Jennifer Galardi, a fitness and nutrition expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “Their long-term effects are still unknown, and like so many weight loss fads, we may discover the costs outweigh the benefits.”