Federal health officials reported Thursday that the number of Americans who are obese has increased slightly despite years of efforts to reduce obesity, according to The New York Times.
Approximately 38 percent of American adults were considered obese in 2013 and 2014, up from 35 percent in 2011 and 2012, according to the latest findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
"The trend is very unfortunate and very disappointing," said Marion Nestle, a professor in the department of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, according to NYT. "Everybody was hoping that with the decline in sugar and soda consumption, that we'd start seeing a leveling off of adult obesity."
Compared with a decade ago, the most recent numbers represent a significant increase. In 2003 and 2004, about 32 percent of adults were obese.
Health experts had hoped improvements in the American diet would have helped lower obesity rates; consumption of full-calorie soda has decreased by a quarter since the 1990s, and overall calorie intake has fallen for adults and children.
Here are three more findings on from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, according to The New York Times.
1. Obesity among young people stayed the same in 2013 and 2014 from the period before — 17 percent of Americans from 2 to 19-years-old were obese, the same rate as 2003 and 2004.
2. Some of the most significant differences were among minorities. Nearly 57 percent of black women were obese from 2011 to 2014, representing the highest rate across all demographics. Hispanic women were the next most obese, at 46 percent, followed by Hispanic men at 39 percent. About 36 percent of white women and 34 percent of white men were obese. Asians had the lowest prevalence of obesity, with a combined rate of 12 percent.
3. Adults ages 40 to 59 had the highest rate of obesity of 40 percent, followed by people 60 and over (37 percent). Roughly 32 percent of 20- to 39-year-olds were obese.