Unless you have lying eyes, the numbers below are pretty believable. Since I am old enough to have been over 16 years old for the entire span of the date range, I can’t argue with the trend direction.

US adult obesity rate:

1975 - 12%
1985 - 15%
1998 - 25%
2014 - 35%
2024 - 42%
2031 - 50% (projected)

For a decent chuck of those years, I could validate the data by simply looking in the mirror. Middle age. Lack of focus. I now work in a very public place, so it isn’t very hard to take a quick survey of random people walking by my aisle. All ages, all demographics. The numbers shown, if based on BMI, are probably low estimates. And the number of folks significantly beyond the beginnings of obese is quite sad.

The BMI scale was designed to judge large datasets of people, not individuals. If you put your information into a BMI calculator, it is really an eye-opener to see what has to happen to get below a 25 score. Unfortunately, it is very easy to be over 30, or Obese.

Beyond just making me wonder what happened, it makes me wonder why and how? Has the US population been unknowingly poisoned? What would it take to actively reverse this trend?