from Journal of the American Medical Association
Have you checked your waistline lately? Somebody has. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association the average waistline continues to grow. Waistlines of more than thirty-thousand men and non-pregnant adult women increased an average of more than one inch between 1999 and 2013. The overall prevalence of obesity increased from forty-six point four percent to fifty-four point two percent. Relative increases were observed in both men and women and across racial lines. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the results support routine measurement of waist circumference by health care professionals as a key step in preventing and managing obesity among patients. Abdominal obesity is defined as a waist of greater than forty point two inches in men and thirty-four point six inches in women.